Understand Bloom's Taxanomy Today!

By K.M. LEW 

Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing level of abstraction of questions
that commonly occur in educational settings. The taxonomy provides a useful structure in
which to categorize test questions, since professors will characteristically ask questions
within particular levels, and if you can determine the levels of questions that will appear
on your exams, you will be able to study using appropriate strategies.

As teachers we tend to ask questions in the "knowledge" catagory 80% to 90% of the
time. These questions are not bad, but using them all the time is. Try to utilize higher
order level of questions. These questions require much more "brain power" and a more
extensive and elaborate answer. Below are the six question categories as defined by
Bloom.

KNOWLEDGE
o remembering;
o memorizing;
o recognizing;
o recalling identification and
o recall of information

 - Who, what, when, where, how ...?

 - Describe

COMPREHENSION
o interpreting;
o translating from one medium to another;
o describing in one's own words;
o organization and selection of facts and ideas

 - Retell...

APPLICATION
o problem solving;
o applying information to produce some result;
o use of facts, rules and principles
 - How is...an example of...?

 - How is...related to...?

 - Why is...significant?

ANALYSIS
o subdividing something to show how it is put together;
o finding the underlying structure of a communication;
o identifying motives;
o separation of a whole into component parts

 - What are the parts or features of...?

 - Classify...according to...

 - Outline/diagram...

 - How does...compare/contrast with...?

 - What evidence can you list for...?

SYNTHESIS
o creating a unique, original product that may be in verbal form or may be a physical object;
o combination of ideas to form a new whole
 - What would you predict/infer from...?
 - What ideas can you add to...?
 - How would you create/design a new...?
 - What might happen if you combined...?
 - What solutions would you suggest for...?
 

EVALUATION
o making value decisions about issues;
o resolving controversies or differences of opinion;
o development of opinions, judgements or decisions
 - Do you agree...?
 - What do you think about...?
 - What is the most important...?
 - Place the following in order of priority...
 - How would you decide about...?
 - What criteria would you use to assess...?