Bloom's Taxonomy - Cognitive

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. This became a taxonomy including three overlapping domains; the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. Bloom's taxonomy is easily understood and widely applied.

Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation.

Knowledge

Remembering previously learned material.

Verbs: write, list, label, name, state, define.

Comprehension

The ability to grasp the meaning of material.

Verbs: explain, summarize, paraphrase, describe, illustrate.

Application

Use learned material in new and concrete situations.

Verbs: use, compute, solve, demonstrate, apply, construct.

Analysis

Break down material into its component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood.

Verbs: analyze, categorize, compare, contrast, separate.

Synthesis

Put parts together to form a new whole.

Verbs: create, design, hypothesize, invent, develop.

Evaluation

Ability to judge the value of material.

Verbs: judge, recommend, critique, justify.