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1. Thinking Skills - Bloom's Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom is widelyrecognised as the foremostthinker in the field of defining educational
objectives. Early in the twentieth century, he developed a classification system (a taxonomy) of
educational objectives - which he initiallydivided into three domains: COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE and
PSYCHO-MOTOR. Objectives within the Cognitive domain are shown in the following table:
KNOWLEDGE - Information gathering
Overview
Student remembers or
recognises information, ideas
and principles in the
approximate form in which they
were learned.
Skills demonstrated
 observation and recall of
information
 knowledge of dates, events,
places
 knowledge of major ideas
 mastery of subject matter.
Associated vocabulary = collect, define,describe, examine, identify,know, label, list, memorise, name, quote, recall, recite,
remember, repeat,tabulate,tell, what, when, where, who.
COMPREHENSION - Understanding
Overview
Student demonstrates
understanding of concepts and
principles.
Skills demonstrated
 understanding information
 grasping meaning
 translating knowledge into
new context
 interpreting facts, comparing,
contrasting
 ordering, grouping, inferring
causes
 predicting consequences.
Associated vocabulary = associate, compare, contrast, describe, differentiate,discuss, distinguish, estimate, explain, exten d,
give examples, how, illustrate,interpret, paraphrase, predict,show, summarise, understand.
APPLICATION - Making use of knowledge
Overview
Student selects, transfers and
uses knowledge (skills) and
principles learned in one
context to complete a problem
or task in another.
Skills demonstrated
 using information
 using methods, concepts,
theories in new situations
 solving problems using
acquired skills or
knowledge.
Associated vocabulary = apply, calculate, change, classify, complete, compute, construct, demonstrate,discover, examine,
experiment, illustrate, modify, relate, show, solve, use.

2. ANALYSIS - Understanding structure
Overview
Student understands
structure, purpose and
relationships between the
elements of a statement,
question or hypothesis.
Skills demonstrated
 seeing patterns
 organization of parts
 recognition of hidden
meanings
 identification of
components.
Associated vocabulary = analyse, arrange, categorise, classify, compare,connect, contrast, divide, explain, infer, investigate,
order, select, separate, solve, why.
EVALUATION - Judging the outcome
Overview
Student appraises,
assesses, or critiques
against specific standards
and criteria and supports
that judgement.
Skills demonstrated
 comparing and
discriminating between
ideas
 assessing value of
theories, presentations
 making choices based
on reasoned argument
 verifying value of
evidence
 recognizing
subjectivity.
Associated vocabulary = argue, assess, compare, conclude, convince, criticise, critique,decide,discriminate,evaluate, explain,
express opinion, grade, judge, justify, measure, predict, rank, recommend, select,summarise, support, test.
SYNTHESIS - Creating new combinations
Overview
Student originates, integrates,
and combines ideas into a
product, plan or proposal that is
new to him or her.
Skills demonstrated
 using old ideas to create
new ones
 generalizing from given
facts
 relating knowledge from
several areas
 predicting
 drawing conclusions.
Associated vocabulary = combine, compose, construct, create, design, develop,forecast, formulate, generalise, hypothesise,
imagine, innovate, integrate, interpret, invent, modify, plan, prepare, rearrange, rewrite, substitute, what if?

3. Although not strictly relevant to Thinking Skills, objectiveswithin the Affective and Psychomotor domains are shown
below.
AFFECTIVE
Receiving
Being aware of or attending to
something in the environment.
Responding
Showing some new behaviour as a
result of experience.
Valuing
Showing some definite involvement or
commitment.
Organisation
Integrating a new value into one's
general set of values, giving it some
ranking among one's general priorities.
Characterisation by
value
Acting consistently with the new value.
PSYCHOMOTOR
Reflex movements
Actions that occur involuntarily in
response to some stimulus.
Basic fundamental
movements
Innate movement patterns formed from
a combination of reflex movements.
Perceptual abilities
Translation of stimuli received through
the senses into appropriate movements.
Physical abilities
Basic movements and abilities that are
essential to the development of more
highly skilled movements.
Skilled movements
More complex movements requiring a
certain degree of efficiency.
Non-discursive
movements
Ability to communicate through body
movement.