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Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to

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Write Effective Learning
Outcomes
Posted by Jessica Shabatura | Jul 26, 2022 | Assignments &
Measuring Student Learning

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different objectives and

skills that educators set for their students (learning outcomes).

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different outcomes
and skills that educators set for their students (learning
outcomes). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin
Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago.
The terminology has been recently updated to include the
following six levels of learning. These 6 levels can be used to
structure the learning outcomes, lessons, and assessments of
your course. :

1. Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant

knowledge from long‐term memory.

2. Understanding: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and

graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying,
classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

3. Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure for executing, or

implementing.
4. Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts,
determining how the parts relate to one another and to an
overall structure or purpose through differentiating,
organizing, and attributing.

5. Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and

standards through checking and critiquing.

6. Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or

functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or
structure through generating, planning, or producing.

Like other taxonomies, Bloom’s is hierarchical, meaning that

learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained
prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels. You will see
Bloom’s Taxonomy often displayed as a pyramid graphic to help
demonstrate this hierarchy. We have updated this pyramid into a
“cake-style” hierarchy to emphasize that each level is built on a
foundation of the previous levels.

You may use this graphic for educational or non-profit use if you
include a credit for Jessica Shabatura and citation back to this
website.

How Bloom’s can aid in course design

Bloom’s taxonomy is a powerful tool to help develop learning
outcomes because it explains the process of learning:

Before you can understand a concept, you must remember it.

To apply a concept you must first understand it.

 In order to evaluate a process, you must have analyzed it.

To create an accurate conclusion, you must have completed a

thorough evaluation.

However, we don’t always start with lower order skills and step
all the way through the entire taxonomy for each concept you
present in your course. That approach would become tedious–
for both you and your students! Instead, start by considering the
level of learners in your course:

1. Are lots of your students freshman? Is this an “Introduction

to…” course? If so, many your learning outcomes may target
the lower order Bloom’s skills, because your students are
building foundational knowledge. However, even in this
situation we would strive to move a few of your outcomes into
the applying and analyzing level, but getting too far up in the
taxonomy could create frustration and unachievable goals.

2. Are most of your students juniors and seniors? Graduate

students? Do your students have a solid foundation in much of
the terminology and processes you will be working on your
course? If so, then you should not have many remembering and
understanding level outcomes. You may need a few, for any
radically new concepts specific to your course. However,
these advanced students should be able to master higher-
order learning objectives. Too many lower level outcomes
might cause boredom or apathy.

How Bloom’s works with learning outcomes

Fortunately, there are “verb tables” to help identify which action
verbs align with each level in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

You may notice that some of these verbs on the table are
associated with multiple Bloom’s Taxonomy levels. These
“multilevel-verbs” are actions that could apply to different
activities. For example, you could have an outcome that states
“At the end of this lesson, students will be able to explain the
difference between H2O and OH-.” This would be an
understanding level outcome. However, if you wanted the
students to be able to “…explain the shift in the chemical
structure of water throughout its various phases.” This would be
an analyzing level verb.
Adding to this confusion, you can locate Bloom’s verb charts that
will list verbs at levels different from what we list below. Just
keep in mind that it is the skill, action or activity you will teach
using that verb that determines the Bloom’s Taxonomy level.

Bloom’s Key Verbs Example Learning

Level (keywords) Outcome

Create design, formulate, By the end of this

build, invent, lesson, the student
create, compose, will be able to design
generate, derive, an original homework
modify, develop. problem dealing with
the principle of
conservation of
energy.

Evaluate choose, support, By the end of this

relate, determine, lesson, the student
defend, judge, will be able to
grade, compare, determine whether
contrast, argue, using conservation
justify, support, of energy or
convince, select, conservation of
evaluate. momentum would
be more
appropriate for
solving a dynamics
problem.

Analyze classify, break By the end of this

down, categorize, lesson, the student
analyze, diagram, will be able to
illustrate, criticize, differentiate
simplify, associate. between potential
and kinetic energy.

Apply calculate, predict, By the end of this

apply, solve, lesson, the student
illustrate, use, will be able to
demonstrate, calculate the kinetic
 determine, model, energy of a
perform, present. projectile.

Understand describe, explain, By the end of this

paraphrase, lesson, the student
restate, give will be able to
original examples describe Newton’s
of, summarize, three laws of
contrast, interpret, motion to in her/his
discuss. own words

Remember list, recite, outline, By the end of this

define, name, lesson, the student
match, quote, will be able to recite
recall, identify, Newton’s three laws
label, recognize. of motion.

Learning outcome examples adapted from, Nelson Baker at Georgia

Tech: [email protected]

How Bloom’s works with Quality Matters

For a course to meet the Quality Matters standards it must have
learning outcomes that are measurable. Using a verb table like
the one above will help you avoid verbs that cannot be
quantified, like: understand, learn, appreciate, or enjoy. Quality
Matters also requires that your course assessments (activities,
projects, and exams) align with your learning outcomes. For
example, if your learning outcome has an application level verb,
such as “present”, then you cannot demonstrate that your
students have mastered that learning outcome by simply having
a multiple choice quiz.

Course level and lesson level outcomes

The biggest difference between course and lesson level
outcomes is that we don’t directly assess course level outcomes.
Course level outcomes are just too broad. Instead, we use
several lesson level outcomes to demonstrate mastery of one
course level outcome. To create good course level outcomes, we
need to ask ourselves: “what do I want the students to have
mastery of at the end of the course?” Then, after we finalize our
course level outcomes, we have to make sure that mastery of all
of the lesson level outcomes underneath confirm that a student
has mastery of the course level outcome–in other words, if your
students can prove (through assessment) that they can do each
and every one of the lesson level outcomes in that section, then
you as an instructor agree they have mastery of the course level
outcome.

How Bloom’s works with course level and

lesson level outcomes:

Course level outcomes are broad. You may only have 3-5
course level outcomes. They would be difficult to measure
directly because they overarch the topics of your entire
course.

Lesson level outcomes are what we use to demonstrate that a

student has mastery of the course level outcomes. We do this
by building lesson level outcomes that build toward the course
level outcome. For example, a student might need to
demonstrate mastery of 8 lesson level outcomes in order to
demonstrate mastery of one course level outcome.

Because the lesson level outcomes directly support the course

level outcomes, they need to build up the Bloom’s taxonomy
to help your students reach mastery of the course level
outcomes. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to make sure that the verbs
you choose for your lesson level outcomes build up to the level
of the verb that is in the course level outcome. The lesson level
verbs can be below or equal to the course level verb, but they
CANNOT be higher in level. For example, your course level
verb might be an Applying level verb, “illustrate.” Your lesson
level verbs can be from any Bloom’s level that is equal or
below this level (applying, understanding, or remembering).

Steps towards writing effective learning

outcomes:

1. Make sure there is one measurable verb in each objective.

2. Each outcome needs one verb. Either a student can master the
outcome , or they fail to master it. If an outcome has two verbs
(say, define and apply), what happens if a student can define,
but not apply? Are they demonstrating mastery?

3. Ensure that the verbs in the course level outcome are at least
at the highest Bloom’s Taxonomy as the highest lesson level
 outcomes that support it. (Because we can’t verify they can
evaluate if our lessons only taught them (and assessed)
to define.)

4. Strive to keep all your learning outcomes measurable, clear

and concise.

When you are ready to write, it can be helpful to list the level of
Bloom’s next to the verb you choose in parentheses. For
example:

Course level outcome 1. (apply) Demonstrate

how transportation is a critical link in the supply chain.

1.1. (understand) Discuss the changing global landscape for

businesses and other organizations that are driving change
in the global environment.

1.2. (apply) Demonstrate the special nature of

transportation demand and the influence of transportation
on companies and their supply chains operating in a global
economy.

This trick will help you quickly see what level verbs you have. It
will also let you check that the course level outcome is at least as
high of a Bloom’s level as any of the lesson level outcomes
underneath.

Before you begin constructing your

outcomes:
Please read our Learning Outcome : Before and After
Examples page.

Additional External Resources:

For a longer list of Bloom’s Verbs – TIPS tip: You can also use the
“find” function (press: Ctrl-f or command-f on a mac) in your
browser to locate specific verbs on this list.

To see how Bloom’s can be applied specifically to distance

education: Digital Approaches to Bloom’s Taxonomy
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