A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

336 Pages·2009·32.46 MB·English

by  Anderson & Krathwohl

BRIDGED EDITIO

A

FOIt

,

AND

EDITORS

LORIN W. ANDERSON AND DAVID R. KRATHWOHL

PETER W. AIRASIAN, KATHLEEN A. CRUIKSHANK,
RICHARD E. MAYER, PAUL R. PINTRICH,

JAMES RATHS, MERLIN C. WITTROCK

3.1
THE TAXONOMY TABLE

THE COGNITIVE PROCESS DIMENSION

THE
KNOWLEDGE
1-
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

DIMENSION
REMEMBER
UNDERSTAND
ApPLY
ANALYZE
EVALUATE
CREATE
A.

FACTUAL

KNOWLEDGE

B.

CONCEPTUAL

KNOWLEDGE

C.

PROCEDURAL

KNOWLEDGE

D.

META-

COGNITIVE

KNOWLEDGE

4.1
THE KNOWLEDGE DIMENSION

MAJOR TYPES AND SUBTYPES
EXAMPLES

A. "ACTUAL KNOWLKDClB-1'he basic elements students must know to be clCquaintOO with a

dicociplint'! or solve problems in it

AA. Knowledge of terminology
Technical vocabulary, music symbols
Aa. Knowledge of specific details and
Major mitural resources, reliable sources of
elements
information

II. CONCEPTUAL KHOWL~DClIE-The interrelationships among the basic elements within a larger
structur«.> that enabll? them to fuTh..1:ion together

BA. Knowledge of classifications and
Periods of geological time, forms of business
categories
ownership
Ba. Knowledge of principles and
Pythagorean theorem, law of supply and demand
generalizations

Be. Knowledge of theories, models, and
Theory of evolution, structure of Congress

structures

C. PROCEDUItAL KNOWL.a.E-HOW to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for using

skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods

CA. Knowledge of subject-specific skills and
Skills used in painting with water colors,
algorithms
whole-number division algorithm

C a. Knowledge of subject-specific techniques Interviewing techniques, scientific method
and methods

C c. Knowledge of criteria for determining
Criteria used to determine when to apply a
when to use appropriate procedures
procedure involving Newton's second law, criteria
used to judge the-!easibility of using a particWar
method to estimate business costs

D. .ETACOGNITIVIIE KNOW .... DG.-I<nowlt!dgE' of cognition in general as well as aw~'
and
knowledge of on.e' 8 own cognition

DA. Strategic knowledge
Knowledge of outlining as a means of capturing
the structure of a unit of subject matter in a text
book, knowledge of the use of heuristics

Da. Knowledge about cognitive tasks,
Knowledge of the types of tests particular teachers
including appropriate contextual and
administer, knowledge of the cognitive demands
conditional knowledge
of differenttasks

De. Self-knowledge
Knowledge that critiquing essays is a personal
strength, whereas writing _essay~ is a personal
weakness; awareness of one's own knowledge

r

level

5.1
THE COGNITIVE PROCESS DIMENSION

CATEG~RIES
& COGNITIVE
PROCESSES

ALTERNATIVE
NAMES

1.1 RECOGN'ZING
Identifying

1.2 RECALLlNG
Retrieving

DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES

Locating knowledge in long-term memory that is consistent
with presented material (e.g., Recognize the dates of
important events in U.S. history)

Retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory
(e.g., Recall the dates of important events in u.S. history)

2. UNDlu,aTAND-Coostruct meaning from iNtrudfnna' messages, including oral, written, and ·

graphic romnwnkation

2.1 INTERPRETING

2.2 EXEMPLIFYING

2.3 CLASSIFYING

2.4 SUMMARIZING

2.5 INFERRING

2.6 COMPARING

2.7 EXPLAlNING

Clarifying,
paraphrasing,
representing,
translating

illustrating,
instantiating

Categorizing,
subsuming

Abstracting,
generalizing

Concluding,
extrapolating,
interpolating,
predicting

Contrasting,
mapping,
matching

Constructing
models

Changing from one form of representation (e.g., numerical)
to another (e.g., verbal) (e.g., Paraphrase important speeches
and documents)

Finding a specific example or illustration of a concept or prin-
ciple (e.g., Give examples of various artistic painting styles)

Determining that something belongs to a category
(e.g., Classify observed or described cases of mental
disorders)

Abstracting a general theme or major point(s) (e.g. Write a
short summary of the event portrayed on a videotape) .

Drawing a logical conclusion from presented information
(e.g., In learning a foreign language, infer grammatical
principles from examples)

Detecting correspondences between two ideas, objects, and
the like (e.g., Compare historical events to contemporary
situations)

Constructing a cause-and-effect model of a system(e.g., ex-
plain the causes of important 18th Century events in France)

3. A .. PLV-Carry out or use a procedure in a given tuation

3.1 EXECUTING
Carrying out
Applying a procedure to a familiar task (e.g., Divide one
whole number by another whole number, both with
multiple digits)

3.2 IMPLEMENTING Using
Applying a procedure to an unfamiliar task (e.g., Use New-
ton's Second Law in situations in which it is appropriate)

s. f
THE COGNITIVE PROCESS DIMENSION (CONTINUED)

CATEGORIES

Be COGNITIVE
PROCESSES
ALTERNATIVE
NAMES
DEFINITIONS A"IO EXAMPLES

4. ANALyz.E-Break material into its constituent parts and determine how the parts relate to· one
another and to an overall slru(.'ture or purpose
"~ .. ' ..

4.1 DIFFERENTIATING Discriminating,
distinguishing,
focusing,
selecting

Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant parts or impor-
tant from unimportant parts of presented material
(e.g., Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant
numbers in a mathematical word problem)

4.2 ORGANIZING
Finding
Determining how elements fit or function within a
structure (e.g.( Structure evidence in a historical
description intQ evidence for and against a particular
historical explanation)

4.3 ATTRIBUTING

coherence,
intergrating,

out~g,
parsing,
structuring

Deconstructing
Determine a point of view, bias, values, or intent under-
lying presented material (e.g., Determine the point of
view of the author of an essay in terms of his or her
political perspective)

5. EVA LUATE-Make judgments based on criteria and standards

5.1 CHECKING

5.2 CRITIQUING

Coordinating,
detecting,
monitoring,
testing

Judging

Detecting inconsistencies or fallacies within a process or
product; determining whether a process or product has
internal consi$tency; detecting the effectiveness of a pro-
cedure as it is being implemented (e.g., Determine if a
scientist's conclusions follow from observed data)

Detecting inconsistencies between a product and exter-
nal criteria, determining whether a product has exter-
nal consistency; detecting the appropriateness of a pro-
cedure for a given problem (e.g., Judge which of two
methods is the best way to solve a given problem)

6. CREATE-Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganize elements

into a new pattern or s:tructure

6.1 GENERATING

6.2 PLANNING

6.3 PRODUCING

Hypothesizing
Coming up ~ith alternative hypotheses based on
criteria (e.g., Generate hypotheses to accolmt for an
observed phenomenon)

Designing

Constructing

Devising a procedure for accomplishing some task (e.g.,
Plan a research paper on a given historical topic)

Inventing a product (e.g., Build habitats for a specific
purpose)

A Taxonomy for
Learning, Teaching,
and Assessing

A Revision of Bloom's
Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives

ABRIDGED EDITION

EDITORS
LORIN w. ANDERSON
DAYID R. KRATHWOHL
PETER W. AIRASIAN
KATHLEEN A. CRUIKSHANK
RICHARD E. MAYER
PAUL R. PINTRICH
JAMES RATHS
MERLIN C. WITTROCK

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For permission to use copyrighted material, grateful acknowledgment is made to the copy-
right holders on pp. 287, which are hereby made part of this copyright page.

Ubrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: a revision of Bloom's taxonomy of
educational objectives / editors, Lorin W. Anderson, David R. Krathwohl ; with Peter W.
Airasian ... let al.].
p.em.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-321-08405-5 (hardcover: all<. paper) - ISBN 0-8013-1903-X (softcover: alk. paper)
1. Bloom, Benjamin Samuel, 1913- Taxonomy of educational objectives. 2.
Education--Aims and objectives. I. Anderson, Lorin W. II. Krathwohl, David R. ill.
Bloom, Benjamin Samuel, 1913- Taxonomy of educational objectives.

LB17.T29 2001
370'.1-dc21
00-063423

This book is a revision of The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, ThE Classification of Edu-
cational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain, Benjamin 5. Bloom (Ed.), Max D. Englehart,
Edward J. Furst, Walker H. Hill, and David R. Krathwohl, published by David McKay Com-
pany, Inc., New York, 1956.

Copyright © 2001 by Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys-
tem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in !he
United States.

Please visit our website at http://www.ablongman.com

ISBN 0-8013-1903-X (softcover)

678910--03

This volume is dedicated to
those teachers who advance
the learning and development
of their students every day;
we hope they find it helpful.

SECTION I

SECTION II

Brief Contents

Detailed Contents
xi
List of Tables and Figures
xix

Preface
xxi
Foreword
xxvii

I The Taxonomy: Educational Objectives and Student Learning

CHAPTER t
Introduction
3

CHAPTER 2
The Structure, Specificity, and Problems of Objectives
12

I The Revised Taxonomy Structure

CHAPTER 3
The Taxonomy Table
27

CHAPTER 4
The Knowledge Dimension

25

38

CHAPTER 5
The Cognitive Process Dimension
63

SECTION III I The Taxonomy in Use
93

CHAPTER 6
Using the Taxonomy Table
95

CHAPTER 7
Introduction to the Vignettes
110

CHAPTER 8
Nutrition Vignette
119

CHAPTER 9
Macbeth Vignette
136

CHAPTER 10 Addition Facts Vignette
158

CHAPTER 1 1
Parliamentary Acts Vignette
171

CHAPTER 12 Volcanoes? Here? Vignette
190

CHAPTER 13 Report Writing Vignette
210

CHAPTER 14 Addressing Long-standing Problems in
Classroom Instruction
232

1

x
Brief Contents

I Appendixes
261
Appendix A: Summary of the Changes from
the Original Framework
263
Appendix B: Condensed Version of the Original Taxonomy

References
Credits
Index

of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain
271

279
287
289

Detailed Contents

List of Tables and Figures
xix
Preface
xxi

Foreword
xxvii

SECTION I The Taxonomy: Educational Objectives

and Student Learning
1

CHAPTER I
Introduction
3
The Need for a Taxonomy
3

Using Our Increased Understanding
6
The Taxonomy Table, Objectives, and Instructional Time
6
The Taxonomy Table and Instruction
7
The Taxonomy Table and Assessment
8
The Concept of Alignment
10

Teachers as Curriculum Makers Versus Teachers as Curriculum
Implementers: A Closing Comment
10

CHAPTER 2
The Structure, Specificity, and Problems of Objectives
12
The Structure of Objectives
12
Content Versus Knowledge
12
Behavior Versus Cognitive Processes
13

Specificity of Objectives
15
Global Objectives
15
Educational Objectives
15
Instructional Objectives
16

Summary of Levels of Objectives
16
What Objectives Are Not
17

XII
Detailed Contents

A Changing Vocabulary of Objectives
18

Problems with Objectives
20

Specificity and Inclusiveness
20

The Lock-Step Nature of Objectives
21
What Does an Objective Represent-Learning
or Performance?
21
The Restricted Use of Objectives
22
Concluding Comment
23

SECTION II I The Revised Taxonomy Structure
25

CHAPTER 3
The Taxonomy Table
27
Categories of the Knowledge Dimension
27
Categories of the Cognitive Process Dimension
30

The Taxonomy Table and Objectives: A Diagrammatic
Summary
30

Why Categorize Objectives?
34
Our Use of Multiple'Forms of Definition
36
Verbal Descriptions;
36

Sample Objectives
37

Sample Assessment Tasks
37

Sample Instructional Activities
37
Closing Comment: A Look Ahead
37

CHAPTER 4
The Knowledge Dimension
38
A Distinction Between Knowledge and Subject Matter Content:
A Tale of Four Teachers
39
Different Types of Knowledge
40

A Distinction Between Factual and Conceptual
Knowledge
41
A Rationale for Metacognitive Knowledge
43
Categories of the Knowledge Dimension
45
Factual Knowledge
45
Knowledge of Terminology
45
Knowledge of Specific Details and Elements
47
Conceptual Knowledge
48
Knowledge of Classifications and Categories
49
Knowledge of Principles and Generalizations
51
Knowledge of Theories, Models, and Structures
51

Detailed Contents
XIII

Procedural Knowledge
52
Knowledge of Subject-Specific Skills and Algorithms
53
Knowledge of Subject-Specific Techniques and Methods
54
Knowledge of Criteria for Determining when to Use

Appropriate Procedures
54
Metacognitive Knowledge
55
Strategic Knowledge
56
Knowledge About Cognitive Tasks Including Contextual and
Conditional Knowledge
57
Self-Knowledge
59
Assessing Objectives Involving Metacognitive Knowledge
60
Conclusion
62

CHAPTER !I
The Cognitive Process Dimension
63
A Tale of Three Learning Outcomes
64
No Learning
64
Rote Learning
64
Meaningful Learning
64
Meaningful Learning as Constructing Knowledge
Frameworks
65
Cognitive Processes for Retention and Transfer
65
The Categories of the Cognitive Process Dimension
66
Remember
66
69
Recognizing
Recalling
Understand
Interpreting
Exemplifying
Classifying

69
70

70

71

72
Summarizing
73
Inferring
73
Comparing
75
Explaining
75
Apply
77
Executing
77
Implementing
78
Analyze
79
Differentiating
80