Developed by: W. Huitt
Last Modified: July 2000
Beginning in 1948, a group of educators undertook the task of classifying education goals and objectives. The intent was to develop a classification system for three domains: the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor. Work on the cognitive domain was completed in 1956 and is commonly referred to as Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain although the full title was Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain with the text having 4 other authors (M. Englehart, E. Furst, W. Hill, and D Krathwohl).
The major idea of the taxonomy is that what educators want students to know (encompassed in statements of educational objectives) can be arranged in a hierarchy from less to more complex. The taxonomy is presented below with sample verbs and a sample behavior statement for each level.
| LEVEL | DEFINITION | SAMPLE VERBS |
SAMPLE BEHAVIORS |
| KNOWLEDGE | Student recalls or recognizes information, ideas, and principles in the approximate form in which they were learned. |
Write List Label Name State Define |
The student will define the 6 levels of Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. |
| COMPREHENSION | Student translates, comprehends, or interprets information based on prior learning. |
Explain Summarize Paraphrase Describe Illustrate |
The student will explain the purpose of Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. |
| APPLICATION | Student selects, trans- fers, and uses data and principles to complete a problem or task with a mini- mum of direction. |
Use Compute Solve Demonstrate Apply Construct |
The student will write an instructional objective for each level of Bloom's taxonomy. |
| ANALYSIS | Student distinguishes, classifies, and relates the assumptions, hypotheses, evidence, or structure of a statement or question. |
Analyze Categorize Compare Contrast Separate |
The student will compare and contrast the cognitive and affective domains. |
| SYNTHESIS | Student originates, integrates, and combines ideas into a product, plan or proposal that is new to him or her. |
Create Design Hypothesize Invent Develop |
The student will design a classification scheme for writing educational objectives that combines the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. |
| EVALUATION | Student appraises, assesses, or critiques on a basis of specific standards and criteria. |
Judge Recommend Critique Justify |
The student will judge the effective- ness of writing objectives using Bloom's taxonomy. |
In general, research over the last 40 years has confirmed the taxonomy as a hierarchy with the exception of the last two levels. It is uncertain at this time whether synthesis and evaluation should be reversed (i.e., evaluation is less difficult to accomplish than synthesis) or whether synthesis and evaluation are at the same level of difficulty but use different cognitive processes. In my opinion, the latter is more likely. Both depend on analysis as a foundational process. However, synthesis requires rearranging the parts in a new, original way whereas evaluation requires a comparison to a standard with a judgment as to good, better or best. This is similar to the distinction between creative thinking and critical thinking. Both are valuable while neither is superior.
| Synthesis | Evaluation |
| Analysis |
| Application |
| Comprehension |
| Knowledge |
In any case it is clear that students can "know" about a topic or subject at different levels. While most teacher-made tests still test at the lower levels of the taxonomy, research has shown that students remember more when they have learned to handle the topic at the higher levels of the taxonomy. This is because more elaboration is required, a principle of learning based on finding from the information processing approach to learning.