Bloom's Taxonomy 

Remembering:

Remembering knowledge and skills at the basic level of Bloom’s taxonomy can be done by daily practice and its incorporation into the understanding of knowledge and skills in the next level and built into the routine. Activities can be in the form of memory aids, concept maps, and graphic organizers.These activities could be done the first 5-10 minutes in class as a warm-up or the last 5-10 minutes of class as a review or recap of what was learned that day. Remembering knowledge is the responsibility of the student to also practice at home.

examples:

define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce, state.

Understanding:

Students must understand key concepts and skills before they are expected to apply and use it in novel situations. This is the expectation that society places on learners throughout their lives in the workplace. Students must be able to understand what they’ve learned and clearly communicate it to others.

Activities geared to the understanding and comprehension of key concepts in a unit of study should be carefully planned out and should directly support the main topic. Students should also be asked to demonstrate their understanding through a written assignment such as summarizing, describing, and identifying and in-class discussion, reporting out, and explaining so they gain the practice and experience in written communication and verbal expression.

Examples: classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase.

Applying:

Students, when they enter the workplace, must be able to take the knowledge they have learned and apply it in new ways. At this level, practice and opportunities to gain this practice becomes critical. An ample amount of time must be invested at this stage to ensure that the student develops these skills properly. The consequence of not doing so becomes devastating. Here is where the students first learn critical thinking and problem solving skills. The burden is placed squarely on the teacher to introduce strategies, tasks, and activities to develop and strengthen these skills. Best practices include giving students reflection questions they can answer and record in a notebook.

Questions can be related to cause and effect, extrapolate thinking, make predictions based on what you know, explain possible outcomes, and demonstrate your thinking. Questions should stimulate thinking and provoke thought.

Examples: choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.

It is interesting to note that writing is listed as an example of a skill at the “applying” level. Let’s examine why this is. Writing at this level not only incorporate the physical action of writing but also the metacognitive skill of writing. We are essential asking our students to recall what they have learned, explain what they know, apply this knowledge to new, novel situations or in a new format in written form. They are essentially using the information they have learned and communicating their thoughts and ideas to others. This is one of the main expectations society has deemed as an essential skill for hiring and promotion in the workforce. Students who are weak in this area encounter one of the harsh realities of life. The diminished availability of career options and opportunities.

If we are to sufficiently prepare our students for the future, we must first teach this skill with fidelity, and offer many opportunities to our students for the practice and development of this skill. Neglect and avoidance on

our part will directly impact the future of our students. The consequences of our actions will result in our students inability to be hired or promoted by existing businesses for lack of the entry level skills needed to become successful employees. Their failure is our failure!

Analyzing:

Students analyze or examine data, observations, and information they have, sort it into distinct categories to differentiate between them, and also recognize patterns that emerge. Students at this level are able to “see” the similarities and differences, and differentiate between types of data and observations. Students can then make informed decisions, judgments, and conclusions from it.

Examples: appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.

Evaluating:

Students take the information and evidence they have analyzed, and make informed decisions, judgments, and conclusions from it. The student is able to defend, support, or make a judgment about a claim or position based on the data they have seen.

examples: appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate.

Creating:

The level of “Creating” within the learning process incorporates all the levels preceeding it. The most effective learning projects for students are ones which they create, design, plan, and write themselves to demonstrate their mastery of key concepts and skills .

The fundamental critical thinking and problem solving skills students need to master are found in the “applying”, “analyzing”, and “evaluating” levels

of Bloom’s taxonomy. Once mastered, these skills ultimately work together in synergy and also complement one another in the “Creating” level of Bloom’s taxonomy. It is at this level that students get the “most bang for their buck.”

Most of the academic gains in standardized testing are the outcome of projects created by students at this level. These projects incorporate the the problem solving and critical thinking skills found in the “applying”, “analyzing”, and “evaluating” levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy along with understanding and comprehending the basic knowledge and skills in the “remembering” and “understanding” levels. Projects created at this level are well rounded, well planned, incorporate a dynamic range of tasks and assignments that students can see how they inter-connect and all play an important role in the “big picture”.

Thinking skills associated with the “Creating” level of Bloom’s taxonomy:

assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write, plan, produce, invent, devise, make.

Projects incorporating the following skills demonstrate learning at the highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy, the “Creating” level:

Publishing (eBooks, eNotebooks, eMagazines, reports, ePortfolios, eJournals, articles, wikis, blogs, tweets, plans), animating, filming (making movies), videocasting, podcasting, creating multimedia presentations, and broadcasting.