Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework for categorizing different levels of cognitive learning, first introduced in the 1950s by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues. It was designed to help educators structure learning objectives and assess student progress, initially outlining a hierarchy of thinking skills that ranged from basic recall to higher-order thinking.
Creativity at the Top
The revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy identifies six levels of cognitive learning, each increasing in complexity. These levels are: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. In the original 1956 version, “evaluation” was considered the highest level of cognitive processing. However, in the revised taxonomy, a sixth level—creating—was added, and judgment was replaced with creativity and synthesis. This change reflects an expanded understanding of cognitive development, emphasizing the importance of creative thinking and the ability to synthesize information as the pinnacle of higher-order thinking, not judgement.
While Bloom’s Taxonomy is widely used in general education—from elementary to higher education—gifted education has adopted and adapted it as a tool for differentiating and enriching the curriculum for students who are capable of higher-order thinking. The taxonomy has been particularly useful for gifted educators in designing activities and assignments that challenge students to work at advanced levels of cognition, such as analysis, evaluation, and creation.
Lesson Connection
I like to encourage students to explore Bloom’s Taxonomy during life skills and reading sessions by asking them to examine each of the cognitive levels and identify relevant examples from their recent assignments and projects. This practice helps them connect higher-order thinking to real-world tasks and develop a deeper understanding of how they engage with problem-solving.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Question Stems Adapted For Reading
I adapt Bloom’s Taxonomy question stems specifically for reading to help students engage more deeply with texts, encouraging them to analyze, evaluate, and create based on what they read, while fostering critical thinking and comprehension skills.
Level 1 Remembering
Definition: Show memory of previously learned material by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts, and answers.
Questions to demonstrate remembering:
- How did ….. happen? (Choose an event in the story and write about what led up to it.)
- When did ….. happen? (Describe the event in terms of the plot line and story mountain format.)
- Can you list the three (main characters, main events in this chapter, and three parts of the setting)?
Level 2 Understanding
Definition: Demonstrating understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating the main ideas.
Examples of questions that enhance understanding:
- How would you classify this character?
- What characters can you compare and contrast?
- How would you rephrase the sentence…? (choose a favorite quote from this chapter)
- What is the main idea of this chapter? Which statements in the text support your conclusion?
- Can you explain what is happening in your own words?
Level 3 Applying
Definition: Solve problems to new situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques, and rules in a different way.
Examples of questions that enhance application:
- How would you use the challenge this character is facing to become a better person?
- How would you solve the problem in this story using what you’ve learned?
- What approach would you use to make friends with (insert character)?
- How would you plan ahead if you were (insert character)?
- What facts are available to (insert character)? What would you do with this information?
- What elements would you choose to change about this story and why?
- What questions would you ask in an interview with (insert character)?
Level 4 Analyzing
Definition: Examine and break information into parts by identifying motives or causes. Make inferences and find evidence to support generalizations.
Examples of questions to enhance analyzation skills:
- How is this paragraph related to the chapter title?
- How is this chapter title related to the entire story?
- How is this sentence related to this paragraph, chapter, and entire book?
- What is the theme of the story?
- Can you list the parts of the hero’s journey and how they work together in this story?
- What inferences and conclusions can you make at this point?
- What is the relationship between (the first chapter and this one, the protagonist and antagonist, etc.)?
- What is the function of the villain in this story?
Level 5 Evaluating
Definition: Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas, or quality of work based on a set of criteria.
Questions to enhance evaluation:
- Do you agree with the actions of (insert character)?
- Do you agree with the outcome of (insert situation)? Spot both the cause and effect.
- What is your opinion of this chapter’s/book’s ending and why?
- Would it be better if this book had more or less characters? Why?
- How would you rate each character at the end of the chapter/book and gauge how much they’ve changed? (On a spectrum from “a little” to “a lot”)
- Why did they (the character) choose….?
- What would you recommend the characters do next?
- What choice would you have made in this chapter and why?
- How would you explain (insert character) actions?
- What information would you use to support the view that this is the villain in the story?
- Why was it better that the chapter/book ended this way versus a different way?
- How would you compare the characters ….. and …… in terms of wanting or not wanting to be friends with them?
Level 6 Creating
Definition: Compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions.
Questions that lead to creation:
- What changes would you make to the book? Rewrite the ending, rewrite this chapter, etc.
- How would you improve the character development?
- What would happen if (insert character) hadn’t been in the book?
- Can you propose an alternate title to the book?
- Can you invent the title of the next book if this were a series?
- How would you adapt the story line to create a different ending?
- How could you change the plot at this point in the story?
- What could be done to minimize the impact of the antagonist? What domino effect would this change have on the story?
- What way would you design a map to go along with this chapter?
- Suppose you could be a character in the story. What would you do?
- Can you formulate a theory for why the author wrote this?
- Can you predict the outcome if (insert event) had changed?
- Can you think of an original storyline leading up to this book (write a prequel)?
I hope this overview offered some useful ideas for adding a little extra flare to your reading and writing activities, making them more engaging and thought-provoking.
Posted in Creative Thinking, Reading/Writing
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