Bloom's taxonomy
Six levels of thinking, from remembering a fact to creating something new. A quiz that climbs them tests more than memory.
The six levels, in a quiz about the water cycle
Remember
Recall facts, terms and definitions as they were learnt.
- name
- list
- define
- recall
ExampleWhat is it called when water vapour turns into drops in a cloud?
Understand
Show what something means, in other words than the book's.
- explain
- give an example
- summarise
ExampleWhy does a puddle disappear on a sunny day?
Apply
Use what was learnt in a situation that's new.
- use
- solve
- work out
- predict
ExampleOn which day does wet washing on the line dry fastest?
Analyse
Take it apart: causes, patterns, what matters and what doesn't.
- compare
- sort
- find the cause
ExampleA cold glass gets wet on the outside. Where does the water come from?
Evaluate
Judge by criteria: which claim holds, which solution is best.
- judge
- choose
- argue
- check
ExampleSomeone says rain is new water made in the clouds. Which fact shows it's wrong?
Create
Put ideas together into a plan, a design or a solution.
- design
- plan
- invent
- combine
ExampleYou're on an island with only seawater. Which plan gives you water to drink?
Bloom or SOLO?
Bloom
Says what kind of thinking a question asks for: remembering, applying, judging.
SOLO
Says how much of the subject an answer pulls together: one idea, several, linked or taken further.
Bloom + SOLO
Bloom + SOLO gives each kind of thinking a depth, e.g. Apply at Relational.
Use it in your quiz
Under More settings, choose Bloom at Number of questions, and give each level as many questions as you like, 20 at most. Tjaz writes them in that order.
Make a quizBenjamin Bloom and his colleagues described the levels in 1956. This is the revised taxonomy from 2001 by Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl, where the levels are verbs and creating is at the top.