Bloom's Taxonomy

From: http://juliaec.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/blooms_taxonomy.jpg



In education it is essential that a system or taxonomy is used to classify the evaluation processes and educational objectives (Veal & MaKinster, n.d.). Bloom's taxonomy is the most widely used in education as it was created to give educators and researchers a common language in which to discuss curriculum and evaluation.

This taxonomy refers primarily to Bloom's Cognitive Domain and it is important for educators to recognise the differences between simple knowledge such as observing, listing, naming and the higher order thinking skills required for assessing, analysing, comparing or judging.  This will not necessarily be a linear process but one where the student will use and grow his own knowledge by using opportunities offered in his learning to hone his higher order thinking skills.

When looking at tertiary education, it does well to use Bloom’s taxonomy to see the level of thinking that is required to complete assigned tasks.  If we look at the table above, noting that the bottom level of the table, knowledge is one and the top is six, we need to understand that university level assessment should require student to perform at the third level and above (Chapman, 2008). 
Bibliography

Chapman, L. (2008). Curriculum mapping: The aligned curriculum. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from University of New England: http://www.une.edu.au/gamanual/staff/the_aligned_curriculum.pdf

Veal, W. R., & MaKinster, J. G. (n.d.). Pedagogical content knowledge taxonomies. Retrieved March 12, 2013, from College of Education: University of Nevada: http://wolfweb.unr.edu/homepage/crowther/ejse/vealmak.html