COGNITIVE DOMAIN TAXONOMIES
Bloom’s Taxonomy The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain( Bloom, Englehart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956 ) had an enormous influence on how we think of educational goals and teaching practice. This taxonomy is a comprehensive outline of a range of cognitive abilities that you might teach, classified into six major headings arranged from simple to complex.
The six main headings of the original Bloom’s taxonomy are Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
1 . Knowledge involves the recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and processes, or the recall of a pattern, structure, or setting. For measurement purposes, the recall situation involves little more than bringing to mind the appropriate material (p. 201 ).
2 . Comprehension represents the lowest level of understanding. It refers to a type of understanding or apprehension such that the individual knows what is being communicated and can make use of the material or idea being communicated without necessarily relating it to other material or seeing its fullest implications (p. 204 ).
3. Application involves the use of abstractions in particular and concrete situations to solve new or novel problems. The abstractions may be in the form of general ideas, rules of procedure, or generalized methods. The abstractions may also be technical principles, ideas, and theories, which must be remembered and applied (p. 205 ).
4 . Analysis involves the breakdown of a communication into its constituent elements or parts such that the relative hierarchy of ideas is made clear and/or the relations between the ideas expressed are made explicit. Such analyses are intended to clarify the communication, to indicate how the communication is organized and conveys its effects, and to identify its basis and arrangements (p. 205 ).
5 . Synthesis involves the putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole. This process involves working with pieces, parts, elements, and so on, arranging and combining them in such a way as to constitute a pattern or structure not clearly there before (p. 206 ).
6 . Evaluation requires judgments about the value of material and methods for given purposes, quantitative and qualitative judgments about the extent to which materials and methods satisfy criteria, and the use of a standard of appraisal. The criteria may be determined by the student or supplied to him (p. 207 ).