Bloom's Taxonomy
A hierarchical framework for classifying educational learning objectives, ranging from basic cognitive processes to complex forms of thinking and creation.
Bloom's Taxonomy, developed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom and colleagues in 1956, represents a hierarchical system for understanding and classifying levels of cognitive learning and intellectual behavior. The taxonomy exemplifies principles of nested complexity and emergence in cognitive development.
The original taxonomy consists of six major categories, arranged from simplest to most complex:
- Knowledge (remembering)
- Comprehension (understanding)
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation
In 2001, Anderson and Krathwohl revised the taxonomy to reflect more active forms of thinking:
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyze
- Evaluate
- Create
This revision emphasizes the dynamic systems nature of learning and cognitive development, showing how each level builds upon and incorporates previous levels in a form of recursive processes.
The taxonomy demonstrates several key systemic principles:
- Hierarchy: Each level builds upon and includes capabilities from previous levels
- Emergence: Higher-order thinking emerges from the integration of lower-level cognitive processes
- Feedback Loop: Learning at higher levels reinforces and deepens understanding at lower levels
The framework has significant connections to cybernetic learning principles, particularly in its emphasis on:
- Self-organization in cognitive development
- Complexity interaction between different levels of thinking
- Information Processing and knowledge construction
In educational design, Bloom's Taxonomy serves as a meta-system for:
- Curriculum development
- Assessment design
- Learning objective formulation
- Instructional strategy planning
The taxonomy has influenced modern approaches to adaptive systems and artificial intelligence, particularly in:
- Intelligent tutoring systems
- Adaptive assessment technologies
- Personalized learning pathways
Critics note that while the taxonomy presents a useful model, real cognitive development often follows more non-linear systems patterns, with learners sometimes operating at multiple levels simultaneously or skipping levels entirely.
Contemporary applications extend beyond education into:
The enduring influence of Bloom's Taxonomy demonstrates its value as a framework for understanding the systematic development of cognitive capabilities and the design of learning experiences.