Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical framework for classifying learning objectives according to their cognitive complexity. Originally published by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and revised in 2001, it organises cognitive skills into six levels: Remember (recall facts), Understand (explain concepts), Apply (use knowledge in new situations), Analyse (break information into components), Evaluate (make judgements based on criteria), and Create (produce new work using learned knowledge).
Instructional designers use Bloom’s Taxonomy to write clear, measurable learning objectives and to ensure training progresses from lower-order thinking (remembering facts) to higher-order skills (applying, analysing, creating). It also guides assessment design — a “Remember” objective is tested by a recall question; a “Create” objective requires the learner to produce something original.
The 6 Levels (Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy)
- Remember: Define, list, recall, recognise
- Understand: Explain, summarise, classify, describe
- Apply: Use, demonstrate, solve, execute
- Analyse: Compare, differentiate, organise, deconstruct
- Evaluate: Judge, critique, justify, assess
- Create: Design, build, compose, develop
See also: Learning Objectives, Instructional Design, Assessment and Evaluation
« Back to Glossary Index