Bulacan State University Malolos, Bulacan

A Revision of Blooms Taxonomy

Charlaine G. Reyes BSEd II-G December 17, 2012

Learning taxonomies attempt to break down and categorize types of learning to help designers (of instruction, information, education, performance) develop objectives and learning strategies best matched to the specific type of learning targeted. They are at the core of most approaches to instructional design. A goal of Bloom's Taxonomy (in full: 'Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains', or strictly speaking: Bloom's 'Taxonomy of Educational Objectives') is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education. This taxonomy of learning behaviors can be thought of as the goals of the learning process. That is, after a learning episode, the learner should have acquired new skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes. Benjamin Bloom (1956), identified three domains of educational activities: The cognitive domain (Bloom, 1956) involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. This includes the recall or recognition of specific facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills. There are six major categories, which are listed in order below, starting from the simplest behavior to the most complex. The categories can be thought of as degrees of difficulties. That is, the first ones must normally be mastered before the next ones can take place. 1. Knowledge: Remembering or retrieving previously learned material. 2. Comprehension: The ability to grasp or construct meaning from material. 3. Application: The ability to use learned or implement material in new and concrete situations. 4. Analysis: The ability to break down or distinguish the parts of material into its components so that its organizational structure may be better understood. 5. Synthesis: The ability to put parts together to form a coherent or unique new whole. 6. Evaluation: The ability to judge, check, and even critique the value of material for a given purpose. The affective domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, Masia, 1973) includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes. The five major categories are listed from the simplest behavior to the most complex: 1. Receiving : This refers to the learner's sensitivity to the existence of stimuli - awareness, willingness to receive, or selected attention. 2. Responding: This refers to the learners' active attention to stimuli and his/her motivation to learn - acquiescence, willing responses, or feelings of satisfaction. 3. Valuing: This refers to the learner's beliefs and attitudes of worth - acceptance, preference, or commitment. An acceptance, preference, or commitment to a value. 4. Organization: This refers to the learner's internalization of values and beliefs involving (1) the conceptualization of values; and (2) the organization of a value system. As values or beliefs become internalized, the leaner organizes them according to priority. 5. Characterization: the Internalization of values: This refers to the learner's highest of internalization and relates to behavior that reflects (1) a generalized set of values; and (2) a characterization or a philosophy about life. At this level the learner is capable of practicing and acting on their values or beliefs. The psychomotor domain (Simpson, 1972) includes physical movement, coordination, and use of the motor-skill areas. Development of these skills requires practice and is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance, procedures, or techniques in execution. 1. Reflex movements: Objectives at this level include reflexes that involve one segmental or reflexes of the spine and movements that may involve more than one segmented portion of the spine as intersegmental reflexes (e.g., involuntary muscle contraction). These movements are involuntary being either present at birth or emerging through maturation. 2. Fundamental movements: Objectives in this area refer to skills or movements or behaviors related to walking, running, jumping, pushing, pulling and manipulating. They are often components for more complex actions. 3. Perceptual abilities: Objectives in this area should address skills related to kinesthetic (bodily movements), visual, auditory, tactile (touch), or coordination abilities as they are related to the ability take in information from the environment and react.

4. Physical abilities: Objectives in this area should be related to endurance, flexibility, agility, strength, reaction-response time or dexterity. 5. Skilled movements: Objectives in this area refer to skills and movements that must be learned for games, sports, dances, performances, or for the arts. 6. Non-discursive communication: Objectives in this area refer to expressive movements through posture, gestures, facial expressions, and/or creative movements like those in mime or ballet. These movements refer to interpretative movements that communicate meaning without the aid of verbal commands or help. Domains can be thought of as categories. Trainers often refer to these three categories as KSA (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude). This taxonomy of learning behaviors can be thought of as the goals of the learning process. That is, after a learning episode, the learner should have acquired new skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes. While Bloom pushed for the use of the term "taxonomy," others in the group resisted because of the unfamiliarity of the term within educational circles. Eventually Bloom prevailed, forever linking his name and the term. The small volume intended for university examiners "has been transformed into a basic reference for all educators worldwide. Unexpectedly, it has been used by curriculum planners, administrators, researchers, and classroom teachers at all levels of education" While it should be noted that other educational taxonomies and hierarchical systems have been developed, it is Bloom's Taxonomy which remains, even after nearly fifty years, the de facto standard. Understanding that "taxonomy" and "classification" are synonymous helps dispel uneasiness with the term. Bloom's Taxonomy is a multi-tiered model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity. Throughout the years, the levels have often been depicted as a stairway, leading many teachers to encourage their students to "climb to a higher (level of) thought." The lowest three levels are: knowledge, comprehension, and application. The highest three levels are: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. "The taxonomy is hierarchical; [in that] each level is subsumed by the higher levels. In other words, a student functioning at the 'application' level has also mastered the material at the 'knowledge' and 'comprehension' levels." Clearly, 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. Nonetheless, one recent revision (designed by one of the co-editors of the original taxonomy along with a former Bloom student) merits particular attention. 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. This time "representatives of three groups [were present]: cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists" .Like the original group, they were also arduous and diligent in their pursuit of learning, spending six years to finalize their work. Published in 2001, the revision includes several seemingly minor yet actually quite significant changes. Several excellent sources are available which detail the revisions and reasons for the changes. A more concise summary appears here. The changes occur in three broad categories: terminology, structure, and emphasis. Changes in terminology between the two versions are perhaps the most obvious differences and can also cause the most confusion. Noun to Verb Taxonomy reflects different forms of (thinking is an active process) verbs describe actions, nouns do not thinking

Reorganized categories Knowledge = product/outcome of thinking (inappropriate to describe a category of thinking) now remembering Comprehension now understanding Synthesis now creating to better reflect nature of thinking described by each category

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. Changes in Structure seem dramatic at first, yet are quite logical when closely examined.

Bloom's cognitive taxonomy from a one-dimensional form into a two-dimensional form. The Knowledge Dimension (or the kind of knowledge to be learned). It is composed of four levels that are defined as Factual, Conceptual, Procedural, and MetaCognitive. The Cognitive Process Dimension (or the process used to learn). It consists of six levels that are defined as Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create. "Taxonomy Table"

The resulting grid, containing 19 subcategories is most helpful to teachers in both writing objectives and aligning standards with curricular. Using this cross-impact grid, one can match objectives and activities to the types of knowledge to the cognitive process. Changes in Emphasis USE- more authentic tool for curriculum planning, instructional delivery and assessment Aimed at broader audience Easily applied to all levels of education Revision emphasizes explanation and description of subcategories

OPINION: After having a painstaking research about Blooms taxonomy, I am now more knowledgeable (of course) and not missing out a great educational resource. I find it very helpful to use Bloom's taxonomy as a way to help me as a teacher candidate to organize course goals and daily plans in the future. I am also encouraged to use the verbs from Blooms to create goals for a given day or course, so it's reaffirming. I appreciate the shift from passive (noun) terms to active (verb) terms to describe the skills/actions learners should accomplish/perform. Moreover, I find it amazing that Blooms Taxonomy includes all categories and levels, wherein each must be mastered before moving to the next. Also, I have related this concept with Stephen Krashens Input Hypothesis which has a big impact on my thinking of how we learn language. According to this hypothesis, we best learn language when the input is one step higher than the prior stage of the learner. Meaning to say, if we are not yet done from the first stage, then we cannot surpass the next stage. For example, in the Cognitive domain, you would first master Recall, then Understanding, next Apply etc. In Language, we cannot jump or skip from grammar then to language use. Everything seems to be interrelated when it comes to learning. In addition, I do like the idea of having a set of steps in learning and I like the idea of graduating from one level to the next. It helps you see what a firm foundation looks like. The model also serves as a sort of checklist, by which you can ensure that the course is planned to deliver all the necessary development for students, and a template by which you can assess the validity and coverage of any existing course or curriculum. With this idea, the learning is more to be an integrated process. Furthermore, the three learning domains cited were really helpful to understand the general idea about how learning happens. We may use the term thinking, feeling and doing, to restate them into other words or make them easier to understand. When you learn of something new, think in terms of a progression. First you learn it intellectually so you understand it. Next, you have an emotional connection for or against it. Next, you sustain it into your body to the point where your body just knows what to do. I think this helps explain why experience is such an important teacher. The experience reaches beyond the intellectual level to the emotional and physical. The more we are experiencing, the deeper the sense of knowing. In the definitions cited on the web, Blooms Taxonomy aims to develop students holistically. Then, if all educators are using and creating more holistic objectives, and so it might create additional neutral pathways. Because, I believe that it is imperative for educators not to intentionally ignore instances where an array of domains can be included in lessons. If all educators could value their teaching in this light, would we have students developed in a holistic nature. Consequently, taxonomies do have the purpose of guiding learning strategies. I think they remain useful even in more integrative, holistic instructional design. Bloom had convinced me of the importance of thinking behaviors in the processes of learning. But in addition, I would like to say that it is beyond just thinking and doing, it is about making it happen. I am also convinced to use this revised taxonomy in the future. I would prefer to use something which is proven than not. Aside from that, everything especially in learning should be on a step by step process. Learning is not a one-shot deal. I believe that if every educator uses this as a guide in creating goals, they will much better understand their students. It is inevitable that each of us has differences other may be a fast learner, others are slow. Educators who are aware of understanding the cognitive, affective and the psychomotor domain of their students will be capable to succeed and achieve a learning which is going to last and be remembered for a longer time. Remember, the three learning domains is the root of success in learning.

Charlaine G. Reyes BSEd II-G Principles of Teaching 1 Dr. Avelina M. Aquino