Bloom’s Taxonomy
In 1956, a group of educators, led by Benjamin S. Bloom, released a method of classification for thinking behaviors that were believed to be important in the processes of learning. This handbook as become commonly referred to as "Bloom's Taxonomy". Bloom's Taxonomy is essentially a multi-tiered model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity. Although it received little attention when first published, Bloom's Taxonomy has since been translated into 22 languages and is one of the most widely applied and most often cited references in education. Bloom's Taxonomy has stood the test of time. Due to its long history and popularity, it has been condensed, expanded, and reinterpreted in a variety of ways. The small volume intended for university examiners has been transformed into a basic reference for all educators worldwide.
During the 1990's, a former student of Bloom's, Lorin Anderson, led a new assembly which met for the purpose of updating the taxonomy, hoping to add relevance for 21st century students and teachers. Changes in terminology between the two versions are perhaps the most obvious differences and can also cause the most confusion. Basically, Bloom's six major categories were changed from noun to verb forms. The new terms are defined as:
· Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long-term memory.
· Understanding: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.
· Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.
· Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.
· Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.
· Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.
In the last fifty years, many psychological studies have been done to help understand the learning process of both youth and adult students. However, as illustrated by this article, sometimes the best approach to understand a concept is to review and update what you already know. Bloom’s taxonomy has already proven to be a vital instrument in the education system for decades. Rather than trying to deliver a revolutionary concept of learning, the team led by Lorin Anderson in the 1990’s simply reviewed the existing taxonomy. That team was able to compare and combine the traditional taxonomy with what has been learned in the previous four decades. By updating and further defining the categories, the revised taxonomy provides a structure that is easier for educators in today’s world to understand and implement in their classroom. Combined with the vast array of technology tools available today, teachers have a tremendous opportunity to leverage new computer and internet applications in a way that can drive each of the taxonomy categories.
Forehand, M. (2005). Bloom's taxonomy: Original and revised.. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved Sep. 19, 2008, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/