Bloom's Taxonomy: summary and use

Get to grips with Bloom's Taxonomy, and see examples from schools on how to apply the principles in lesson planning and teaching.

Last reviewed on 1 April 2022
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Contents
  1. What is Bloom's Taxonomy?
  2. Applying Bloom's Taxonomy to lesson planning
  3. Teaching critical thinking using Bloom's

What is Bloom's Taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a cognitive model explaining the levels of thinking seen as important to the process of learning. It was developed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom and a team of educators. 

In 2001, a number of changes were made to Bloom’s original taxonomy. This updated version is often referred to as the 'revised taxonomy'. The revised taxonomy ranges from lower-level thinking abilities to higher-order thinking abilities, and has six components:

  • Remembering
  • Understanding
  • Applying
  • Analysing
  • Evaluating
  • Creating

Summary from a local authority (LA) 

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has published a summary of the components of Bloom’s Taxonomy in the form of an inverted pyramid (click the link called ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’), along with guidance on how you can use the taxonomy to promote effective questioning in the classroom (‘click the link called ‘Why use Bloom’s Taxonomy?’).

Stanley Road Primary School and Nursery in Worcestershire shows