Bloom's Taxonomy

As most of corporate learning programs aim to build cognitive (thinking) skills, Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy is used to define the learning objectives/ outcomes for such programs. Bloom’s taxonomy has six levels:

• 1. Knowledge—means knowing the facts about something. This level of learning is said to be achieved if, after completing the learning content, learners are able to recall their theoretical learning of facts, concepts, principles or procedures.
     E.g.: Given a typical car, the learner learns its various parts, i.e., the "what". 

  2. Comprehension—means understanding the meaning of something. This level of learning is said to be achieved if, after completing the learning content, learners are able to restate the theoretical learnings in their own words.
     E.g.: Given a typical car, the learner learns the significance of its various parts, i.e., the "why". 

  3. Application—means using facts & meanings to do something. This level of learning is said to be achieved if, after completing the learning content, learners are able to apply their theoretical learnings to solve typical work problems.
     E.g.: Given the parts and schematics of a typical car, the learner learns the process and procedures of building it, i.e., the "how". 

  4. Analysis—means disassembling an unknown thing and studying the parts & their interrelationships. This level of learning is said to be achieved if, after completing the learning content, learners are able to analyze the constituent components of atypical (new) work problems. 
     E.g.: Given an automobile the learner has never seen before (say, a tractor), the learner disassembles it and learns its various parts, their significance, and their interoperations. 

  5. Synthesis—means using facts & meanings learned from analysis of an unknown thing to create a known new thing. This level of learning is said to be achieved if, after completing the learning content, learners are able to synthesize new solutions to atypical work problems & create new theoretical learnings.
     E.g.: Given the parts of an automobile, the learner assembles them into a new vehicle never seen before, for a given purpose. 

  6. Evaluation—means using experience gained from synthesis of new things to assess different new things. This level of learning is said to be achieved if, after completing the learning content, learners are able to judge the quality of new solutions to atypical work problems, and then decide on the optimal solution.
     E.g.: Given various vehicles the learner has never seen before, the learner compares and contrasts between them, and identifies the most suitable vehicle for a given purpose.