Defining clear and measurable learning outcomes

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of educational objectives originally developed by Benjamin Bloom and colleagues in 1956 (Bloom, 1956). Its purpose was to help teachers define and organise learning goals according to levels of cognitive complexity that students are expected to achieve. The original taxonomy included six levels:

• knowledge

• comprehension

• application

• analysis

• synthesis

• evaluation

In 2001, the taxonomy was revised by L. W. Anderson and D. R. Krathwohl. The revised version introduced several important changes:

• nouns were replaced with verbs – the categories were reformulated into action verbs to emphasise what students do (e.g., “application” becomes “apply”)

• the order of the highest levels was changed – creating is now the highest cognitive level, above evaluating

• a two-dimensional structure was introduced, consisting of:

  • a cognitive process dimension (Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyse, Evaluate, Create),

  • a knowledge dimension, which distinguishes four types of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.

The revised taxonomy focuses on what students can do with acquired knowledge, making it a powerful tool for defining measurable and concrete learning outcomes, as well as for planning teaching activities and assessment.