Bloom Taxonomy: Dimensions and Objectives

The Bloom's taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models that are used to classify different learning objectives according to their complexity and specificity. This classification considers that the learning is carried out in three levels: cognitive, affective and psychomotor.

Bloom's taxonomy gets its name from Benjamin Bloom, a pedagogue who chaired the committee of educators who created this classification system. In addition, he was the editor of the first volume of the system manual, called"Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Classification of educational goals".

Bloom Wheel

Later, in the second half of the 20th century, several manuals were published on the different types of educational objectives. In 1956 the one related to cognitive goals was published, and in 1964, the one that had to do with affective goals.

Dimensions of Bloom's taxonomy

6 Create, 5 Evaluate, 4 Analyze, 3 Apply, 2 Understand, 1 Remember

The creators of this classification system considered that learning objectives can be of three types: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Although traditional education has been concerned only with cognitive objectives, the three types are equally important for the correct development of students.

Within each of the dimensions, a series of levels are established, ranging from the simplest to the most complex. The creators of this classification system consider that it is necessary to go through each one of them to reach the most complicated ones.

Cognitive dimension

Since the appearance of Bloom's taxonomy, domains have changed slightly, especially after the 2001 revision of this classification system. At present, the levels of the cognitive dimension are the following: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create.

Memory

The first level, the memory, implies being able to store in the memory different types of information: facts, basic concepts, ideas... In this first level, it is not necessary to understand what these ideas mean, but only to remember them.

The level of memory, therefore, is the easiest to achieve, and often it is the only one that is achieved in traditional educational settings.

Comprehension

The second level, understanding, involves not only remembering information but also understanding its meaning. This is achieved through the organization, comparison and interpretation of memorized ideas.

The application

The third level, the application, is to use the knowledge memorized and understood to get solve problems . In this way, trainees should be able to extrapolate what they have learned to new situations that they have not encountered before.

Often, the application of learned ideas reinforces memorization and comprehension in turn.

Analysis

The fourth level is analysis. This level of cognitive learning involves examining the information learned, finding relationships among its components, and being able to make inferences, predictions and deductions.

In general, three components of information can be analyzed: the elements, their organization, and the relationship between them.

Evaluation

The fifth level of Bloom's new taxonomy is evaluation. It consists of being able to make judgments about ideas and their validity, as well as the method followed to reach them. The evaluation can be done based on internal evidence or external criteria, such as personal tastes.

New knowledge

Finally, the sixth level in the cognitive dimension of learning is the creation of new knowledge. In general, it is about reorganizing existing ideas in new ways, in such a way that alternative solutions to a problem are generated and new theories are proposed.

Before the 2001 revision of Bloom's model, this last category was not creation but the synthesis of knowledge.

Affective dimension

The affective dimension includes all those knowledge that serve to understand one's own feelings and those of others. It also has to do with skills like empathy , emotional management and communication of their own feelings .

According to the classification of Bloom's taxonomy, there are five levels in the affective domain, ranging from the simplest to the most complex: reception, response, assessment, organization and characterization.

Reception

At the reception, the first level and the simplest of all, the student only has to pay attention in a passive way.

Using his memory, he is able to recognize the emotional component of an interaction. Although it is the simplest level, without it others can not.

Answer

In the answer, the second level, the student acts after having recognized the emotional component of the situation. If given correctly, this level of affective learning can improve the student's predisposition to learn or motivation.

Evaluation

The third level, the evaluation, is that the apprentice gives a specific value to an object, an information or a phenomenon. This value can range from the simple acceptance of the fact, to a stronger commitment. The evaluation is based on the internalization of a series of specific values.

Organization

The fourth level is the organization. When it reaches it, the apprentice can organize different values, information and ideas, and can accommodate them within their own thinking schemes. The student compares his own values and is able to establish a hierarchy between them.

Characterization

In the last level, the characterization, the student is able to create his own value system that guides his behavior from that moment. When he reaches this level, the apprentice shows consistent, predictable and totally individual behavior, based on the values ​​he has acquired.

Psychomotor dimension

The third and last dimension, the psychomotor, has to do with the ability to physically manipulate a tool or an instrument. Therefore, psychomotor objectives usually have to do with learning new behaviors or abilities.

Although in the original classification of Bloom, subcategories for the psychomotor domain were never created, other educators have taken over and developed their own classification.

The most used is that of Simpson, which divides psychomotor learning in the following levels: perception, disposition, guided response, mechanism, complex response, adaptation and creation.

Perception

The first level, perception, implies the ability to use information from the environment to guide one's physical activity. Depending on the stimuli detected by the student, he can choose the best course of action for each moment.

D provision

The second level, the disposition, has to do with the predetermined answer that the apprentice will have before each type of stimulus. When a situation is given enough times, the student will have a disposition to offer a certain mental, physical and emotional response.

Guided response

The guided response, the third level, involves the practice of complex skills through imitation and trial and error. This level is essential to acquire mastery in a new skill.

Mechanism

The mechanism, the fourth level, is the intermediate point in the process of acquiring a complex skill. The learned answers have become habitual, and the movements can be done with a certain degree of confidence and success.

Complex answer

The next level, the complex answer, is the point at which a new skill has been mastered. The movements and actions can be carried out quickly, without requiring conscious and successful attention.

Adaptation

The adaptation, the penultimate level, consists of the learner's ability to modify the answers learned to adapt them to their own individual needs.

C reaction

Finally, creation consists in the development of new movements, actions and movements to adapt to new situations for which the skills learned are not enough.

General and specific objectives

Bloom's taxonomy was initially created with the objective of designing concrete objectives that would help students to acquire knowledge in a simpler way.

The idea was that by understanding how the learning process worked, educators could create goals that were in accordance with the pace at which their students were.

To help educators design specific objectives for their students based on the taxonomy, Bloom and his collaborators created tables of verbs with which they could be guided when proposing the goals of each stage.

Bloom's taxonomy can be used both to create general objectives (at the level of course objectives) and specific ones (which will be worked on in each lesson). The way to do it is the following:

• First, the objectives of the course are established. Being more extensive, only 3 to 5 of them are chosen. They are complex to measure, because they are related to all the contents that will be studied throughout the course.
• Then the objectives of the sessions are chosen. These have to be related to the general objectives of the course, in such a way that if all the session objectives are met, the general objective is achieved. In addition, the objectives of the sessions are those that will be evaluated throughout the course.
• To create the objectives of the sessions, educators have to move from the lowest part of Bloom's taxonomy to the highest. Using the lists of verbs included in the taxonomy, they can choose the type of objectives that will most help students to progress in their learning.

References

1. "Bloom's Taxonomy"in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.com.
2. "Bloom's Taxonomy"in: Center for teaching. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from Center for teaching: cft.vanderbilt.edu.
3. "Bloom's Taxonomy of learning domains"in: NwLink. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from NwLink: nwlink.com.
4. "Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objectives"in: Center for teaching and learning. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from Center for teaching and learning: teaching.uncc.edu.
5. "Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives"at: University of Arkansas. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from the University of Arkansas: tips.uark.edu.