Bloom’s Taxonomy
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom found that over 95 % of the test questions students encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level: the recall of information.
Below are the six question categories as defined by Bloom.
1) Knowledge: remembering, memorizing; recognizing, recalling identification and recall of information (Who, what, when, where, how ...? Describe )
2 ) Understanding/comprehension: interpreting, translating from one medium to another; describing in one's own words; organization and selection of facts and ideas (Retell.).
3) Application: problem solving, applying information to produce some result, use of facts, rules and principles (How is...an example of...? How is...related to...?)
4) Analysis: subdividing something to show how it is put together; finding the underlying structure of a communication; identifying motives; separation of a whole into component parts (What are the parts or features of...? Outline/diagram... How does...compare/contrast with...? What evidence can you list for..?)
5) Synthesis: creating a unique, original product that may be in verbal form or may be a physical object; combination of ideas to form a new whole (What would you predict..? 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...?).
6) Evaluation: making value decisions about issues; resolving controversies or differences of opinion; 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..?)
(Adapted from http://officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm)
