Blooms Taxonomy

For a teacher specially those who are implementing an Outcome Based Objective  (OBE) type of teaching/learning, Bloom's Taxonomy is very imperative in preparing class lessons, test questions, class activities, etc.Teachers want to insure that their lessons are varied and that they encourage thinking at different levels of the taxonomy- ranging from recitation and labeling to reconstructing and summarizing.

What is Bloom's Taxonomy?

1. Bloom's taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives within education proposed in 1956 by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom, who also edited the first volume of the standard text, Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals. ...
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blooms_taxonomy

Our education systems often describe the outcomes they expect from students as knowledge, skills and attitudes – KSAs.  Knowledge refers to mental skills or the cognitive domain of learning.  Skills refers to the psychomotor or manual skills that need to be developed by school aged members of society.  Attitudes are the growth in affective or emotional areas. 

Source: http://gramconsulting.com/2009/02/fun-with-learning-taxonomies/

The tables below show how Blooms Taxonomy can be applied:

Table 1: Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for Knowledge-Based Goals

LEVEL OF EXPERTISE	DESCRIPTION OF LEVEL	EXAMPLE OF MEASURABLE STUDENT OUTCOME
1. KNOWLEDGE	Recall, or recognition of terms, ideas, procedure, theories, etc.	When is the first day of Spring?
2. COMPREHENSION	Translate, interpret, extrapolate, but not see full implications or transfer to other situations, closer to literal translation.	What does the summer solstice represent?
3. APPLICATION	Apply abstractions, general principles, or methods to specific concrete situations.	What would Earth's seasons be like if its orbit was perfectly circular?
4. ANALYSIS	Separation of a complex idea into its constituent parts and an understanding of organization and relationship between the parts. Includes realizing the distinction between hypothesis and fact as well as between relevant and extraneous variables.	Why are seasons reversed in the southern hemisphere?
5. SYNTHESIS	Creative, mental construction of ideas and concepts from multiple sources to form complex ideas into a new, integrated, and meaningful pattern subject to given constraints.	If the longest day of the year is in June, why is the northern hemisphere hottest in August?
6. EVALUATION	To make a judgment of ideas or methods using external evidence or self-selected criteria substantiated by observations or informed rationalizations.	What would be the important variables for predicting seasons on a newly discovered planet?

Table 2: Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for Skills-Based Goals

LEVEL OF EXPERTISE	DESCRIPTION OF LEVEL	EXAMPLE OF MEASURABLE STUDENT OUTCOME
PERCEPTION	Uses sensory cues to guide actions	Some of the colored samples you see will need dilution before you take their spectra. Using only observation, how will you decide which solutions might need to be diluted?
SET	Demonstrates a readiness to take action to perform the task or objective	Describe how you would go about taking the absorbance spectra of a sample of pigments?
GUIDED RESPONSE	Knows steps required to complete the task or objective	Determine the density of a group of sample metals with regular and irregular shapes.
MECHANISM	Performs task or objective in a somewhat confident, proficient, and habitual manner	Using the procedure described below, determine the quantity of copper in your unknown ore. Report its mean value and standard deviation.
COMPLEX OVERT RESPONSE	Performs task or objective in a confident, proficient, and habitual manner	Use titration to determine the Ka for an unknown weak acid.
ADAPTATION	Performs task or objective as above, but can also modify actions to account for new or problematic situations	You are performing titrations on a series of unknown acids and find a variety of problems with the resulting curves, e.g., only 3.0 ml of base is required for one acid while 75.0 ml is required in another. What can you do to get valid data for all the unknown acids?
ORGANIZATION	Creates new tasks or objectives incorporating learned ones	Recall your plating and etching experiences with an aluminum substrate. Choose a different metal substrate and design a process to plate, mask, and etch so that a pattern of 4 different metals is created.

Table 3: Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for Affective Goals

LEVEL OF EXPERTISE	DESCRIPTION OF LEVEL	EXAMPLE OF MEASURABLE STUDENT OUTCOME
RECEIVING	Demonstrates a willingness to participate in the activity	When I'm in class I am attentive to the instructor, take notes, etc. I do not read the newspaper instead.
RESPONDING	Shows interest in the objects, phenomena, or activity by seeking it out or pursuing it for pleasure	I complete my homework and participate in class discussions.
VALUING	Internalizes an appreciation for (values) the objectives, phenomena, or activity	I seek out information in popular media related to my class.
ORGANIZATION	Begins to compare different values, and resolves conflicts between them to form an internally consistent system of values	Some of the ideas I've learned in my class differ from my previous beliefs. How do I resolve this?
CHARACTERIZATION BY A VALUE OR VALUE COMPLEX	Adopts a long-term value system that is "pervasive, consistent, and predictable"	I've decided to take my family on a vacation to visit some of the places I learned about in my class.

Source: http://teaching.uncc.edu/articles-books/best-practice-articles/goals-objectives/blooms-taxonomy-educational-objectives