REVISED BLOOM'S TAXONOMY

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

Introduction

           Bloom's taxonomy is a way of distinguishing the fundamental questions within the education system. Bloom's taxonomy refers to a classification of the different objectives that educators set for students (learning objectives). It divides educational objectives into three "domains": cognitive, affective, and psychomotor (sometimes loosely described as "knowing/head", "feeling/heart" and "doing/hands" respectively). Within the domains, learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels. A goal of Bloom's taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education.  Bloom's taxonomy is considered to be a foundational and essential element within the education community.

Benjamin  S.  Bloom,  the associate  director  of the  Board  of  Examinations  of the University  of Chicago,  initiated  the  idea,  hoping that  it  would  reduce  the  labor  of  preparing  annual comprehensive  examinations.  To aid in his effort, he enlisted a group of measurement specialists from across  the  United  States,  many  of  whom  repeatedly faced  the  same  problem.  This group met about twice a  year beginning  in  1949  to  consider  progress,  make revisions,  and  plan  the  next  steps.  Their final draft was published in 1956 under the title, Taxonomy 

 Of Educational Objectives:  The Classification of Educational Goals. Hereafter, this is referred to as the original Taxonomy.  The revision of this framework, which is the subject of this issue of Theory into Practice, was

Developed in much the same manner 45 years later. Hereafter, this is referred to as  the revised  Taxonomy.

 Bloom’s Taxonomy

     Bloom's taxonomy is a way of distinguishing the fundamental questions within the education system. Dr. Benjamin S Bloom's classified different objectives that educators set for students (learning objectives). It divides educational objectives into three "domains": cognitive, affective, and psychomotor (sometimes loosely described as "knowing/head", "feeling/heart" and "doing/hands" respectively). Within the domains, learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels. A goal of Bloom's taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education.  Bloom's taxonomy is considered to be a foundational and essential element within the education community

Cognitive Domain

                   Categories in the cognitive domain of the revised Bloom's taxonomy.

Skills in the cognitive domain revolve around knowledge, comprehension, and critical thinking on a particular topic. Traditional education tends to emphasize the skills in this domain, particularly the lower-order objectives.

There are six levels in the taxonomy, moving through the lowest order processes to the highest:

Knowledge

Exhibit memory of learned materials by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts, and answers.

·         Knowledge of specifics - terminology, specific facts

·         Knowledge of ways and means of dealing with specifics - conventions, trends and sequences, classifications and categories, criteria, methodology

·         Knowledge of the universals and abstractions in a field - principles and generalizations, theories and structures

Questions like: What are the health benefits of eating apples?

Understanding

Demonstrate understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating the main ideas

·       Translation

·       Interpretation

·         Extrapolation

Questions like: Compare the health benefits of eating apples vs. oranges.

Application

Using acquired knowledge. Solve problems in new situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules

Questions like: Would apples prevent scurvy, a disease caused by a deficiency in vitamin C?

Analysis

Examine and break information into parts by identifying motives or causes. Make inferences and find evidence to support generalizations

·         Analysis of elements

·         Analysis of relationships

·         Analysis of organizational principles

Questions like: List four ways of serving foods made with apples and explain which ones have the highest health benefits. Provide references to support your statements.

Synthesis

Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements; it also refers the act of putting parts together to form a whole Compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions

·         Production of a unique communication

·         Production of a plan, or proposed set of operations

·         Derivation of a set of abstract relations

Questions like: Convert an "unhealthy" recipe for apple pie to a "healthy" recipe by replacing your choice of ingredients. Explain the health benefits of using the ingredients you chose vs. the original ones.

Evaluation

Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria.

·         Judgments in terms of internal evidence

·         Judgments in terms of external criteria

Questions like: Which kinds of apples are best for baking a pie, and why?

Affective  Domain

Skills in the  affective domain describe the way people react emotionally and their ability to feel other living things' pain or joy. Affective objectives typically target                                                                                                    

Responding

The student actively participates in the learning process, not only attends to a stimulus; the student also reacts in some way.

Valuing

The student attaches a value to an object, phenomenon, or piece of information. The student associates a value or some values to the knowledge they acquired.

Organizing

The student can put together different values, information, and ideas and accommodate them within his/her own schema; comparing, relating and elaborating on what has been learned.

Characterizing

The student at this level tries to build abstract knowledge.

Psychomotor Domain

Skills in the psychomotor domain describe the ability to physically manipulate a tool or instrument like a hand or a hammer. Psychomotor objectives usually focus on change and/or development in behavior and/or skills.

Bloom and his colleagues never created subcategories for skills in the psychomotor domain, but since then other educators have created their own psychomotor taxonomies. Proposed the following levels:

Imitation

  It is the urge to act.

Manipulation

   It involves differentiating among various movements.

Precision

    It refers to accuracy and exactness in performance.

Articulation

   It involves co-ordination, sequence and unity among the acts.

Naturalization

   It implies that the learner’s skill attains its highest level of proficiency and it becomes natural and automatic.

                               Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

        Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives, 1950s-developed by Benjamin Bloom means of expressing qualitatively different kinds of thinking been adapted for classroom use as a planning tool. Continues to be one of the most universally applied models provides a way to organize thinking skills into six levels, from the most basic to the more complex levels of thinking.1990s-Lorin Anderson (former student of Bloom) revisited the taxonomy, as a result, a number of changes were made.

                                                                                                                                    BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY

Remember

        - Retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory.

Specifications;

 Recognizing

 Recalling

Understand

        - Determining  the  meaning  of instructional  messages,  including  oral,  written,  and  graphic communication.

 Specifications;

Interpreting

 Exemplifying

Classifying

 Summarizing

 Inferring

Comparing

Explaining

Apply 

     - Carrying out or using a procedure in a given situation.

Specifications;

Executing

Implementing

 Analyze

           - Breaking material into its constituent parts

and  detecting  how  the  parts  relate  to  one  another  and into an  overall  structure  or purpose.

Specifications;

Differentiating

Organizing

Attributing

Evaluate

           - Making judgments based on criteria and standards.

Specifications;

Checking

Critiquing

Create

        - Putting  elements  together  to  form  a  novel ,coherent  whole  or make  an  original  product.

Specifications;

Generating

Planning

Conclusion

                The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is a  scheme  for  classifying  educational  goals,  objectives,  and,  most  recently,  standards.  It provides an organizational structure that gives a commonly understood  meaning  to  objectives  classified  in  one of  its  categories,  thereby  enhancing  communication.  The original Taxonomy consisted of six categories, nearly all with subcategories.  They were arranged  in  a  cumulative  hierarchical  framework; achievement  of the next more  complex  skill  or ability required  achievement  of the prior  one.  The original Taxonomy volume emphasized the assessment of learning with many  examples  of test items  (largely  multiple  choice)  provided  for  each  category.

Our revision of the original Taxonomy is a two-dimensional framework:  Knowledge and Cognitive Processes.  The former most resembles the subcategories of the original. Knowledge category. The  latter  resembles  the  six  categories  of the  original Taxonomy  with the Knowledge category  named Remember,  the  Comprehension category  named Understand, Synthesis  renamed  Create and  made the  top  category,  and  the  remaining  categories changed  to  their  verb  forms:  Apply,  Analyze,  and Evaluate. They  are arranged  in a  hierarchical  structure,  but  not as  rigidly  as  in the  original  Taxonomy. In combination,  the  Knowledge  and  Cognitive Process  dimensions  form a very  useful  table, the  Taxonomy  Table.  Using  the  Table  to classify  objectives, activities,  and  assessments  provides  a  clear,  concise, visual  representation  of  a  particular  course  or  unit. Once  completed,  the  entries  in  the  Taxonomy  Table  can  be  used to  examine  relative  emphasis,  curriculum  alignment,  and  missed  educational opportunities.  Based  on this  examination,  teachers can  decide  where  and  how  to  improve  the  planning  of curriculum  and  the  delivery  of instruction.