What is Bloom’s taxonomy? Importance and uses explained

A fish definitely cannot be assessed for its ability to climb a tree, goes an old saying. I wish to start with this. While the traditional learning methodology had a one-size-fits-all theory, Bloom's taxonomy revitalizes educational practices by utilizing the best teaching methodologies and methods of student performance evaluation. It stresses the fact that every student is an individual learner with different skill sets and abilities and that their knowledge and understanding differ. This blog post discusses Bloom’s Taxonomy in detail. Let's start with an explanation of it first.

 

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

The classification system known as Bloom's taxonomy is used to define and classify the various stages of thinking, learning, and understanding in humans. It has a hierarchical framework that categorizes learning objectives based on their complexity, ranging from basic information and comprehension to higher evaluation and creativity.

The approach was developed to encourage more advanced thinking methods in the classroom. Instead of just remembering facts, Bloom’s Taxonomy method involves assessing and evaluating concepts, methods, procedures, and principles.

Despite several objections, Bloom's Taxonomy is still extensively applied in educational settings today. It is used by institutions to enhance their curricula, exams, and teaching strategies.

The framework was created by Benjamin Bloom, an American psychiatrist who made several contributions to education, talent development, and mastery learning. Part of his team was Mr. Walter Hill, Mr. Edward Furst, Mr. Max Englehart, and Mr. David Krathwohl who were crucial to Benjamin Bloom in his classification process.

 

Historical context: in chronological order

1. Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist working at the University of Chicago. He proposed the taxonomy in 1956.

2. Handbook I: Cognitive, the first volume of taxonomy, was published in 1956. Initially, the hierarchy of the cognitive domain was like the one below.

 

3. Handbook II: Affective, the second volume of taxonomy, was published in 1964.

4. The framework, known as the revised Bloom's Taxonomy, happened in 2001 and looks like the one below.

 

 

Importance of Bloom’s Taxonomy in higher education

The development of Bloom's taxonomy aimed to establish a common language among educators for discussing and exchanging methods of teaching and assessment. Although the taxonomy is often used to evaluate learning at different levels of cognitive complexity, it can also be utilized to formulate specific learning objectives.

Here are some key features that highlight the importance of Bloom's Taxonomy:

Provides a framework for learning: Bloom's Taxonomy provides a clear and structured framework for educators to design learning objectives and outcomes. This framework can help educators develop more effective teaching strategies and assessments that align with the learning goals.

Encourages higher-order thinking: The taxonomy emphasizes the importance of higher-order thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, which are essential for students to develop critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Supports personalized learning: By using Bloom's Taxonomy, educators can develop personalized learning goals for students based on their individual needs and abilities. This can help students develop their strengths and work on areas where they need improvement.

Facilitates assessment: The taxonomy can be used as a tool for developing assessments that measure the effectiveness of teaching and learning. By aligning assessments with the learning objectives, educators can ensure that students are achieving the desired outcomes.

Enhances communication: Bloom's Taxonomy provides a common language for educators, students, and stakeholders to communicate about learning goals and outcomes. This can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives.

Overall, Bloom's Taxonomy is a valuable tool for educators and learners alike. By providing a structured framework for learning, encouraging higher-order thinking, supporting personalized learning, facilitating assessment, and enhancing communication, the taxonomy can help to promote more effective teaching and learning outcomes.

Understanding the importance of Bloom's Taxonomy can have significant benefits for educators, students, and the broader community.

Benefits for Faculty:

• Bloom's Taxonomy assists educators in determining the intellectual level at which individual students can work and develop clear objectives in their framework.
• Faculty can better understand the goals of the classroom and alter the questions' level of difficulty and aid learners in ascending the hierarchical scale.
• It can help develop assessments by matching course learning objectives to any given level of mastery.
• It also helps faculty improve their critical thinking.
• Additionally, it can offer a framework for cognitive behaviors that can be used to evaluate tasks, understand how difficult they are, and simplify or complicate them.

Benefits for Students:

• Bloom's taxonomy encourages higher-order thinking in students by building up lower-level cognitive skills.
• It helps students' brains grow stronger - According to research, the critical thinking ability developed through the use of Bloom's Taxonomy's higher-level thinking skills strengthens the brain and creates more synapses between nerve cells.
• It assists students to develop skills that employers want - Surveys of employers show that they want to hire people with the critical thinking skills demonstrated in higher education. They specifically state that they prefer problem-solving skills over memorization of coursework.

Benefits for Institutions:

• Bloom's Taxonomy can be useful for course designers to develop curricula that the industry demands.
• It helps achieve better outcomes, and track and improve progress.

 

What are the three domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy?

The three categories of bloom's taxonomy are;

1. The cognitive or intellectual domain (Knowledge-based)
2. The affective or emotional domain (Emotion-based)
3. The psychological-motor or affective domain (Action-based)

 

Cognitive Domain

The growth of knowledge and intellectual abilities is given the most attention in Bloom's taxonomy's cognitive domain. It is further divided into six subheads based on its complexity.

Level 1: Knowledge - Gaining knowledge of statistics, facts, and fundamental ideas.

Level 2: Comprehension - Comprehending the information acquired during the knowledge stage.

Level 3: Application - Applying the concepts and knowledge in the most effective way possible.

Level 4: Analysis - Evaluating the application, drawing conclusions, and comprehending connections between its various components.

Level 5: Evaluation - Assessing the worth of concepts, resources, or phenomena Level 6: Creation - Planning, designing, and developing the learning to produce new results.

 

 

Affective Domain

The ability to feel the joy or pain of other living things is one of the abilities in the affective domain. It includes complicated phenomena, characters, and ideas. Affective goals typically focus on increasing awareness of and development of attitudes, emotions, and feelings.

The affective domain has five levels, from the simplest processes to the most complex:

• Reception: A lowest of all levels, this is where the student merely observes passively. There can be no learning without this level. Receiving also involves the student's memory and recognition.
• Response: The student actively engages in the learning process by responding in some way to the stimulus as well as paying attention to it. The student is prepared to act and motivated to respond at this stage.
• Values: The student gives something, a phenomenon, or a piece of knowledge value. The learned knowledge is connected by the student to a value or set of values.
• Organization: The student can combine various beliefs, facts, and concepts and fit them into his or her mental model, by comparing, relating, and expanding on what they have learned.
• Characterization: At this level, the student tries to develop abstract knowledge, internalize their values completely, and act in line with them.

 

 

Psychomotor Domain

The psychomotor objective is particular to bodily processes, reflex responses, and body movements for information interpretation and learning. It implies that engaging in physical activity fosters or serves as a means of advancing learning and abilities. The learner engages in physical activity to fulfill a cognitive or affective goal.

Its five levels are as follows:

• Imitation: The learner will directly copy actions seen and replicate them to what has been deserved at this level.
• Manipulation: At this level, the learner will replicate an activity using memory and instruction.
• Precision: The learner will use skills without assistance at this level.
• Articulation: At this level, the student will modify their expertise to complete an unusual task.
• Naturalization: The learner will automate skills and subconsciously master them at this level.

 

 

What are some of the examples of Bloom's Taxonomy?

Imagine that a college student is required to analyze his/her communication skills in an essay. The student must be able to use the levels of Bloom's taxonomy listed below to complete the given assignment.

1. Remember: Use prior knowledge and the various communication techniques needed in daily life.
2. Recall: Use prior knowledge and the various communication techniques needed in daily life.
3. Apply: Make use of a communication theory that is supported by academic research and ensure that it is appropriate for their particular communication style.
4. Analyze: Examine how various communication styles are necessary depending on the circumstances, target audiences, and intentions.
5. Evaluate: Examine the communication process from a broad perspective and consider the issues of the present.
6. Create: Create a framework that originally expresses one's communication style.

 

What are the 6 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy?

Let's now look more closely at each of Bloom's taxonomy's six cognitive levels and see how they might be used in the classroom. To further explain the types of thinking that are involved at each level, specific verbs are assigned to each level.

 

Level one – Remember

Verbs: Describe, list, recite, identify, label, name, repeat.

The process of remembering involves retrieving information and can be used to create lists or definitions. The knowledge level of a student acts as a "springboard" in unlocking the other levels. Although it is the lowest taxonomic level, it is crucial for the learning process because it requires knowledge acquisition before learners can interact with it at higher cognitive levels.

Examples: Reciting the timetable, identifying various human body parts, selecting the correct answer to a true or false question, recalling significant events on a historical timeline, or even naming the six cognitive levels of Bloom's taxonomy are examples of remembering.

 

Level two – Comprehension

Verbs: Examine, group, generalize, order, sort, paraphrase, rephrase.

Regardless of how well a student performs on the assessment or how well he or she understands a concept, the value of education is when he or she truly understands it. Therefore the concept of comprehension or understanding can be a game changer for students seeking a successful career. As a result, students must concentrate on comprehending the teachings thoroughly and not taking them lightly.

Examples: Understanding can be shown, for instance, by classifying a list of animals into the appropriate groups (marine, avian, terrestrial, and amphibian), explaining how one historical event affected another, addressing the lesson of a story, etc.

 

Level three – Application

Verbs: Compute, direct, demonstrate, formulate, dramatize, present, formulate, make.

The third level of Bloom's taxonomy, Application, represents a fundamental shift from pre-learning Bloom's because it requires remembering what has been learned. It is all about having a good understanding of the knowledge, and then being able to apply it to real-world exercises, challenges, or situations. Instead of just studying how to fix a tube light meticulously, the student should be able to apply it in the real world when his tube light fuses. That’s where he would apply his knowledge in real life.

Examples: Some other examples include making repairs to a computer's parts, acting out mediation and conflict resolution between two warring nations, or giving a presentation on climate change solutions are a few examples of applying in action.

 

Level four – Analyses

Verbs: simplify, distinguish, criticize, illustrate, question, explain, inspect, question.

Analyzing implies that a student can take complex information and simplify or summarise it. It is a necessary task. It simply implies that the students must not accept something simply because someone says it. They must develop the ability to distinguish between what is authentic and what is not. It would assist students in dealing with any situation that may arise in their careers.

Examples: Some examples include being able to explain why one historic military campaign failed and another succeeded, as well as critically examining aspects of Bloom's original taxonomy and explaining why his students later updated them.

 

Level five – Evaluation

Verbs: Decide, weigh, prioritize, forecast, value, judge, revise.

This level requires the learner to make criteria-based decisions through the critiquing and checking processes. Only after passing all earlier stages are the students able to move on to this stage. The entire process requires some time; it won't happen overnight. However, educators must motivate students to advance through all levels and acquire knowledge that will enable them to realize their aspirations.

Examples: Evaluating could entail reading a book and writing a review on its merits; suggesting ways to incorporate digital technology into the classroom environment, or making an informed decision in a role-play of court case proceedings.

 

Level six – Creation

Verbs: Construct, develop, write, invent, develop, set up, originate.

The creation of a new, coherent product from a variety of components is the focus of this highest taxonomic level. This level builds on all of the previous levels as the learner recalls, comprehends, and applies knowledge while also analyzing, evaluating, and creating the final product, which could be either physical or conceptual.

Examples: It can be interpreted as a student writing a book on a subject or designing a tool that will benefit society in some way. Planning and constructing a house out of wooden planks and creating a 3D model of a house on a computer are some of the other examples.

 

Why use Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Learning goals or objectives must be established in a pedagogical interaction so that both teachers and students understand the real purpose behind it. Having a well-organized set of objectives assists teachers in "planning and delivering appropriate instruction. Bloom’s Taxonomy application helps in the following:

• Using application and understanding, determine the meanings of the words, phrases, and idioms used in the paragraph.
• Using evaluation and analysis, conclude the passage and its points.
• Acquiring information and retaining it through understanding and remembering
• Using the evaluation concept, one can determine the author's tone of voice.

Give the passage a suitable title utilizing the concepts of evaluation and understanding.

 

How does Creatrix help you in Implementing Bloom’s Taxonomy Model?

Integrating Bloom’s Taxonomy into your core curriculum manually can be a tedious process. It could take hours of your faculty and the core curriculum committee’s time. At Creatrix Campus, we help you automate the whole process with greater intelligence and ease.

Without those spreadsheets and emails, Creatrix gives you a big picture of the course-, and program-level attainment of the student(s), so you can keep your team organized, build a quality curriculum, and work towards obtaining accreditation.

Here are some ways by which you create Bloom’s Taxonomic culture at your institution.

• Our curriculum mapping tool helps design and manage a curriculum that makes an impact. It gives you a clear picture of the learning objectives, competencies, and accreditation criteria, and how they impact institutional effectiveness and student success.
• It connects outcomes and assessments with Bloom’s Taxonomy standards.
• Sets learning objective thresholds and objectives to see how learning progresses.
• Eliminates gaps quickly with visual reports and data.
• Prepares for accreditation with data organized under a single place.
• Our Integrated Curriculum Mind Mapping View (CMMV) enables five levels of Bloom’s Complaint Mapping including;
• Mapping Courses
  • CO - Syllabus Mapping along with Bloom's Taxonomy
  • CO - Question Mapping
  • CO - Assessments Mapping
  • CO - PO / PSO Mapping
• PO - PEO Mapping

A centralized hub for all stakeholders, Creatrix curriculum mapping’s visual representation allows all stakeholders to be on the same page, collaborate better, organize teams, mitigate the risk of content gaps, and improve the courses easily. No matter whatever stage you are at—curriculum planning, designing, or outcome-based education mapping, we keep you covered.

Contact our team for more information.