Bloom's taxonomy is a classification system used to define and distinguish different levels of human cognition - from basic factual recall to advanced critical thinking. It was proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and categorizes learning objectives into three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Within the cognitive domain, the taxonomy arranges cognitive skills into six main categories by level of difficulty - from basic recall to evaluation. An educator's goal in using Bloom's taxonomy is to facilitate higher-order thinking in students by building skills from lower to higher cognitive levels.