- Who is Bloom and what is his Taxonomy?
Benjamin Bloom was an American Educational Psychologist who researched how we become masters of learning. He created the original Bloom’s Taxonomy that was published in 1956 but this was revised by one of his students and later republished as the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy in 2001.
Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs are the six key actions we take in our learning. Similar in appearance to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs but focused purely on how to master learning. Bloom takes on a journey from the action of remembering all the way to creating for ourselves.
- Bloom’s Taxonomy levels explained
There are six levels to Bloom’s Taxonomy:
1 – Remember
Can the students remember the key facts and terminology learned in the activity?
2 – Understand
Learners then move up to understanding, this can only happen if they use the learning from the first level.
3 – Apply
When they reach this stage, students must apply their learning in a specific way.
4 – Analyse
Analysing is classified as a higher order skill that requires more cognitive processing than the previous skills.
5 – Evaluate
Evaluating learning and ideas is only possible once the previous skills have been mastered.
6 – Create
Creating new work and ideas is the highest skill in revised Bloom’s taxonomy. This is the highest level of thinking and requires the deepest learning, something all our students are striving to achieve here at Phi.
- Way of using Bloom’s Taxonomy in your own learning journey
Bloom’s Taxonomy questions are a great way of moving your learning forward and can be adapted to all areas of learning.
Remembering:
- can you list the key words for the subject you are working on?
- are you able to recall key facts learned during your lesson?
- words like know, who, what, name, where, list, and when all link well to remembering
Understanding:
- taking your key words list, can you define what each one means?
- can you order your facts?
- words like describe, define, use your own words, outline, explain, discuss, and compare all link well to understanding.
Applying
- can you take what you have learned and apply it to something specific?
- words like apply, manipulate, use, employ, demonstrate, interpret, and choose all link well to applying.
Analysing
- this skill requires you to use all the previous skills to develop a deeper understanding.
- words like analyse, why, take apart, diagram, draw conclusions, simplify, distinguish, and survey all link well to analysing.
Evaluating
- this skill is used when you have completed your work and you need to consider the importance of what you have learned. It’s important to remember that evaluating will not produce one single answer and you will be expected to consider multiple ideas.
- words like judge, rate, assess, evaluate, what is the best …, value, criticize, and compare are all important here.
Creating
- when you get to create you are at the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy and are creating for yourself!
- you can’t get to this point without having mastered all the skills that come before so well done you!
- How we use Bloom’s Taxonomy at Phi
We are committed to providing the best learning opportunities and developing our students’ higher order thinking skills. Where there are gaps in knowledge, we skilfully help to plug them so that students can hit the highest skills with confidence. Contact us for a bespoke plan for how we would move your student to the next level and beyond!
