Moving to higher levels of the taxonomy, we next see learning objectives relating to analysis. An example of application familiar to medical librarians is the ability to use best practices in the literature searching process, such as using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms for key concepts in a search. This allows learners to use knowledge, skills, or techniques in new situations through application, the third level of Bloom’s taxonomy. Comprehension requires more cognitive processing than simply remembering information, and learning objectives that address comprehension will help learners begin to incorporate knowledge into their existing cognitive schemas by which they understand the world. For example, librarians might probe a learner’s understanding of information sources by asking the learner to compare and contrast the information found in those sources. Learners show comprehension of the meaning of the information that they encounter by paraphrasing it in their own words, classifying items in groups, comparing and contrasting items with other similar entities, or explaining a principle to others. Knowledge can be assessed by straightforward means, for example, multiple choice or short-answer questions that require the retrieval or recognition of information, for example, “Name five sources of drug information.” Health professionals must have command of vast amounts of knowledge such as protocols, interactions, and medical terminology that are committed to memory, but simple recall of facts does not provide evidence of comprehension, which is the next higher level in Bloom’s taxonomy.
Knowledge is the foundational cognitive skill and refers to the retention of specific, discrete pieces of information like facts and definitions or methodology, such as the sequence of events in a step-by-step process. The differentiation into categories of higher-order and lower-order skills arose later Bloom himself did not use these terms. The classification system came to be called Bloom’s taxonomy, after Benjamin Bloom, one of the editors of the volume, and has had significant and lasting influence on the teaching and learning process at all levels of education to the present day.īloom’s taxonomy contains six categories of cognitive skills ranging from lower-order skills that require less cognitive processing to higher-order skills that require deeper learning and a greater degree of cognitive processing ( Figure 1). With the publication in 1956 of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, an educational classic was born that powerfully incorporated these concepts to create a classification of cognitive skills.
To take an example from elementary school, knowing our multiplication tables by rote requires a qualitatively different type of thinking than does applying our multiplication skills through solving “word problems.” And in both cases, a teacher could assess our knowledge and skills in either of these types of thinking by asking us to demonstrate those skills in action, in other words, by doing something that is observable and measurable.
As learners, we know from experience that some learning tasks are more difficult than others.
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