Where did that taxonomy come from?

Benjamin Bloom was born in Lansford, Pennsylvania, on February 21, 1913. His academic credentials include a Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania State University in 1935, a Masters of Science from Pennsylvania in 1935, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1942. Bloom also served at the University of Chicago as a university examiner from 1943-1959 and professor of education from 1943-1970.

Bloom is associated with several publications, including: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956), Stability and Change in Human Characteristics (1964), Human Characteristics and School Learning (1976), All Our Children Learning (1981), and Developing Talent in Young People (1985). His major contributions to the field of education are: mastery learning, his model of talent development, and “Bloom’s Taxonomy” (Funderstanding, 1998, October 31).

Huitt relates that “Beginning in 1948, a group of educators undertook the task of classifying education goals and objectives. The intention was to develop a classification system for three domains: the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor. Work on the cognitive domain was completed in 1956 and is commonly referred to as Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain although the full title was Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain with the text having 4 other authors (M. Englehart, E. Furst, W. Hill, and D. Krathwohl). The major idea of the taxonomy is that what educators want students to know (and, therefore, statements of educational objectives) can be arranged in a hierarchy from less to more complex.” Cross (1988) writes, “The assumption underlying what has become known as the ‘Bloom Taxonomy’ is that cognitive abilities can be measured along a continuum from simple to complex.”

A practical application of the taxonomy was developed by Bloom in 1968 which he called “Benjamin Bloom’s Learning for Mastery,” subsequently referred to as “mastery learning,” based on the concept that all children can learn given individualized rewards as they progress through a sequentially structured program of performance objectives derived from, of course, the Bloom taxonomy.

Activity:

Using the links below or others of your own, research how the taxonomy has been used in instruction. How do you feel the taxonomy will be useful to you when you teach? Summarize your findings and conclusions in a word processed document to share with your class.

Want to know more? Check out these sites:

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learning/pubs/oct97/li_multi.html

http://www.umuc.edu/ugp/ewp/bloomtax.html

http://pixel.fhda.edu/id/Goals/goals_bloomtax.html

Sources:

Bloom, B. (1976). Human characteristics and school learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Bloom, B., Englehart, M., Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain (1st ed.). New York: David McKay.

Cross, K. P., & angelo, T. A. (1998). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for faculty. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan.

Huitt, W. (1998, October). Bloom et al.’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Educational psychology interactive: The cognitive domain.