March 8, 2018

7:47 p.m.

Chapter 5: Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy was developed by the American Psychological Association and

aimed to combine the cognitive developmental theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Elkind into one
chart that reflected the levels of cognitive thought required in a specific educational environment.
There are six categories in Bloom’s Taxonomy. In order from most basic to most complex, the
orders are: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. As the
student ages, they will be able to reach a higher level of cognitive comprehension on the scale of
Bloom’s Taxonomy (Boles, 2017).

Regarding how Bloom’s Taxonomy played a role in my own cognitive development, I

am certain that all of my teachers worked hard to include it in their curriculum. Early on in my
education, my teachers probably emphasized the lower levels of the taxonomy, like remembering
and understanding. I was taught to remember my alphabet, and later I would understand how the
alphabet corresponded to speech and reading. As I aged, in my high school courses not only was
I remembering and understanding the course material, but I also applied, analyzed, and evaluated
the connections between course material and other relevant subjects.

In my own classroom, I will work to consider Bloom’s Taxonomy in all aspects of

planning my lessons, and I hope to challenge my students on a daily basis to reach higher levels
of cognitive thinking. As I hope to teach younger elementary grades, I will not only emphasize
the aspects of remembrance, understanding, and application, but I hope to introduce to them, as
they are ready, concepts like analyzation. I know that early education is vital to the creation of a
strong educational foundation and a love of learning in children, and I feel that Bloom’s
Taxonomy truly sets up for a curiosity that develops into a passion for education.