BLOOM'S TAXONOMY: DIMENSIONS AND OBJECTIVES - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The taxonomy of Bloom is a set of three hierarchical models that are used to classify different learning objectives depending on its complexity and specificity. This classification considers that learning takes place at three levels: cognitive, affective and psychomotor.

Bloom's taxonomy is named after Benjamin Bloom, a pedagogue who chaired the committee of educators who created this classification system. In addition, he was the editor of the first volume of the system manual, called "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of educational goals."

Bloom Wheel

Later, in the second half of the 20th century, several manuals were published on the different types of educational objectives. In 1956 the one related to cognitive goals was published, and in 1964, the one related to affective goals.

Bloom's taxonomic levels

6 Create, 5 Evaluate, 4 Analyze, 3 Apply, 2 Understand, 1 Remember

The creators of this classification system considered that the learning objectives can be of three types: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Despite the fact that traditional education has been concerned only with cognitive objectives, all three types are equally important for the correct development of students.

Within each of the dimensions, a series of levels are established, ranging from the simplest to the most complex. The creators of this classification system consider that it is necessary to go through each of them to reach the most complicated ones.

Cognitive dimension

Since the appearance of the Bloom taxonomy, the domains have changed slightly, especially after the 2001 revision of this classification system. At present, the levels of the cognitive dimension are: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create.

Memory

The first level, memory, implies being able to store different types of information in memory: facts, basic concepts, ideas… At this first level, it is not necessary to understand what these ideas mean, just remember them.

The level of recall, therefore, is the easiest to achieve, and is often the only one achieved in traditional educational settings.

Comprehension

The second level, understanding, involves not only remembering information but also understanding its meaning. This is accomplished by organizing, comparing, and interpreting memorized ideas.

The application

The third level, application, consists of using memorized and understood knowledge to solve problems. In this way, learners must be able to extrapolate what they have learned to new situations that they have not encountered before.

Often times, applying the ideas learned in turn reinforces memorization and understanding.

Analysis

The fourth level is analysis. This level of cognitive learning involves examining the information learned, finding relationships between its components, and being able to make inferences, predictions, and deductions.

In general, three components of information can be analyzed: the elements, their organization, and the relationship between them.

Evaluation

The fifth level of Bloom's new taxonomy is evaluation. It consists of being able to make judgments about ideas and their validity, as well as about the method followed to arrive at them. The evaluation can be done based on internal evidence or external criteria, such as personal taste.

New insights

Finally, the sixth level in the cognitive dimension of learning is the creation of new knowledge. In general, it is about reorganizing existing ideas in novel ways, in such a way that alternative solutions to a problem are generated and new theories are proposed.

Before the 2001 revision of Bloom's model, this last category was not creation but synthesis of knowledge.

Affective dimension

The affective dimension includes all those knowledge that serve to understand one's own feelings and those of others. It also has to do with skills such as empathy, emotional management and communication of one's own feelings.

According to Bloom's taxonomy classification, there are five levels in the affective domain, ranging from the simplest to the most complex: reception, response, assessment, organization, and characterization.

Reception

At the reception, the first and simplest level of all, the student only has to pay attention passively.

Using his memory, he is able to recognize the emotional component of an interaction. Although it is the simplest level, without it the others cannot exist.

Reply

In response, the second level, the student acts after having recognized the emotional component of the situation. If done correctly, this level of affective learning can improve the student's predisposition to learn or their motivation.

Evaluation

The third level, evaluation, consists of the learner assigning a specific value to an object, information or phenomenon. This value can range from the simple acceptance of the fact, to a stronger commitment. The evaluation is based on the internalization of a series of specific values.

Organization

The fourth level is organization. When it reaches it, the learner can organize different values, information and ideas, and can accommodate them within their own thinking patterns. The student compares his own values ​​and is able to establish a hierarchy between them.

Characterization

At the last level, characterization, the student is able to create his own value system that guides his behavior from that moment on. When it reaches this level, the learner shows a consistent, predictable and totally individual behavior, based on the values ​​that he has acquired.

Psychomotor dimension

The psychomotor dimension has to do with the ability to physically manipulate a tool or an instrument. Therefore, psychomotor goals are usually related to learning new behaviors or skills.

Although no subcategories were created for the psychomotor domain in Bloom's original classification, other educators have taken over and developed their own classification.

The most used is that of Simpson, which divides psychomotor learning into the following levels: perception, disposition, guided response, mechanism, complex response, adaptation and creation.

Perception

The first level, perception, involves the ability to use information from the environment to guide one's physical activity. Depending on the stimuli detected by the student, he will be able to choose the best course of action for each moment.

Provision

The second level, the disposition, has to do with the predetermined response that the learner will have to each type of stimulus. When a situation occurs enough times, the student will have a willingness to offer a determined mental, physical and emotional response.

Guided response

Guided response, the third level, involves the practice of complex skills through imitation and trial and error. This level is essential for mastering a new skill.

Mechanism

The mechanism, the fourth level, is the intermediate point in the process of acquiring a complex skill. Learned responses have become commonplace, and movements can be performed with a degree of confidence and success.

Complex response

The next level, the complex answer, is the point at which a new skill has been mastered. Movements and actions can be performed quickly, without requiring conscious attention and successfully.

Adaptation

Adaptation, the penultimate level, is the learner's ability to modify learned responses to suit his own individual needs.

Creation

Finally, creation consists of the development of new movements, actions and movements to adapt to new situations for which the skills learned are not enough.

General and specific objectives

Bloom's taxonomy was originally created with the aim of designing specific objectives that would help students to acquire knowledge more easily.

The idea was that by understanding how the learning process worked, educators could create goals that matched the pace of their students.

To help educators design concrete goals for their students based on the taxonomy, Bloom and her collaborators created verb tables that they could use to guide them in proposing goals for each stage.

Bloom's taxonomy can be used both to create general objectives (at the level of course objectives) and specific objectives (which will be worked on in each lesson). The way to do it is as follows:

• The objectives of the course are established first. As they are more extensive, only 3 to 5 of them are chosen. They are complex to measure, because they are related to all the content that will be studied throughout the course.
• Then the objectives of the sessions are chosen. These have to be related to the general objectives of the course, in such a way that if all the session objectives are met, the general objective is achieved. In addition, the objectives of the sessions are those that will be evaluated throughout the course.
• To create session goals, educators have to move from the lowest part of Bloom's taxonomy to the highest. Using the lists of verbs included in the taxonomy, they can choose the type of objectives that will most help students to progress in their learning.

Development of objectives

The development of the objectives will be linked to a purpose that will vary according to the person who makes the application. Because of this, a couple of main tools were established:

• The definition of the structure, a general and specific objective, would be described as follows: verb in infinitive + content. In the content area, it refers to concepts, data, processes, attitudes.
• A list of verbs that can be used for the elaboration of general and specific objectives. To get a better idea about it, some examples are presented below:

-Verbs for general objectives: analyze, calculate, categorize, compare, formulate, substantiate, generate, identify, compile, infer, specify, show, contrast, guide, create.

-Verbs for specific objectives: warn, analyze, base, calculate, state, specify, estimate, examine, explain, fraction, rate, categorize, compare, fraction, identify.

The elaboration of the objectives, in the cognitive dimension, will depend on the person who wishes to put it into practice, however, this illustration will serve to better illustrate this process, which requires taking into account several important aspects:

critics

Even today, Bloom's taxonomy still remains an important resource in recent years, as educators see it as a powerful tool in the classroom.

However, the arrival of the Digital Age as well as new technological developments and studies of the human brain, has caused a series of criticisms of this approach:

• Its bases are based on the behavioral principles that became popular in the mid-20th century. That is why it shows a delay in the evolution of study and learning.
• The fact that educators emphasize memorization is criticized, leaving aside other equally important cognitive processes. Learning cannot be mechanical.
• Due to the fragmentation of the curriculum, it lacks a broader vision of the general objectives that the educational system should pursue, even comparing it with a business model.
• Bloom's taxonomy is often confused as a theory of learning, when rather it is a tool to improve the educational process. Therefore, it is believed that it seeks to explain the human thought process when that is not its objective.
• Taxonomy, certainly, gathers main parameters for the impartation of knowledge. However, ailments and other factors that affect the learning process were left in the background and, furthermore, were highlighted by neuroscience. Some of them are: dyslexia, the influence of emotions, types of memory and types of intelligence.
• It only reinforces the area of ​​cognition, giving less prominence to the other two dimensions of the taxonomy.
• There is presence of ambiguity and lack of precision in various concepts, among the most outstanding are those related to knowledge and memory. In the case of memory, the taxonomy seems to only mention a single type, when there really are others that are also an important part of the learning process.
• With the advent of the Digital Age, Bloom's taxonomy became obsolete. However, the review carried out by the doctor, Andrew Churches, introduces a series of tools typical of the time to enhance the categories established by Bloom.
• It encourages passivity and homogenization of education, instead of enhancing individuality and differentiating abilities.
• Leave creative skills in the background.
• It is an interesting resource for scientific subjects but not for less predictable areas such as those that are linked to the arts.

References

1. "Bloom's Taxonomy" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.com.
2. "Bloom's Taxonomy" in: Center for teaching. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from Center for teaching: cft.vanderbilt.edu.
3. "Bloom's Taxonomy of learning domains" in: NwLink. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from NwLink: nwlink.com.
4. "Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objects" in: Center for teaching and learning. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from Center for teaching and learning: teaching.uncc.edu.
5. "Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives" in: University of Arkansas. Retrieved on: February 27, 2018 from University of Arkansas: tips.uark.edu.