The Center for Academic Success presents: Bloom's Taxonomy, a classification of learning levels. It maps the way we think and process information. The levels of
learning are: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. The lower levels are more straightforward and fundamental, while the higher
levels are more complex. Lets see how bloom's taxonomy can help you with your learning.
Level One: Remembering
Remembering is maintaining basic knowledge through rote learning or memorization. This may be how you studied in high school, but college testing will require
you to do more with the information.
Level Two: Understanding
Understanding is being able to restate the information in your own words. It allows you to construct meaning and explain what is happening. These levels of learning, when
firmly in place, will provide a strong foundation as you advance in the learning process.
Remembering and understanding information is important, even at the college level. Each college course has several new concepts, terms, procedures, and
functions that you need to remember and understand. Once you have a solid understanding of the new concepts,
it's easier to see how something works, or why it works.
Level Three: Applying
College testing requires you to use what you've learned in the previous levels to solve problems. Application requires you to make connections, compute or solve
problems, and to transfer abstract ideas into practical situations.
Level Four: Analyzing
After you apply your knowledge, you may need to analyze it or break the material down into separate components. Analysis allows you to illustrate
to one another and overall structures. You will be able to recognize unstated assumptions, logical reasoning, and relevancy of data.
At these levels, you can tell if you really know the information well enough to take a test. You can answer
questions such as what if, or why, or how would something work.
Level Five: Evaluating
You will need to judge, criticize, and assess information using what you know to make decisions and support your views. You have to think critically at this level and
have a profound understanding of a concept or discipline.
Level Six: Creating
Creating is the highest level, in which you combine elements to form a coherent or functional whole. It requires inventiveness, an originality to plan and form
new structures. Creating brings together all levels of learning to theorize, design, and test new products, concepts, or functions.
For my final psychology project, it became really clear to me how important it was to really understand the different terms, concepts, and functions.
I was able to use this information to evaluate and create the best process to make the experiment work.
Just as a strong foundation is critical for supporting a structure, building strong foundational concepts will allow you to think critically and
creatively within your course content.
To recap, Bloom's Levels of Learning will help you target the level and type of learning needed to be successful.
For more information on Bloom's Taxonomy or any of our workshops, visit the Center for Academic Success website
