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Bloometal.'sTaxonomyoftheCognitiveDomain
Citation:Huitt,W.(2011).Bloometal.'staxonomyofthecognitivedomain.EducationalPsychologyInteractive.Valdosta,GA:
ValdostaStateUniversity.Retrieved[date],fromhttp://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/bloom.html[pdf]

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Beginningin1948,agroupofeducatorsundertookthetaskofclassifyingeducationgoalsandobjectives.The
intentwastodevelopaclassificationsystemforthreedomains:thecognitive,theaffective,andthe
psychomotor.Workonthecognitivedomainwascompletedinthe1950sandiscommonlyreferredtoas
Bloom'sTaxonomyoftheCognitiveDomain(Bloom,Englehart,Furst,Hill,&Krathwohl,1956).Othershave
developedtaxonomiesfortheaffectiveandpsychomotordomains.
Themajorideaofthetaxonomyisthatwhateducatorswantstudentstoknow(encompassedinstatementsof
educationalobjectives)canbearrangedinahierarchyfromlesstomorecomplex.Thelevelsareunderstoodto
besuccessive,sothatonelevelmustbemasteredbeforethenextlevelcanbereached.
TheoriginallevelsbyBloometal.(1956)wereorderedasfollows:Knowledge,Comprehension,Application,
Analysis,Synthesis,andEvaluation.Thetaxonomyispresentedbelowwithsampleverbsandasample
behaviorstatementforeachlevel.
LEVEL

DEFINITION

SAMPLE
VERBS

SAMPLE
BEHAVIORS

KNOWLEDGE

Studentrecallsor
recognizes
information,
ideas,andprinciples
intheapproximate
forminwhichthey
werelearned.

Write
List
Label
Name
State
Define

Thestudentwill
define
the6levelsof
Bloom's
taxonomyofthe
cognitivedomain.

COMPREHENSION

Studenttranslates,
comprehends,or
interprets
information
basedonprior
learning.

Explain
Summarize
Paraphrase
Describe
Illustrate

Thestudentwill
explain
thepurposeof
Bloom's
taxonomyofthe
cognitivedomain.

APPLICATION

Studentselects,trans
fers,andusesdata
andprinciplesto
completeaproblem
ortaskwithamini
mumofdirection.

Use
Compute
Solve
Demonstrate
Apply
Construct

Thestudentwill
writeaninstructional
objectiveforeach
levelofBloom's
taxonomy.

ANALYSIS

Studentdistinguishes,
classifies,andrelates
theassumptions,
hypotheses,evidence,
orstructureofa
statementor
question.

Analyze
Categorize
Compare
Contrast
Separate

Thestudentwill
compareandcontrast
thecognitiveand
affectivedomains.

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SYNTHESIS

Studentoriginates,
integrates,and
combinesideasintoa
product,planor
proposalthatisnew
tohimorher.

Create
Design
Hypothesize
Invent
Develop

Thestudentwill
designaclassification
schemeforwriting
educationalobjectives
thatcombinesthe
cognitive,affective,
andpsychomotor
domains.

EVALUATION

Studentappraises,
assesses,orcritiques
onabasisofspecific
standardsand
criteria.

Judge
Recommend
Critique
Justify

Thestudentwill
judgetheeffective
nessofwriting
objectivesusing
Bloom'staxonomy.

AndersonandKrathwohl(2001)revisedBloom'staxonomytofitthemoreoutcomefocusedmoderneducation
objectives,includingswitchingthenamesofthelevelsfromnounstoactiveverbs,andreversingtheorderof
thehighesttwolevels(seeKrathwohl,2002foranoverview).Thelowestorderlevel(Knowledge)became
Remembering,inwhichthestudentisaskedtorecallorrememberinformation.Comprehension,became
Understanding,inwhichthestudentwouldexplainordescribeconcepts.ApplicationbecameApplying,or
usingtheinformationinsomenewway,suchaschoosing,writing,orinterpreting.Analysiswasrevisedto
becomeAnalyzing,requiringthestudenttodifferentiatebetweendifferentcomponentsorrelationships,
demonstratingtheabilitytocompareandcontrast.ThesefourlevelsremainthesameasBloometal.s(1956)
originalhierarchy.Ingeneral,researchoverthelast40yearshasconfirmedtheselevelsasahierarchy
(Anderson&Krathwohl).Inadditiontorevisingthetaxonomy,AndersonandKrathwohladdeda
conceptualizationofknowledgedimensionswithinwhichtheseprocessinglevelsareused(factual,conceptual,
procedural,andmetacognition).

KNOWLEDGE
DIMENSION

COGNITIVEPROCESSDIMENSION
Remember Understand

Interpret
Terminology
Factual
Labelmap paragraph
Elements&
Knowledge
Listnames Summarize
Components
book
Define
Categories
Describe
Conceptual
levelsof
Principles
taxonomyin
Knowledge
cognitive
Theories
ownwords
taxonomy

Apply

Analyze

Evaluate

Create

Usemath
algorithm

Categorize
words

Critiquearticle

Createshort
story

Write
Differentiate
Createnew
objectives
levelsof Critiquewritten
classification
using
cognitive
objectives
system
taxonomy taxonomy
Use
Specific
Paraphrase
Compare
Critique
Develop
problem
Skills& Liststepsin problem
convergent appropriateness
original
Procedural
solving
Techniques problem
solving
and
oftechniques approachto
Knowledge
processfor
Criteriafor
solving
processin
divergent
usedincase
problem
assigned
Use
ownwords
techniques
analysis
solving
task
Critique
List
Develop
Compare
General
Describe
appropriateness Createan
Meta
elementsof
studyskills elementsof
Knowledge
implications
ofparticular
original
Cognitive
personal
appropriate dimensions
Self
oflearning
learningstyle learningstyle
Knowledge
learning
tolearning inlearning
Knowledge
style
theorytoown
theory
style
style
style
learning

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TheCenterforExcellenceinLearningandTeachingatIowaStateUniversity(2011)providesanexcellent
graphicrepresentationonhowthesetwotaxonomiescanbeusedtogethertogeneratelessonobjectives.
Thetwohighest,mostcomplexlevelsofSynthesisandEvaluationwerereversedintherevisedmodel,and
wererenamedEvaluatingandCreating(Anderson&Krathwohl,2001).Astheauthorsdidnotprovide
empiricalevidenceforthisreversal,itismybeliefthatthesetwohighestlevelsareessentiallyequalinlevelof
complexity.Bothdependonanalysisasafoundationalprocess.However,synthesisorcreatingrequires
rearrangingthepartsinanew,originalwaywhereasevaluationorevaluatingrequiresacomparisontoa
standardwithajudgmentastogood,betterorbest.Thisissimilartothedistinctionbetweencreativethinking
andcriticalthinking.Botharevaluablewhileneitherissuperior.Infact,wheneitherisomittedduringthe
problemsolvingprocess,effectivenessdeclines(Huitt,1992).

Synthesis/
Create

Evaluation/
Evaluate

Analysis/Analyze
Application/Apply
Comprehension/Understand
Knowledge/Remember
Inanycaseitisclearthatstudentscan"know"aboutatopicorsubjectindifferentwaysandatdifferent
levels.Whilemostteachermadetestsstilltestatthelowerlevelsofthetaxonomy,researchhasshownthat
studentsremembermorewhentheyhavelearnedtohandlethetopicatthehigherlevelsofthetaxonomy
(Garavalia,Hummel,Wiley,&Huitt,1999).Thisisbecausemoreelaborationisrequired,aprincipleof
learningbasedonfindingfromtheinformationprocessingapproachtolearning.
Krathwohl,Bloom,andMasia(1956)alsodevelopedataxonomyfortheaffectivedomain.Inmyopinion,this
taxonomyisreallymoreofareflectionofattachmentorvaluingratherthanprocessingaffectiverelated
informationasreflectedinthecognitivetaxonomy.Therearethreetaxonomiesofthepsychomotordomain
thatarereceivedacceptance(Dave,1975Harrow,1972Simpson,1972).Clark(2010)providesanoverview
ofthesethreetaxonomies.
References
Anderson,L.W.,&Krathwohl,D.(Eds.).(2001).Ataxonomyforlearning,teaching,andassessing:A
revisionofBloom'staxonomyofeducationalobjectives.NewYork:Longman.
Bloom,B.,Englehart,M.Furst,E.,Hill,W.,&Krathwohl,D.(1956).Taxonomyofeducational
objectives:Theclassificationofeducationalgoals.HandbookI:Cognitivedomain.NewYork,Toronto:
Longmans,Green.
CenterforExcellenceinLearningandTeaching(CELT).(2011).Amodeloflearningobjectives.Iowa
StateUniversity.RetrievedMarch2011,from
http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/RevisedBlooms1.html
Clark,D.(2010).Bloom'staxonomyoflearningdomains:Thethreetypesoflearning.BigDog&Little
Dog'sPerformanceJuxtaposition.Edmonds,WA:Author.Retrievedfrom
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
Dave,R.H.(1970).Psychomotorlevels.InR.J.Armstrong(Ed.),Developingandwritingbehavioral
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objectives.Tucson,Arizona:EducationalInnovatorsPress.
Forehand,M.(2005).Bloom'staxonomy:Originalandrevised..InM.Orey(Ed.),Emerging
perspectivesonlearning,teaching,andtechnology.RetrievedJanuary2009,from
http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt
Garavalia,L.,Hummel,J.,Wiley,L.,&Huitt,W.(1999).Constructingthecoursesyllabus:Facultyand
studentperceptionsofimportantsyllabuscomponents.JournalofExcellenceinCollegeTeaching,10(1),
522.Availableonlineathttp://www.edpsycinteractive.org/papers/cons_course_syll.doc
Harrow,A.(1972).Ataxonomyofthepsychomotordomain:Aguidefordevelopingbehavioral
objectives.NewYork:DavidMcKay.
Huitt,W.(1992).Problemsolvinganddecisionmaking:Considerationofindividualdifferencesusing
theMyersBriggsTypeIndicator.JournalofPsychologicalType,24,3344.RetrievedJune2004,from
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/papers/prbsmbti.html
Krathwohl,D.(2002).ArevisionofBloom'staxonomy:Anoverview.TheoryIntoPractice,41(4),212
218.Retrievedfromhttp://www.unco.edu/cetl/sir/stating_outcome/documents/Krathwohl.pdf
Krathwohl,D.,Bloom,B.,&Masia,B.(1956).Taxonomyofeducationalobjectives.HandbookII:
Affectivedomain.NewYork:DavidMcKay.
SimpsonE.(1972).Theclassificationofeducationalobjectivesinthepsychomotordomain.Washington,
DC:GryphonHouse.
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