Bloom’s Taxonomy

Having surveyed some skills needed, let’s try to put them into a more standard format. Bloom’s Taxonomy* has been accepted since the 1950s as a valuable tool for classifying skills in education.

Let’s start by running through the levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy, from lowest to highest cognitive skill. Please note that Bloom’s labels for the levels have a specific meaning, which may sometimes differ from the common interpretation of the level.

knowledge
at this level, knowledge is at its simplest level: whether you know something or not (e.g., a definition)
- factual knowledge
  you should be able to repeat facts, without showing any understanding of what they mean
comprehension
at this level, you have some understanding, but not a deep understanding
- ability to interpret, predict
  you should be able to interpret data, make predictions and otherwise show that you have a slightly deeper than purely factual understanding
application
application here has a narrower definition than in common usage: it includes classificaton and choosing an abstraction
- classify
  classifying a problem or solution would be one example of classification (is it divide-and-conquer or greedy? is it a sort or a search?)
- choose abstraction
  here the word “abstraction” has a slightly different meaning than in Computer Science: the term implies choosing a suitable formalism (e.g., variable names for real-world concepts modeled in a program)
analysis
this skill means something slightly different to the common-language usage of the term “analysis”. The meaning here implies being able to deal with solutions with multiple components, without solving an entire problem from scratch
- organize components of solution
  you need to be able to fit components together in the right order
- structure components of solution
  you need to be able to combine components
- ensure overall solution works
  you need to be sure that your combination works
synthesis
synthesis is a step above analysis, in that you need to put the entire solution together
- construct complete solutions out of components
  it is still assumed that the solution is made up of components, but you need to choose the components, and design the overall solution, rather than deal with components of a partial solution
evaluation
the meaning of “evaluation” is reasonably close to that in common usage: it implies judgment of a given piece of work. Specifically:
- apply criteria to judge given work
  given specific criteria, apply judgment (e.g., review a paper)
- find logical fallacies
  find errors in the logic of a solution, proof, paper, etc.

An important aspect of Bloom’s work was how to test skills at each level (what kind of question to ask). Here, the focus is on how to apply the taxonomy to curriculum design, so question style is not addressed. Looking up question styles for each level is a useful exercise to be sure that you understand each level’s definition.

* A taxonomy is a classification based on objective criteria.

Programming Early Considered Harmful SIGCSE 2001 23 March, Charlotte, NC