Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy is the most widely used framework for writing and classifying learning objectives. Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues published the original taxonomy in 1956 as a tool for helping educators move beyond rote knowledge and toward higher-order thinking. In 2001, Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl — one of Bloom's original collaborators — published a significant revision that corrected structural issues in the original and is now considered the standard form.

For L&D practitioners, the taxonomy serves two purposes: writing objectives that actually specify what learners should be able to do, and designing instruction and assessment that operates at the right cognitive level for the job task in question.

#The original vs. the revised taxonomy

The 1956 taxonomy classified objectives using nouns: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation. The 2001 revision made two important changes. First, it reframed all levels using verbs — Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create — reinforcing the idea that objectives describe observable behaviors, not abstract mental states. Second, it swapped the order of the top two levels, placing Create above Evaluate on the grounds that producing something new is a more demanding cognitive act than making a judgment.

The revised version is what most current instructional design practice references. When someone refers to "Bloom's Taxonomy" today, they almost always mean Anderson and Krathwohl's 2001 revision.

#The six levels with B2B eLearning examples

#Remember

Recall of facts, definitions, or procedures from memory. Assessment: multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching.

Example: "List the five steps of the company's escalation procedure." This is where most compliance eLearning stops — and where it should only begin.

#Understand

Interpreting, summarizing, paraphrasing, or explaining information. Assessment: written explanations, scenario comprehension questions.

Example: "Explain in your own words why the escalation procedure exists and what risk it mitigates." Moving from Remember to Understand requires learners to process information, not just recognize it.

#Apply

Using knowledge to execute a procedure or solve a problem in a given situation. Assessment: simulations, case studies, performance tasks.

Example: "Given this customer complaint, identify which step of the escalation procedure applies and draft the appropriate response." This is the first level at which the learning connects to actual job performance.

#Analyze

Breaking information into parts, identifying relationships, distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information. Assessment: case analysis, comparison tasks, structured critiques.

Example: "Review these three escalation case histories. Identify which one was handled incorrectly, and explain what decision point went wrong." Analysis requires learners to apply a framework, not follow a recipe.

#Evaluate

Making judgments based on criteria, justifying decisions, critiquing processes. Assessment: written recommendations, peer review, scored decision-making exercises.

Example: "The compliance team is proposing a revised escalation procedure. Review the proposal and identify its two strongest and two weakest provisions, with justification." This is the level at which experienced professionals typically operate.

#Create

Producing something new — a plan, product, solution, or argument — by combining elements in a novel way. Assessment: project outputs, designed artifacts, developed proposals.

Example: "Design a one-page escalation guide for your team that adapts the standard procedure to your department's specific workflow." Create is where transfer becomes self-generative.

#Using the taxonomy to write better objectives

The taxonomy's most practical application is as a verb guide for writing behavioral objectives. Each level has associated action verbs that specify observable behaviors:

• Remember: list, recall, identify, define, name
• Understand: explain, summarize, classify, paraphrase, describe
• Apply: use, execute, implement, demonstrate, solve
• Analyze: differentiate, compare, organize, deconstruct, attribute
• Evaluate: judge, critique, justify, recommend, defend
• Create: design, construct, plan, produce, formulate

An objective using the verb "understand" is technically at the Understand level, but it is not observable or measurable. "Explain" is both at the right level and measurable. This distinction matters when designing assessments: you can only assess what is specified in the objective, and vague verbs produce untestable objectives.

#The most common diagnostic use

When an eLearning program is failing to produce behavior change, the Bloom diagnosis is worth running: identify what cognitive level the training actually assesses (often Remember, via multiple choice), and compare it to the cognitive level the job requires (often Apply or Analyze). The gap between those two levels is frequently the root cause of poor transfer.