Bloom’s hierarchical classification from low-level to high-level thinking has proven invaluable for classroom instruction. The taxonomy provides a way to classify objectives and learning outcomes while showing its versatility as its use spread to a variety of educational applications. An important resource for writing objectives with verbs classified by level, the taxonomy helps teachers to track whether students are using higher-order thinking skills while engaged in a lesson.

Bloom’s taxonomy underwent a major revision by Krathwohl & Anderson (2001), as depicted in the Figure One. This revision allows teachers to identify the complexity of thinking required of the students by a lesson. The image below shows the increasing cognitive load and provides a short definition of each level.

Figure 1. Revised Bloom’s Technology

The verbs associated with differing levels of thinking skills required for any given task provide guidance as a teacher writes outcomes of any lesson for a class. For instance, a lower order outcome may be: The student will recall multiplication tables one through four. A higher order outcome might be: The student will differentiate between nutritious foods and foods with processed ingredients. When teachers understand the complexity of thinking levels required by the lesson, they may ensure that students have a good balance among all skills in the spectrum.   

Table 1. Verbs for planning with Bloom’s Taxonomy

Watch this video to think about how Bloom’s Taxonomy has been adapted over time and how we can apply the taxonomy to our use of technology in our classrooms.