Blooms Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy: A Practical Guide for Effective Learning and Critical Thinking
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a foundational framework for improving teaching and learning by organizing cognitive skills into six hierarchical levels. Developed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom and colleagues in 1956, this taxonomy helps instructors designing learning objectives, creating assignments, and assessing student understanding at increasing levels of cognitive complexity.
This guide introduces each level with clear definitions, reflective questions, and study strategies to help instructors support student learning and encourage higher-level thinking.
Understanding Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy classifies cognitive processes into six levels of increasing complexity:
| Blooms Taxonomy Levels | Level of Complexity |
|---|---|
| Foundational  Complex |
Each level represents a different stage of cognitive development, guiding learners from basic recall to advanced synthesis and evaluation.
The Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Learners recall basic facts, terms, and definition.
Remember
Action verbs: Define, recall, list, identify, match
Example Tasks:
- List the U.S. Presidents in order.
- Define photosynthesis.
- Match vocabulary words with their definitions.
- Recall the formula for the area of a triangle.
Understand
Learners explain ideas, summarize concepts, or interpret meaning.
Action verbs: Explain, summarize, classify, demonstrate
Example Tasks:
- Summarize the main idea of a paragraph.
- Explain Newton’s First Law in your own words.
- Compare democracy and monarchy.
- Interpret a line from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Apply
Learners use knowledge in new situations or solve problems.
Action Verbs: Apply, choose, relate, calculate
Example Tasks:
- Use a math formula to solve a word problem.
- Apply grammar rules to write your own sentence.
- Conduct an experiment to demonstrate evaporation.
- Use historical evidence to write a diary entry from a past event.
Analyze
Learners break down information into parts and examine relationships.
Action Verbs: Analyze, categorize, compare, contrast
Example tasks:
- Identify the cause and effect in a historical event.
- Compare themes across two novels.
- Analyze the structure of a scientific argument.
- Break a word problem into steps and explain the reasoning.
Evaluate
Make judgments and support them with reasons or evidence.
Action Verbs: Critique, judge, assess, defend
Example tasks:
- Write a critique of an editorial or article.
- Rank different solutions to an environmental problem.
- Judge the fairness of a court ruling using legal principles.
- Assess the credibility of sources in a research project.
Create
Build something new by combining ideas or concepts.
Action Verbs: Design, construct, formulate, invent
Example Tasks:
- Design a science experiment to test a hypothesis.
- Write a poem that conveys a theme from class.
- Develop a business plan for a sustainable product.
- Create a video explaining a complex math concept.
Integrating Bloom’s Taxonomy into Your Teaching
Effective teaching means choosing activities that match your course objectives and students’ needs. Higher-order thinking is valuable, but it is not always the goal. Sometimes it is more important for students to remember or understand key ideas first. Bloom’s Taxonomy can help you choose the suitable level of thinking for each learning outcomes, not as a fixed sequence to follow every time.
Additional Resources
For further exploration and application of Bloom’s Taxonomy, consider the following resources:
- Verbs for Assignments: The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University provides practical advice on how to use action verbs for assignments
- Using Bloom’s Taxonomy for effective study skills: University of North Carolina’s Learning Center suggests how to connect Bloom’s Taxonomy to effective study skills.
References
Anderson, W., Krathwohl, D. et al. (2001). A taxonomy of learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York, NY: Longman
The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning (2025, July 15). Harvard University, Taxonomy
of Learning. Taxonomies Learning
The Learning Center, University of North Carolin at Chapel Hill. (2025, July 15). Higher Order Thinking: Bloom’s Taxonomy. Higher Order Thinking