About Bloom's Taxonomy

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy, developed by Benjamin Bloom and other educational psychologists in 1956, is a system for understanding how people learn. Bloom and his colleagues identified three domains for learning:

Bloom’s Taxonomy is recognized as an effective and important tool in the field of learning design and education. Using the three domains in the taxonomy, instructors can design learning events and activities that promote a progression of learning from rudimentary knowledge acquisition to a deeper, or higher, level of learning.

The cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy classifications

In your course, you can design educational content using the cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The cognitive domain, as described in Bloom’s Taxonomy, includes six levels of learning:

Bloom’s Taxonomy and online education

The cognitive domain in Bloom’s Taxonomy is particularly well-suited to the online educational experience, which differs from the classroom experience in that face-to-face communication is limited or, in some cases, nonexistent. The absence of visual, verbal, auditory, and other forms of face-to-face feedback between students and instructors means that online educational content must be presented clearly and unambiguously. This requirement mitigates situations in which instructors are not immediately available to respond to student confusion or questions.

Bloom’s Taxonomy assists in clarifying online educational content by:

The following table details how Bloom's Taxonomy might apply to a class on communication management. Notice that the objectives move in a logical progression from the lower to higher levels of learning, allowing students to master each level in preparation for the next. Note, too, that the learning objectives are clear, measurable, and inform observable behavioral outcomes.

Bloom's Classification Level Learning Objective
Knowledge Level Match communication styles with their definitions.
Comprehension Level Identify the type of communication style from scenario-based examples.
Application Level Apply the appropriate communication style with individuals who have varying communication styles.
Analysis Level Predict outcomes of interpersonal interactions based on an analysis of participants' communication styles and responses.
Synthesis Level Design a new communication model that incorporates methods appropriate to given circumstances and populations.
Evaluation Level Evaluate the success or failure of a given communication model among a specified population.