In 1956, Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom found that over 90 % of the test questions students encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level...the recall of information. (See Benjamin Bloom, ed. Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. New York: Longmans, 1956).
Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation. Verb examples that represent intellectual activity on each level are listed here.
1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
2. Understanding (or Comprehension): classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate.
3. Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
4. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
5. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
6. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.
Six question categories as defined by Bloom:
KNOWLEDGE
* remembering; memorizing; * recognizing; recall of information * Who, what, when, where, how ...?
UNDERSTANDING (OR COMPREHENSION) * interpreting; translating from one