Bloom’s Taxonomy, developed by Benjamin Bloom in the 1950s, provides a structured framework for categorizing educational goals, objectives, and standards — classifying cognitive skills into a hierarchy from basic knowledge recall to complex creation and innovation.
Origins and Evolution
Benjamin Bloom introduced the taxonomy in 1956. In 2001, Lorin Anderson (a former student of Bloom) led a revision that updated the categories to: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating.
The Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Remembering
Recall or recognize facts, terms, and basic concepts without necessarily understanding their deeper meanings. This is the foundational level — the entry point for all further learning.
Define, list, recall, identify, locate, select, memorize, match, name, repeat, show, indicate, record, classify, outline.
Understanding
Demonstrate comprehension by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, and describing — learners can explain ideas in their own words.
Summarize, explain, describe, illustrate, classify, compare, translate, predict, restate, simplify, generalize, infer, express, outline.
Applying
Use learned material through implementing, carrying out, or executing skills in practical situations — moving from knowing to doing.
Apply, implement, solve, demonstrate, operate, practice, sketch, experiment, dramatize, calculate, change, prepare, develop.
Analyzing
Break down information into parts to explore understandings and relationships. Distinguish between facts and inferences, identify motives or causes, and examine how parts contribute to the whole.
Analyze, compare, break down, distinguish, investigate, categorize, organize, attribute, outline, deconstruct, survey, question, test, diagram.
Evaluating
Make judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing. Assess the value of information, arguments, and ideas — and defend those assessments.
Evaluate, assess, critique, defend, measure, rate, recommend, conclude, prioritize, validate, criticize, weigh, approve, challenge, reflect.
Creating
Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole — reorganizing elements into a new pattern through generating, planning, or producing. The highest level of cognitive complexity.
Create, design, develop, plan, produce, compose, assemble, integrate, innovate, construct, conceive, modify, refine, transform.
Design objectives and assessments across all six levels — not just at the bottom. If all your learning activities only target Remembering and Understanding, learners won't develop the critical thinking and applied skills they need.
Practical Applications
Creating Effective Learning Objectives
Bloom’s levels translate directly into measurable objectives. The level you choose determines what kind of evidence you’ll need to assess it:
"List the steps of the scientific method."
"Design and conduct an experiment using the scientific method."
Designing Assessments
Match assessment format to the cognitive level you’re targeting:
Multiple-choice questions, definitions, matching exercises
Problem-solving scenarios, case studies, structured analysis tasks
Project-based assessments, design challenges, peer critique
Developing Interactive E-Learning Modules
Bloom’s taxonomy gives e-learning designers a clear map for activity selection:
Interactive quizzes and flashcards
Simulations and case studies
Creative assignments and capstone projects
Fostering Higher-Order Thinking
Incorporating analyzing, evaluating, and creating into lessons develops critical thinking and problem-solving, preparing learners for complex real-world challenges — not just for tests.
Bloom’s Taxonomy in Practice
Use the pyramid below to explore each level — click any tier to see verbs, design cues, and assessment ideas.
Related Frameworks
Bloom’s Taxonomy connects directly to other foundational frameworks in LXD:
- Backward Design: Bloom’s levels are the natural language for writing Stage One objectives in Wiggins & McTighe’s framework — the verb you choose determines what evidence you need in Stage Two
- Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction: Events 2 (inform objectives) and 8 (assess performance) map directly to Bloom’s — choose the cognitive level first, then write the event to match
- Action Mapping Methodology: Action Mapping asks what people need to do — Bloom’s clarifies the cognitive complexity of that doing, from remembering a procedure to creating a novel solution
- Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels: Kirkpatrick Level 2 (Learning) is best measured when objectives are written with specific Bloom’s verbs — without them, there’s nothing concrete to assess
Key Questions Answered
The most commonly asked questions about this topic, concisely answered.
- Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchical framework for classifying educational goals and cognitive skills, developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and revised in 2001. The six levels — Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating — progress from basic recall to complex original production.
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- 1. Remembering: Recall and recognize facts and basic concepts.
- 2. Understanding: Explain ideas in your own words.
- 3. Applying: Use knowledge in new, practical situations.
- 4. Analyzing: Break down information to explore relationships.
- 5. Evaluating: Make judgments based on criteria and defend them.
- 6. Creating: Combine elements to produce something new.
- Lorin Anderson, a former student of Bloom, led a revision that changed the category names from nouns to action verbs and reordered the top two levels. The original 'Synthesis' became Creating and moved to the top; 'Evaluation' became Evaluating. The revision also introduced a separate Knowledge Dimension alongside the Cognitive Process Dimension.
- Choose the cognitive level appropriate for the outcome you want, then select a matching action verb. The verb determines what evidence you need to assess it. For example: 'List the steps of a process' targets Remembering; 'Design a solution for a novel problem' targets Creating. Avoid vague verbs like 'understand' or 'know' that cannot be directly observed.
- Lower levels — Remembering and Understanding — test whether learners have acquired information, but they do not ensure learners can use that information in practice. Critical thinking, problem-solving, and professional competence require Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. A course that only tests recall produces learners who know facts but cannot apply them.
- Lower-order thinking (Remembering, Understanding) involves recognizing and explaining existing information. Higher-order thinking (Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating) requires learners to work with information in novel, complex ways — drawing inferences, making judgments, and producing original work. LXDs should deliberately design for higher-order thinking when the goal is transferable expertise.
- Each level maps to different activity types: flashcards and quizzes for Remembering and Understanding; simulations and problem sets for Applying and Analyzing; peer critique and design challenges for Evaluating and Creating. Selecting activities matched to the target cognitive level ensures practice is meaningful rather than merely engaging.
- In Backward Design's Stage 1, Bloom's verbs are the natural language for writing measurable learning objectives. The level you choose determines what Stage 2 assessments must look like — if the objective says 'analyze,' the assessment must require analysis, not just recall. Bloom's gives Backward Design its precision.
- The original taxonomy focuses on cognitive learning. Two companion taxonomies exist for other domains: Bloom's Affective Domain (values and attitudes) and the Psychomotor Domain (physical skills). For most LXD work, the cognitive taxonomy is the primary tool, but complex professional skills often involve all three domains simultaneously.
- Confusing the level of the objective with the difficulty of the content. A difficult topic can still be assessed only at the Remembering level (recall a complex formula), while a simple topic can be assessed at the Creating level (design a new version of something familiar). The taxonomy describes cognitive complexity, not content complexity.
- More relevant than ever. AI tools can handle Remembering and Understanding tasks instantly — making it critical that learning design focuses on higher-order skills (Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating) that AI cannot replicate. Bloom's Taxonomy helps designers identify which cognitive skills are uniquely human and worth investing instructional time in, versus which can be augmented or automated.
- Bloom's Taxonomy classifies cognitive processes (what the learner's brain does). Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) classifies the complexity of the task itself — how deeply a learner must engage with content to complete it. DOK focuses on the demand of the assessment task; Bloom's focuses on the type of thinking required. Both are useful and complementary for designing aligned assessments.
- Offer activities at multiple cognitive levels within the same module. Novice learners work on Remembering and Understanding tasks to build a foundation. More advanced learners skip to Applying or Analyzing activities that challenge them appropriately. This approach respects prior knowledge, prevents boredom, and ensures all learners are working at their optimal cognitive level.
