BLOOMS TAXIONOMY explained
C1 – Knowledge – Knowledge is basically facts. Information that is memorized and can be recited back almost word for word: List, name, repeat back etc. Students can list three characteristics of Impressionism. Students can recite a poem from memory. Students can list four causes that led to the First World War. Students can identify Luncheon of the Boating Party and name the artist and the movement to which he or she was a member.
C2 – Comprehension– Comprehension is a little more than memorizing things. Students can demonstrate an understanding of material by explaining things in their own words, recognizing things in a different context or recognize a class of objects they had not seen before. If you understand the style of an artistic period or movement you can identify works as being from that style or movement even though you have never seen the particular work before.
C3 – Application – Application is the ability to use information or apply information to a new situation. Application does not invent or create something that is unique or personally significant it is simply about putting information you have learned into practice. After seeing a demonstration of scoring and slipping students would construct a slab box. Given 6 numbers in a pattern, complete the pattern for the next three numbers.
C4 – Analysis – Analysis looks at structure to gain a better understanding of a thing and how it works. Analyzing a work of art for its content and an understanding of how the time, culture, available technology, materials, and space may have influenced the structure and subject matter of the work. Any time you compare works of art you are learning about artists and characteristics of their work or historical styles and movements. Comparisons are a form of analysis.
C5 – Synthesis – Synthesis is about creating something. The verbs for synthesis can be misleading if you don’t hold in your mind the basic concept that something unique and/or personally significant or meaningful is being made. Simply using words like plan, formulate, arrange, collect, construct, etc. won’t make your objective C5. The end product must be something that is personally significant.
C6 – Evaluation – Evaluation is about making a judgment that is defensible. Having an opinion is not necessarily the same as evaluating something. While an evaluation or judgment may come from a personal point of view, an opinion often comes from personal feelings without reasons. A sound judgment or evaluation must have criteria or reasons to back it up. “I like this painting,” is usually an opinion. The opinion may sometimes be backed with a reason like “I like the colors,” but there is no deeper understanding or analysis behind the opinion. “This work is successful because it expresses the ideas the artist was trying to convey,” however gives real reasons based on a deeper understanding of the work, the intent of the artist or the degree to which the viewer is invited to participate.
Labeling cognitive domains requires that you understand the highest level that the activity or end product elicits, and use that level as your outcome. Because analysis is used in an evaluation or judgment, students often think that it is analysis. Because students must use knowledge, understanding, and application of learned techniques, students often want to label creative products as C1, C2, C3, and C4 while the end product is C5.