highest levels of critical thinking

Bloom's Taxonomy defines six different levels of thinking. The levels build in increasing order of difficulty from basic, rote memorization to higher (more difficult and sophisticated) levels of critical thinking skills. For example, a test question that requires simple factual recall shows that you have of the subject. Answering an essay question often requires that you the facts and perhaps the information to a problem. I wish to promote the the subject matter, perhaps by having students break a complex historical process or event into constituent parts. I particularly want students to organize and present pieces of historical evidence it in a new way, to an argument. In order to do so, students must evidence, making judgments about the validity and accuracy of primary sources. , , or the subject matter. Put another way, avoid simple regurgitation. Studying the definitions and verbs below will help you think more creatively about and with greater understanding of the subject. This is a revision of the orignal taxonomy, updated in accordance with current pedagogy and learning studies. If you're unsure that some of the above boldfaced verbs mean, check this .

Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long-term memory, eg. find out, learn terms, facts, methods, procedures, concepts	Acquire, Define, Distinguish, Draw, Find, Label, List, Match, Read, Record	1. Define each of these terms: encomienda, conquistador, gaucho 2. What was the ?
Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining. Understand uses and implications of terms, facts, methods, procedures, concepts	Compare, Demonstrate, Differentiate, Fill in, Find, Group, Outline, Predict, Represent, Trace	1. Compare an invertebrate with a vertebrate. 2. Use a set of symbols and graphics to draw the water cycle.	Trends, consequences, tables, cartoons
Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing. Make use of, apply practice theory, solve problems, use information in new situations	Convert, Demonstrate, Differentiate between, Discover, Discuss, Examine, Experiment, Prepare, Produce, Record	1. Convert the following into a real-world problem: velocity = dist./time. 2. Experiment with batteries and bulbs to create circuits.	Collection of items, diary, photographs, sculpture, illustration
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. Take concepts apart, break them down, analyze structure, recognize assumptions and poor logic, evaluate relevancy	Classify, Determine, Discriminate, Form generalizations, Put into categories, Illustrate, Select, Survey, Take apart, Transform	1. Illustrate examples of two earthquake types. 2. Dissect a crayfish and examine the body parts.	Graph, survey, diagram, chart, questionnaire, report
Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing. Set standards, judge using standards, evidence, rubrics, accept or reject on basis of criteria	Argue, Award, Critique, Defend, Interpret, Judge, Measure, Select, Test, Verify	1. Defend or negate the statement: "Nature takes care of itself." 2. Judge the value of requiring students to take earth science.	Letters, group with discussion panel, court trial, survey, self-evaluation, value, allusions
Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing. Put things togther; bring together various parts; write theme, present speech, plan experiment, put information together in a new & creative way	Synthesize, Arrange, Blend, Create, Deduce, Devise, Organize, Plan, Present, Rearrange, Rewrite	1. Create a demonstration to show various chemical properties. 2. Devise a method to teach others about magnetism.	Article, radio show, video, puppet show, inventions, poetry, short story

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How to think effectively: Six stages of critical thinking

Credit: Elder / Paul

• Researchers propose six levels of critical thinkers: Unreflective thinkers, Challenged thinkers, Beginning thinkers, Practicing thinkers, Advanced thinkers, and Master thinkers.
• The framework comes from educational psychologists Linda Elder and Richard Paul.
• Teaching critical thinking skills is a crucial challenge in our times.

The coronavirus has not only decimated our populations, its spread has also attacked the very nature of truth and stoked inherent tensions between many different groups of people, both at local and international levels. Spawning widespread conspiracy theories and obfuscation by governments, the virus has also been a vivid demonstration of the need for teaching critical thinking skills necessary to survive in the 21st century. The stage theory of critical thinking development, devised by psychologists Linda Elder and Richard Paul , can help us gauge the sophistication of our current mental approaches and provides a roadmap to the thinking of others.

The researchers identified six predictable levels of critical thinkers, from ones lower in depth and effort to the advanced mind-masters, who are always steps ahead.

As the scientists write , moving up on this pyramid of thinking “is dependent upon a necessary level of commitment on the part of an individual to develop as a critical thinker.” Using your mind more effectively is not automatic and “is unlikely to take place “subconsciously.” In other words – you have to put in the work and keep doing it, or you’ll lose the faculty.

Here’s how the stages of intellectual development break down:

Unreflective thinker

These are people who don’t reflect about thinking and the effect it has on their lives. As such, they form opinions and make decisions based on prejudices and misconceptions while their thinking doesn’t improve.

Unreflective thinkers lack crucial skills that would allow them to parse their thought processes. They also do not apply standards like accuracy, relevance, precision, and logic in a consistent fashion.

How many such people are out there? You probably can guess based on social media comments. As Elder and Paul write , “it is perfectly possible for students to graduate from high school, or even college, and still be largely unreflective thinkers.”

Challenged thinker

This next level up thinker has awareness of the importance of thinking on their existence and knows that deficiencies in thinking can bring about major issues. As the psychologists explain, to solve a problem, you must first admit you have one.

People at this intellectual stage begin to understand that “high quality thinking requires deliberate reflective thinking about thinking”, and can acknowledge that their own mental processes might have many flaws. They might not be able to identify all the flaws, however.

A challenged thinker may have a sense that solid thinking involves navigating assumptions, inferences, and points of view, but only on an initial level. They may also be able to spot some instances of their own self-deception. The true difficulty for thinkers of this category is in not “believing that their thinking is better than it actually is, making it more difficult to recognize the problems inherent in poor thinking,” explain the researchers.

Thinkers at this level can go beyond the nascent intellectual humility and actively look to take control of their thinking across areas of their lives. They know that their own thinking can have blind spots and other problems and take steps to address those, but in a limited capacity.

Beginning thinker

Beginning thinkers place more value in reason, becoming self-aware in their thoughts. They may also be able to start looking at the concepts and biases underlying their ideas. Additionally, such thinkers develop higher internal standards of clarity, accuracy and logic, realizing that their ego plays a key role in their decisions.

Another big aspect that differentiates this stronger thinker – some ability to take criticism of their mental approach, even though they still have work to do and might lack clear enough solutions to the issues they spot.

Practicing thinker

This more experienced kind of thinker not only appreciates their own deficiencies, but has skills to deal with them. A thinker of this level will practice better thinking habits and will analyze their mental processes with regularity.

While they might be able to express their mind’s strengths and weaknesses, as a negative, practicing thinkers might still not have a systematic way of gaining insight into their thoughts and can fall prey to egocentric and self-deceptive reasoning.

How do you get to this stage? An important trait to gain, say the psychologists, is “intellectual perseverance.” This quality can provide “the impetus for developing a realistic plan for systematic practice (with a view to taking greater command of one’s thinking).”

“We must teach in such a way that students come to understand the power in knowing that whenever humans reason, they have no choice but to use certain predictable structures of thought: that thinking is inevitably driven by the questions, that we seek answers to questions for some purpose, that to answer questions, we need information, that to use information we must interpret it (i.e., by making inferences), and that our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions, and have implications, all of which involves ideas or concepts within some point of view,” explain Elder and Paul.

One doesn’t typically get to this stage until college and beyond, estimate the scientists. This higher-level thinker would have strong habits that would allow them to analyze their thinking with insight about different areas of life. They would be fair-minded and able to spot the prejudicial aspects in the points of view of others and their own understanding.

While they’d have a good handle on the role of their ego in the idea flow, such thinkers might still not be able to grasp all the influences that affect their mentality.

Advanced thinker

The advanced thinker is at ease with self-critique and does so systematically, looking to improve. Among key traits required for this level are “intellectual insight” to develop new thought habits, “ intellectual integrity” to “recognize areas of inconsistency and contradiction in one’s life,” intellectual empathy ” to put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them, and the “ intellectual courage” to confront ideas and beliefs they don’t necessarily believe in and have negative emotions towards.

Master thinker

This is the super-thinker, the one who is totally in control of how they process information and make decisions. Such people constantly seek to improve their thought skills, and through experience “regularly raise their thinking to the level of conscious realization.”

A master thinker achieves great insights into deep mental levels, strongly committed to being fair and gaining control over their own egocentrism.

Such a high-level thinker also exhibits superior practical knowledge and insight, always re-examining their assumptions for weaknesses, logic, and biases.

And, of course, a master thinker wouldn’t get upset with being intellectually confronted and spends a considerable amount of time analyzing their own responses.

“Why is this so important? Precisely because the human mind, left to its own, pursues that which is immediately easy, that which is comfortable, and that which serves its selfish interests. At the same time, it naturally resists that which is difficult to understand, that which involves complexity, that which requires entering the thinking and predicaments of others,” write the researchers.

So how do you become a master thinker? The psychologists think most students will never get there. But a lifetime of practicing the best intellectual traits can get you to that point when “people of good sense seek out master thinkers, for they recognize and value the ability of master thinkers to think through complex issues with judgment and insight.”

The significance of critical thinking in our daily lives, especially in these confusing times, so rife with quick and often-misleading information, cannot be overstated. The decisions we make today can truly be life and death.

Higher Order Thinking: Bloom’s Taxonomy

Many students start college using the study strategies they used in high school, which is understandable—the strategies worked in the past, so why wouldn’t they work now? As you may have already figured out, college is different. Classes may be more rigorous (yet may seem less structured), your reading load may be heavier, and your professors may be less accessible. For these reasons and others, you’ll likely find that your old study habits aren’t as effective as they used to be. Part of the reason for this is that you may not be approaching the material in the same way as your professors. In this handout, we provide information on Bloom’s Taxonomy—a way of thinking about your schoolwork that can change the way you study and learn to better align with how your professors think (and how they grade).

Why higher order thinking leads to effective study

Most students report that high school was largely about remembering and understanding large amounts of content and then demonstrating this comprehension periodically on tests and exams. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework that starts with these two levels of thinking as important bases for pushing our brains to five other higher order levels of thinking—helping us move beyond remembering and recalling information and move deeper into application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation—the levels of thinking that your professors have in mind when they are designing exams and paper assignments. Because it is in these higher levels of thinking that our brains truly and deeply learn information, it’s important that you integrate higher order thinking into your study habits.

The following categories can help you assess your comprehension of readings, lecture notes, and other course materials. By creating and answering questions from a variety of categories, you can better anticipate and prepare for all types of exam questions. As you learn and study, start by asking yourself questions and using study methods from the level of remembering. Then, move progressively through the levels to push your understanding deeper—making your studying more meaningful and improving your long-term retention.

Level 1: Remember

This level helps us recall foundational or factual information: names, dates, formulas, definitions, components, or methods.

Make and use flashcards for key terms.	How would you define…?
Make a list or timeline of the main events.	List the _________ in order.
List the main characteristics of something.	Who were…?

Level 2: Understand

Understanding means that we can explain main ideas and concepts and make meaning by interpreting, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

Discuss content with or explain to a partner.	How would you differentiate between _____ and _____?
Explain the main idea of the section.	What is the main idea of ________?
Write a summary of the chapter in your own words.	Why did…?

Level 3: Apply

Application allows us to recognize or use concepts in real-world situations and to address when, where, or how to employ methods and ideas.

Seek concrete examples of abstract ideas.	Why does _________ work?
Work practice problems and exercises.	How would you change________?
Write an instructional manual or study guide on the chapter that others could use.	How would you develop a set of instructions about…?

Level 4: Analyze

Analysis means breaking a topic or idea into components or examining a subject from different perspectives. It helps us see how the “whole” is created from the “parts.” It’s easy to miss the big picture by getting stuck at a lower level of thinking and simply remembering individual facts without seeing how they are connected. Analysis helps reveal the connections between facts.

Generate a list of contributing factors.	How does this element contribute to the whole?
Determine the importance of different elements or sections	What is the significance of this section?
Think about it from a different perspective	How would _______ group see this?

Level 5: Synthesize

Synthesizing means considering individual elements together for the purpose of drawing conclusions, identifying themes, or determining common elements. Here you want to shift from “parts” to “whole.”

Generalize information from letures and readings.	Develop a proposal that would…
Condense and re-state the content in one or two sentences.	How can you paraphrase this information into 1-2 concise sentences?
Compare and contrast.	What makes ________ similar and different from __________?

Level 6: Evaluate

Evaluating means making judgments about something based on criteria and standards. This requires checking and critiquing an argument or concept to form an opinion about its value. Often there is not a clear or correct answer to this type of question. Rather, it’s about making a judgment and supporting it with reasons and evidence.

Decide if you like, dislike, agree, or disagree with an author or a decision.	What is your opinion about ________? What evidence and reasons support your opinion?
Consider what you would do if asked to make a choice.	How would you improve this?
Determine which approach or argument is most effective.	Which argument or approach is stronger? Why?

Level 7: Create

Creating involves putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole. Creating includes reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through planning. This is the highest and most advanced level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Build a model and use it to teach the information to others.	How can you create a model and use it to teach this information to others?
Design an experiment.	What experiment can you make to demonstrate or test this information?
Write a short story about the concept.	How can this information be told in the form of a story or poem?

Pairing Bloom’s Taxonomy with other effective study strategies

While higher order thinking is an excellent way to approach learning new information and studying, you should pair it with other effective study strategies. Check out some of these links to read up on other tools and strategies you can try:

• Study Smarter, Not Harder
• Simple Study Template
• Using Concept Maps
• Group Study
• Evidence-Based Study Strategies Video
• Memory Tips Video
• All of our resources

Other UNC resources

If you’d like some individual assistance using higher order questions (or with anything regarding your academic success), check out some of your UNC resources:

• Academic Coaching: Make an appointment with an academic coach at the Learning Center to discuss your study habits one-on-one.
• Office Hours : Make an appointment with your professor or TA to discuss course material and how to be successful in the class.

Works consulted

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D.R., Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Wittrock, M.C (2001). A taxonomy of learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York, NY: Longman.

“Bloom’s Taxonomy.” University of Waterloo. Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/planning-courses-and-assignments/course-design/blooms-taxonomy

“Bloom’s Taxonomy.” Retrieved from http://www.bloomstaxonomy.org/Blooms%20Taxonomy%20questions.pdf

Overbaugh, R., and Schultz, L. (n.d.). “Image of two versions of Bloom’s Taxonomy.” Norfolk, VA: Old Dominion University. Retrieved from https://www.odu.edu/content/dam/odu/col-dept/teaching-learning/docs/blooms-taxonomy-handout.pdf

If you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of acknowledgement.

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Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in Education

Teaching Students to Think Critically

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Higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) is a concept popular in American education. It distinguishes critical thinking skills from low-order learning outcomes, such as those attained by rote memorization. HOTS include synthesizing, analyzing, reasoning, comprehending, application, and evaluation.

HOTS is based on various taxonomies of learning, particularly the one created by Benjamin Bloom in his 1956 book, "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. " Higher-order thinking skills are reflected by the top three levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Bloom's Taxonomy and HOTS

Bloom's taxonomy is taught in a majority of teacher-education programs in the United States. As such, it may be among the most well-known educational theories among teachers nationally. As the Curriculum & Leadership Journal notes:

"While Bloom’s Taxonomy is not the only framework for teaching thinking, it is the most widely used, and subsequent frameworks tend to be closely linked to Bloom’s work.... Bloom’s aim was to promote higher forms of thinking in education, such as analyzing and evaluating, rather than just teaching students to remember facts (rote learning)."

Bloom’s taxonomy was designed with six levels to promote HOTS. The six levels were: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. (The taxonomy's levels were later revised as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, revising, and creating.) The lower-order thinking skills (LOTS) involve memorization, while higher-order thinking requires understanding and applying that knowledge.

The top three levels of Bloom's taxonomy—which is often displayed as a pyramid, with ascending levels of thinking at the top of the structure—are analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These levels of the taxonomy all involve critical or higher-order thinking. Students who can think are those who can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to new contexts. Looking at each level demonstrates how HOTS is applied in education.

Analysis , the fourth level of Bloom's pyramid, involves students use their own judgment to begin analyzing the knowledge they have learned. At this point, they begin understanding the underlying structure of knowledge and also are able to distinguish between fact and opinion. Some examples of analysis would be:

• Analyze each statement to decide whether it is fact or opinion.
• Compare and contrast the beliefs of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington.
• Apply the rule of 70 to determine how quickly your money will double at 6 percent interest.
• Illustrate the differences between the American alligator and the Nile crocodile.

Synthesis, the fifth level of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid, requires students to infer relationships among sources , such as essays, articles, works of fiction, lectures by instructors, and even personal observations. For example, a student might infer a relationship between what she has read in a newspaper or article and what she has observed herself. The high-level thinking skill of synthesis is evident when students put the parts or information they have reviewed together to create new meaning or a new structure.

At the synthesis level, students move beyond relying on previously learned information or analyzing items that the teacher is giving to them. Some questions in the educational setting that would involve the synthesis level of HOTS might include:

• What alternative would you suggest for ___?
• What changes would you make to revise___? 
• What could you invent to solve___?

Evaluation , the top level of Bloom's taxonomy, involves students making judgments about the value of ideas, items, and materials. Evaluation is the top level of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid because at this level, students are expected to mentally assemble all they have learned to make informed and sound evaluations of the material. Some questions involving evaluation might be:

• Evaluate the Bill of Rights and determine which is the least necessary for a free society.
• Attend a local play and write a critique of the actor’s performance.
• Visit an art museum and offer suggestions on ways to improve a specific exhibit.

HOTS in Special Education and Reform

Children with learning disabilities can benefit from educational programming that includes HOTS. Historically, their disabilities engendered lowered expectations from teachers and other professionals and led to more low-order thinking goals enforced by drill and repetition activities. However, children with learning disabilities can develop the HOTS that teach them how to be problem solvers.

Traditional education has favored the acquisition of knowledge, especially among elementary school-age children, over the application of knowledge and critical thinking. Advocates believe that without a basis in fundamental concepts, students cannot learn the HOTS they will need to survive in the work world.

Reform-minded educators, meanwhile, see the acquisition of problem-solving skills—higher-order thinking—to be essential to this very outcome. Reform-minded curricula, such as the Common Core , have been adopted by a number of states, often amid controversy from traditional education advocates. At heart, these curricula emphasize HOTS over strict rote memorization as the means to help students achieve their highest potential.

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Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning

Charlotte Ruhl

Research Assistant & Psychology Graduate

BA (Hons) Psychology, Harvard University

Charlotte Ruhl, a psychology graduate from Harvard College, boasts over six years of research experience in clinical and social psychology. During her tenure at Harvard, she contributed to the Decision Science Lab, administering numerous studies in behavioral economics and social psychology.

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Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

On This Page:

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. The three lists cover the learning objectives in cognitive, affective, and sensory domains, namely: thinking skills, emotional responses, and physical skills.

Key Takeaways

• Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model that categorizes learning objectives into varying levels of complexity, from basic knowledge and comprehension to advanced evaluation and creation.
• Bloom’s Taxonomy was originally published in 1956, and the Taxonomy was modified each year for 16 years after it was first published.
• After the initial cognitive domain was created, which is primarily used in the classroom setting, psychologists devised additional taxonomies to explain affective (emotional) and psychomotor (physical) learning.
• In 2001, Bloom’s initial taxonomy was revised to reflect how learning is an active process and not a passive one.
• Although Bloom’s Taxonomy is met with several valid criticisms, it is still widely used in the educational setting today.

Take a moment and think back to your 7th-grade humanities classroom. Or any classroom from preschool to college. As you enter the room, you glance at the whiteboard to see the class objectives.

“Students will be able to…” is written in a red expo marker. Or maybe something like “by the end of the class, you will be able to…” These learning objectives we are exposed to daily are a product of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a system of hierarchical models (arranged in a rank, with some elements at the bottom and some at the top) used to categorize learning objectives into varying levels of complexity (Bloom, 1956).

You might have heard the word “taxonomy” in biology class before, because it is most commonly used to denote the classification of living things from kingdom to species.

In the same way, this taxonomy classifies organisms, Bloom’s Taxonomy classifies learning objectives for students, from recalling facts to producing new and original work.

Bloom’s Taxonomy comprises three learning domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Within each domain, learning can take place at a number of levels ranging from simple to complex.

Development of the Taxonomy

Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist and the chair of the committee of educators at the University of Chicago.

In the mid 1950s, Benjamin Bloom worked in collaboration with Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl to devise a system that classified levels of cognitive functioning and provided a sense of structure for the various mental processes we experience (Armstrong, 2010).

Through conducting a series of studies that focused on student achievement, the team was able to isolate certain factors both inside and outside the school environment that affect how children learn.

One such factor was the lack of variation in teaching. In other words, teachers were not meeting each individual student’s needs and instead relied upon one universal curriculum.

To address this, Bloom and his colleagues postulated that if teachers were to provide individualized educational plans, students would learn significantly better.

This hypothesis inspired the development of Bloom’s Mastery Learning procedure in which teachers would organize specific skills and concepts into week-long units.

The completion of each unit would be followed by an assessment through which the student would reflect upon what they learned. 

The assessment would identify areas in which the student needs additional support, and they would then be given corrective activities to further sharpen their mastery of the concept (Bloom, 1971).

This theory that students would be able to master subjects when teachers relied upon suitable learning conditions and clear learning objectives was guided by Bloom’s Taxonomy.

The Original Taxonomy (1956)

Bloom’s Taxonomy was originally published in 1956 in a paper titled Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Bloom, 1956).

The taxonomy provides different levels of learning objectives, divided by complexity. Only after a student masters one level of learning goals, through formative assessments, corrective activities, and other enrichment exercises, can they move onto the next level (Guskey, 2005).

Cognitive Domain (1956)

Concerned with thinking and intellect.

The original version of the taxonomy, the cognitive domain, is the first and most common hierarchy of learning objectives (Bloom, 1956). It focuses on acquiring and applying knowledge and is widely used in the educational setting.

This initial cognitive model relies on nouns, or more passive words, to illustrate the different educational benchmarks.

Because it is hierarchical, the higher levels of the pyramid are dependent on having achieved the skills of the lower levels.

The individual tiers of the cognitive model from bottom to top, with examples included, are as follows:

Knowledge : recalling information or knowledge is the foundation of the pyramid and a precondition for all future levels → Example : Name three common types of meat. Comprehension : making sense out of information → Example : Summarize the defining characteristics of steak, pork, and chicken. Application : using knowledge in a new but similar form → Example : Does eating meat help improve longevity? Analysis : taking knowledge apart and exploring relationships → Example : Compare and contrast the different ways of serving meat and compare health benefits. Synthesis : using information to create something new → Example : Convert an “unhealthy” recipe for meat into a “healthy” recipe by replacing certain ingredients. Argue for the health benefits of using the ingredients you chose as opposed to the original ones. Evaluation : critically examining relevant and available information to make judgments → Example : Which kinds of meat are best for making a healthy meal and why?

Types of Knowledge

Although knowledge might be the most intuitive block of the cognitive model pyramid, this dimension is actually broken down into four different types of knowledge:

• Factual knowledge refers to knowledge of terminology and specific details.
• Conceptual knowledge describes knowledge of categories, principles, theories, and structures.
• Procedural knowledge encompasses all forms of knowledge related to specific skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods.
• Metacognitive knowledge defines knowledge related to thinking — knowledge about cognitive tasks and self-knowledge (“Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy,” n.d.).

However, this is not to say that this order reflects how concrete or abstract these forms of knowledge are (e.g., procedural knowledge is not always more abstract than conceptual knowledge).

Nevertheless, it is important to outline these different forms of knowledge to show how it is more dynamic than one may think and that there are multiple different types of knowledge that can be recalled before moving onto the comprehension phase.

And while the original 1956 taxonomy focused solely on a cognitive model of learning that can be applied in the classroom, an affective model of learning was published in 1964 and a psychomotor model in the 1970s.

The Affective Domain (1964)

Concerned with feelings and emotion.

The affective model came as a second handbook (with the first being the cognitive model) and an extension of Bloom’s original work (Krathwol et al., 1964).

This domain focuses on the ways in which we handle all things related to emotions, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasm, motivations, and attitudes (Clark, 2015).

From lowest to highest, with examples included, the five levels are:

Receiving : basic awareness → Example : Listening and remembering the names of your classmates when you meet them on the first day of school. Responding : active participation and reacting to stimuli, with a focus on responding → Example : Participating in a class discussion. Valuing : the value that is associated with a particular object or piece of information, ranging from basic acceptance to complex commitment; values are somehow related to prior knowledge and experience → Example : Valuing diversity and being sensitive to other people’s backgrounds and beliefs. Organizing : sorting values into priorities and creating a unique value system with an emphasis on comparing and relating previously identified values → Example : Accepting professional ethical standards. Characterizing : building abstract knowledge based on knowledge acquired from the four previous tiers; value system is now in full effect and controls the way you behave → Example : Displaying a professional commitment to ethical standards in the workplace.

The Psychomotor Domain (1972)

Concerned with skilled behavior.

The psychomotor domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy refers to the ability to physically manipulate a tool or instrument. It includes physical movement, coordination, and use of the motor-skill areas. It focuses on the development of skills and the mastery of physical and manual tasks.

Mastery of these specific skills is marked by speed, precision, and distance. These psychomotor skills range from simple tasks, such as washing a car, to more complex tasks, such as operating intricate technological equipment.

As with the cognitive domain, the psychomotor model does not come without modifications. This model was first published by Robert Armstrong and colleagues in 1970 and included five levels:

1) imitation; 2) manipulation; 3) precision; 4) articulation; 5) naturalization. These tiers represent different degrees of performing a skill from exposure to mastery.

Two years later, Anita Harrow (1972) proposed a revised version with six levels:

1) reflex movements; 2) fundamental movements; 3) perceptual abilities; 4) physical abilities; 5) skilled movements; 6) non-discursive communication.

This model is concerned with developing physical fitness, dexterity, agility, and body control and focuses on varying degrees of coordination, from reflexes to highly expressive movements.

That same year, Elizabeth Simpson (1972) created a taxonomy that progressed from observation to invention.

The seven tiers, along with examples, are listed below:

Perception : basic awareness → Example : Estimating where a ball will land after it’s thrown and guiding your movements to be in a position to catch it. Set : readiness to act; the mental, physical, and emotional mindsets that make you act the way you do → Example : Desire to learn how to throw a perfect strike, recognizing one’s current inability to do so. Guided Response : the beginning stage of mastering a physical skill. It requires trial and error → Example : Throwing a ball after observing a coach do so, while paying specific attention to the movements required. Mechanism : the intermediate stage of mastering a skill. It involves converting learned responses into habitual reactions so that they can be performed with confidence and proficiency → Example : Successfully throwing a ball to the catcher. Complex Overt Response : skillfully performing complex movements automatically and without hesitation → Example : Throwing a perfect strike to the catcher’s glove. Adaptation : skills are so developed that they can be modified depending on certain requirements → Example : Throwing a perfect strike to the catcher even if a batter is standing at the plate. Origination : the ability to create new movements depending on the situation or problem. These movements are derived from an already developed skill set of physical movements → Example : Taking the skill set needed to throw the perfect fastball and learning how to throw a curveball.

The Revised Taxonomy (2001)

In 2001, the original cognitive model was modified by educational psychologists David Krathwol (with whom Bloom worked on the initial taxonomy) and Lorin Anderson (a previous student of Bloom) and published with the title A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment .

This revised taxonomy emphasizes a more dynamic approach to education instead of shoehorning educational objectives into fixed, unchanging spaces.

To reflect this active model of learning, the revised version utilizes verbs to describe the active process of learning and does away with the nouns used in the original version (Armstrong, 2001).

The figure below illustrates what words were changed and a slight adjustment to the hierarchy itself (evaluation and synthesis were swapped). The cognitive, affective, and psychomotor models make up Bloom’s Taxonomy.

How Bloom’s Can Aid In Course Design

Thanks to Bloom’s Taxonomy, teachers nationwide have a tool to guide the development of assignments, assessments, and overall curricula.

This model helps teachers identify the key learning objectives they want a student to achieve for each unit because it succinctly details the learning process.

The taxonomy explains that (Shabatura, 2013):

• Before you can understand a concept, you need to remember it;
• To apply a concept, you need first to understand it;
• To evaluate a process, you need first to analyze it;
• To create something new, you need to have completed a thorough evaluation

This hierarchy takes students through a process of synthesizing information that allows them to think critically. Students start with a piece of information and are motivated to ask questions and seek out answers.

Not only does Bloom’s Taxonomy help teachers understand the process of learning, but it also provides more concrete guidance on how to create effective learning objectives.

Bloom’s Level	Key Verbs (keywords)	Example Learning Objective
	design, formulate, build, invent, create, compose, generate, derive, modify, develop.
	choose, support, relate, determine, defend, judge, grade, compare, contrast, argue, justify, support, convince, select, evaluate.
	classify, break down, categorize, analyze, diagram, illustrate, criticize, simplify, associate.
	calculate, predict, apply, solve, illustrate, use, demonstrate, determine, model, perform, present.
	describe, explain, paraphrase, restate, give original examples of, summarize, contrast, interpret, discuss.
	list, recite, outline, define, name, match, quote, recall, identify, label, recognize.

The revised version reminds teachers that learning is an active process, stressing the importance of including measurable verbs in the objectives.

And the clear structure of the taxonomy itself emphasizes the importance of keeping learning objectives clear and concise as opposed to vague and abstract (Shabatura, 2013).

Bloom’s Taxonomy even applies at the broader course level. That is, in addition to being applied to specific classroom units, Bloom’s Taxonomy can be applied to an entire course to determine the learning goals of that course.

Specifically, lower-level introductory courses, typically geared towards freshmen, will target Bloom’s lower-order skills as students build foundational knowledge.

However, that is not to say that this is the only level incorporated, but you might only move a couple of rungs up the ladder into the applying and analyzing stages.

On the other hand, upper-level classes don’t emphasize remembering and understanding, as students in these courses have already mastered these skills.

As a result, these courses focus instead on higher-order learning objectives such as evaluating and creating (Shabatura, 2013). In this way, professors can reflect upon what type of course they are teaching and refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy to determine what they want the overall learning objectives of the course to be.

Having these clear and organized objectives allows teachers to plan and deliver appropriate instruction, design valid tasks and assessments, and ensure that such instruction and assessment actually aligns with the outlined objectives (Armstrong, 2010).

Overall, Bloom’s Taxonomy helps teachers teach and helps students learn!

Critical Evaluation

Bloom’s Taxonomy accomplishes the seemingly daunting task of taking the important and complex topic of thinking and giving it a concrete structure.

The taxonomy continues to provide teachers and educators with a framework for guiding the way they set learning goals for students and how they design their curriculum.

And by having specific questions or general assignments that align with Bloom’s principles, students are encouraged to engage in higher-order thinking.

However, even though it is still used today, this taxonomy does not come without its flaws. As mentioned before, the initial 1956 taxonomy presented learning as a static concept.

Although this was ultimately addressed by the 2001 revised version that included active verbs to emphasize the dynamic nature of learning, Bloom’s updated structure is still met with multiple criticisms.

Many psychologists take issue with the pyramid nature of the taxonomy. The shape creates the false impression that these cognitive steps are discrete and must be performed independently of one another (Anderson & Krathwol, 2001).

However, most tasks require several cognitive skills to work in tandem with each other. In other words, a task will not be only an analysis or a comprehension task. Rather, they occur simultaneously as opposed to sequentially.

The structure also makes it seem like some of these skills are more difficult and important than others. However, adopting this mindset causes less emphasis on knowledge and comprehension, which are as, if not more important, than the processes towards the top of the pyramid.

Additionally, author Doug Lemov (2017) argues that this contributes to a national trend devaluing knowledge’s importance. He goes even further to say that lower-income students who have less exposure to sources of information suffer from a knowledge gap in schools.

A third problem with the taxonomy is that the sheer order of elements is inaccurate. When we learn, we don’t always start with remembering and then move on to comprehension and creating something new. Instead, we mostly learn by applying and creating.

For example, you don’t know how to write an essay until you do it. And you might not know how to speak Spanish until you actually do it (Berger, 2020).

The act of doing is where the learning lies, as opposed to moving through a regimented, linear process. Despite these several valid criticisms of Bloom’s Taxonomy, this model is still widely used today.

What is Bloom’s taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model of cognitive skills in education, developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956.

It categorizes learning objectives into six levels, from simpler to more complex: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. This framework aids educators in creating comprehensive learning goals and assessments.

Bloom’s taxonomy explained for students?

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework that helps you understand and approach learning in a structured way. Imagine it as a ladder with six steps.

1. Remembering : This is the first step, where you learn to recall or recognize facts and basic concepts.

2. Understanding : You explain ideas or concepts and make sense of the information.

3. Applying : You apply what you’ve understood to solve problems in new situations.

4. Analyzing : At this step, you break information into parts to explore understandings and relationships.

5. Evaluating : This involves judging the value of ideas or materials.

6. Creating : This is the top step where you combine information to form a new whole or propose alternative solutions.

Bloom’s Taxonomy helps you learn more effectively by building your knowledge from simple remembering to higher levels of thinking.

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives . New York: Longman.

Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching . Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Armstrong, R. J. (1970). Developing and Writing Behavioral Objectives .

Berger, R. (2020). Here’s what’s wrong with bloom’s taxonomy: A deeper learning perspective (opinion) . Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/education/opinion-heres-whats-wrong-with-blooms-taxonomy-a-deeper-learning-perspective/2018/03

Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Vol. 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay , 20, 24.

Bloom, B. S. (1971). Mastery learning. In J. H. Block (Ed.), Mastery learning: Theory and practice (pp. 47–63). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Clark, D. (2015). Bloom’s taxonomy : The affective domain. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/Bloom/affective_domain.html

Guskey, T. R. (2005). Formative Classroom Assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom: Theory, Research, and Implications . Online Submission.

Harrow, A.J. (1972). A taxonomy of the psychomotor domain . New York: David McKay Co.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41 (4), 212-218.

Krathwohl, D.R., Bloom, B.S., & Masia, B.B. (1964). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook II: Affective domain . New York: David McKay Co.

Lemov, D. (2017). Bloom’s taxonomy-that pyramid is a problem . Retrieved from https://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/blooms-taxonomy-pyramid-problem/

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy . (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/effective-teaching-practices/revised-blooms-taxonomy/

Shabatura, J. (2013). Using bloom’s taxonomy to write effective learning objectives . Retrieved from https://tips.uark.edu/using-blooms-taxonomy/

Simpson, E. J. (1972). The classification of educational objectives in the Psychomotor domain , Illinois University. Urbana.

Further Reading

• Kolb’s Learning Styles
• Bloom’s Taxonomy Verb Chart
• Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Vol. 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay, 20, 24.
• Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41(4), 212-218.
• Montessori Method of Education

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• Instructional Design

6 Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Explained (+Examples)

• Published: October 24, 2023
• Updated: August 6, 2024

Corporate learning is about unlocking the potential of employees to help them grow and thrive in their careers. According to an industry report from TrainingMag , in 2023 the average training budget for large companies was $16.1 million, while midsize companies allocated around $1.5 million, and small companies dedicated approximately $459,177. As more and more organizations commit to building learning cultures, the benefits for employees translate into benefits for their employers as well. 

To create corporate learning experiences that go beyond simple dissemination of information to true understanding and growth, many organizations rely on instructional design models like Bloom’s Taxonomy to help deliver better learning experiences.

What Are Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels?

Bloom’s Taxonomy levels are a classification system that arranges learning objectives into six hierarchical levels, each representing a different cognitive skill. These levels include knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

This taxonomy serves as a valuable framework for educators to design effective learning experiences and assess the depth of understanding and thinking skills required for various educational goals.

The History of Bloom's Taxonomy Levels

Bloom’s taxonomy levels are named after Benjamin Bloom, who in 1956, with David Krathwohl, Max Englehart, Walter Hill, and Edward Furst developed a framework for categorizing educational goals. Since its inception in 1956, Bloom’s Taxonomy levels have been revised and changed. Here are the original and revised versions of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Original Taxonomy

The original taxonomy was developed in 1956 and consisted of the following categories:

• Knowledge – recall of information
• Comprehension – understanding concepts
• Application – applying knowledge in different contexts
• Analysis – breaking down information
• Synthesis – creating new ideas or solutions
• Evaluation – judging and critiquing based on established criteria

Revised Taxonomy

In 2001, a group of researchers and curriculum theorists published a revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The main difference in the revised version is that it uses verbs and action words rather than nouns. The revised taxonomy includes the following categories:

Along with the revised taxonomy, these specialists also published a separate taxonomy on the types of knowledge their revised version is built from. These four types of knowledge are factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels Explained

Bloom’s Taxonomy includes six distinct levels of learning that can be used to structure L&D programs. Each of these levels builds on the one that came before it.

Remember		By the end of the training course, the learner will be able to recite company values.
Understand		By the end of the training course, the learner will be able to explain a marketing strategy in their own words.
Apply		By the end of the training course the learner will be able to classify a marketing lead.
Analyze		By the end of the training, the learner will be able to draw conclusions from distinct marketing audiences.
Evaluate		By the end of the training, the learner will be able to determine the ROI of a specific campaign.
Create		By the end of the training, the learner will be able to create and execute their own ad campaign.

1. Remember

This is the most foundational level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, originally called Knowledge. This level involves recalling and retrieving knowledge from long-term memory and can include activities like memorization or simple fact recall. 

Some questions instructors can ask learners at this level are: 

• Can you name our company’s five top product offerings?
• What application do we use to monitor progress?
• What are our organization’s core values? 

2. Understand

At this level, learners take things a step further, beginning to comprehend and synthesize information through interpretation, classification, inference, or explanation. Learning activities associated with this stage might be summarizing information, reframing it in a new context, or explaining it in their own words. This step was initially referred to as Comprehension. 

Learners at the Understand level might be asked: 

• Explain why it is important to file an incident report. 
• How might you interpret the results in this report?
• How would you explain this policy to a customer?

Formerly called Application, this level involves taking learned information a step further and applying it to a real-life, on-the-job situation. Learners should demonstrate their understanding by solving problems and completing tasks on their own. According to the 70-20-10 model , employees gain 70% of their knowledge from work experiences, making this level an essential part of the learning process.

Questions instructors can ask at this level are: 

• How would you update the status of this project in our system?
• Can you walk us through the process of creating a ticket for this issue?
• Can you determine how much a client owes on their contract given these account details?

At this fourth level, learners break down material piece by piece, examining how each piece relates to the others and conceptualizing the material as a whole. Activities associated with Analyze include differentiating between components, making connections between them, and otherwise identifying patterns in the information. This stage was originally called Analysis.

Learners reaching the Analyze level should be able to answer questions like these:

• What is the motivation behind this policy?
• What conclusions can you draw from comparing these annual reports?
• What assumptions do we have to make when creating a care plan for this client?

5. Evaluate

At this level, learners can assess and evaluate the value of information through critiques or investigation.  They should be able to make judgments about information and ideas and be able to defend them.  This level was initially called synthesis. 

Some questions instructors can ask learners at the Evaluate level are: 

• What criteria can you use to evaluate the success of this type of project?
• Can you find the error in this example response to a frustrated customer?
• What are the pros and cons of these different approaches? 

The final level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is Create. Originally called Evaluation, this is the level at which learners can synthesize existing knowledge to produce concepts and ideas of their own. Learning activities that bring employees to this level can be more creative

Questions instructors might ask learners at this level are: 

• Can you design an ad campaign for this hypothetical client?
• How would you create a plan for this type of emergency?
• What changes would you make to this example contract?

8 Tips to Implement Bloom's Taxonomy In Workplace L&D

Whether you are revamping your organization’s learning and development strategies or starting from scratch, incorporating Bloom’s Taxonomy into L&D efforts will bring about more robust results and keep employees engaged as they grow. Follow these tips to make the process of integrating this framework as smooth as possible:

1. Assess specific jobs

Incorporate Bloom’s Taxonomy from the ground up by reviewing employee job descriptions and training requirements. Make a list for each position and look at the metrics from past training efforts to see where improvements can be made and in which cases training requirements map onto Bloom’s taxonomy. 

2. Determine the level of skill necessary for each employee

Employees rarely need to reach the Create level in every single aspect of their job. For instance, while employees must be able to meet requirements and solve problems, they might not need to know all of the science behind the products they are selling. Design learning experiences to help employees reach the appropriate level of knowledge for their role. 

3. Establish the learning objectives

Once you know the level of skill employees need to be proficient in the different areas of their work, begin writing the learning objectives using action verbs that align with the appropriate level of learning in Bloom’s taxonomy. 

4. Incorporate different levels in various training modules

Next, use these learning objectives to design or redesign training modules that will guide employees down their optimized learning path. This may involve rewriting exercises, rewording instructions, or omitting sections that get more in-depth than necessary. What’s important is that the training modules match up with the appropriate learning level. 

5. Design learning activities to encourage higher-order thinking

As you move through these steps, you might realize that your organization’s training program only brings employees up to Apply or Analyze. To enable employees to synthesize new ideas and make the most of what they’ve learned, design learning activities on par with the Create level. Activities associated with this level could involve inventing a new approach to a common problem or designing the next iteration of a product offering based on what they’ve learned. 

6. Balance theory with practical application

Depending on the nature of the training, course designers may find it difficult to avoid getting bogged down by the amount of information to be disseminated. To keep learners engaged and ensure they are reaching those higher levels of learning, it’s important to incorporate plenty of opportunities to apply what they’ve learned. 

7. Evaluate employee competence and performance

As with any L&D initiative, continuously analyzing and improving programming is essential to maximizing learning outcomes. Ensure that metrics key performance indicators are being tracked from the start in order to accurately monitor learner performance and intervene where necessary. 

8. Leverage eLearning platforms

eLearning platforms have become an essential tool for standardizing and optimizing corporate training programs. These employee training software and systems facilitate course creation and make content updating simple. While they may require planning to implement, they are incredibly effective at streamlining and improving L&D efforts in the long term.

Types of eLearning software include: 

• Corporate LMS
• eLearning Course Authoring Software
• Instructional Design Software
• Microlearning Platforms
• Virtual IT Training Labs Software

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Benefits of Bloom's Taxonomy in Corporate Learning Design

The longevity of this tool demonstrates its usefulness across industry and academia. There are several clear benefits to using Bloom’s Taxonomy for instruction design in corporate learning:

1. Enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills

Bloom’s Taxonomy helps instructors guide learners toward tapping into higher-order thinking skills. This allows employees to take their knowledge beyond simple observation and memorization, ensuring they understand the content they’re using and how to put it into action in the workplace. 

2. Promoting employee engagement

Bloom’s Taxonomy incorporates the progressive nature of learning into the training experience. Doing this can help employees feel more confident in their knowledge and abilities to apply what they’ve learned. This boosts employee engagement by showing team members that the organization is invested in their growth and success and making it clear why the training they receive is both necessary and worthwhile. 

3. Aligning learning objectives with business goals

Bloom’s taxonomy helps instructors to lay out training objectives clearly. This means they can communicate instructions clearly and better convey exactly how they line up with larger organizational goals. This promotes employee engagement even further by helping to build a cohesive, consistent organizational vision that comes through in L&D programming. 

Blooms Taxonomy Verbs

Depending on the nature of the lesson, there are a variety of actions training facilitators might ask trainees to take to demonstrate that they have reached a specific level of learning.

We have provided a list of verbs relevant to the six levels of learning in Bloom’s Taxonomy below:

An important part of effective training lies in creating and delivering engaging content.

A  digital adoption platform (DAP ) like  Whatfix  provides a range of no-code features that enable instructional designers to create, analyze, and deliver in-app guided learning and performance support experiences.

By leveraging the capabilities of a DAP, instructional designers can create in-app instruction that is engaging, relevant, and effective in achieving specific learning objectives. Furthermore, Whatfix is the world’s only SCORM-compliant in-app guidance tool, enabling you to easily create interactive courses and upload the content to your LMS in just a few clicks.

With a digital adoption platform like Whatfix , enable your employees with in-app guidance and contextual self-help IT support to accelerate the adoption of new software implementations, employee onboarding, change initiates, and more. Whatfix’s no-code editor enables IT teams with a no-code editor to create product tours, interactive walkthroughs,  task lists, smart tips, pop-ups, self-help wikis, and more. Analyze and measure user engagement and software usage to identify friction points, measure digital adoption, and improve employee digital experiences.

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In conclusion, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a valuable tool for educators to create effective learning experiences for their students. The six levels of the taxonomy, which include remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, provide a framework for designing curriculum, assessments, and teaching strategies. By understanding and utilizing the different levels of the taxonomy, educators can encourage deeper thinking, critical analysis, and creativity in their students. It is important to note that the levels are not linear but instead represent a hierarchy of cognitive complexity. As such, educators must carefully consider the level of thinking required for each learning objective and design activities and assessments that align with that level. Overall, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a powerful tool that can help educators create engaging and meaningful learning experiences that prepare students for success in their academic and professional pursuits.

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• Critical Thinking and other Higher-Order Thinking Skills

Critical thinking is a higher-order thinking skill. Higher-order thinking skills go beyond basic observation of facts and memorization. They are what we are talking about when we want our students to be evaluative, creative and innovative.

When most people think of critical thinking, they think that their words (or the words of others) are supposed to get “criticized” and torn apart in argument, when in fact all it means is that they are criteria-based. These criteria require that we distinguish fact from fiction; synthesize and evaluate information; and clearly communicate, solve problems and discover truths.

Why is Critical Thinking important in teaching?

According to Paul and Elder (2007), “Much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced.  Yet the quality of our life and that of which we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought.”  Critical thinking is therefore the foundation of a strong education.

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy of thinking skills, the goal is to move students from lower- to higher-order thinking:

• from knowledge (information gathering) to comprehension (confirming)
• from application (making use of knowledge) to analysis (taking information apart)
• from evaluation (judging the outcome) to synthesis (putting information together) and creative generation

This provides students with the skills and motivation to become innovative producers of goods, services, and ideas.  This does not have to be a linear process but can move back and forth, and skip steps.

How do I incorporate critical thinking into my course?

The place to begin, and most obvious space to embed critical thinking in a syllabus, is with student-learning objectives/outcomes.  A well-designed course aligns everything else—all the activities, assignments, and assessments—with those core learning outcomes.

Learning outcomes contain an action (verb) and an object (noun), and often start with, “Student’s will....” Bloom’s taxonomy can help you to choose appropriate verbs to clearly state what you want students to exit the course doing, and at what level.

• Students will define the principle components of the water cycle. (This is an example of a lower-order thinking skill.)
• Students will evaluate how increased/decreased global temperatures will affect the components of the water cycle. (This is an example of a higher-order thinking skill.)

Both of the above examples are about the water cycle and both require the foundational knowledge that form the “facts” of what makes up the water cycle, but the second objective goes beyond facts to an actual understanding, application and evaluation of the water cycle.

Using a tool such as Bloom’s Taxonomy to set learning outcomes helps to prevent vague, non-evaluative expectations. It forces us to think about what we mean when we say, “Students will learn…”  What is learning; how do we know they are learning?

The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom by Larry Ferlazzo

Consider designing class activities, assignments, and assessments—as well as student-learning outcomes—using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a guide.

The Socratic style of questioning encourages critical thinking.  Socratic questioning  “is systematic method of disciplined questioning that can be used to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts, to distinguish what we know from what we don’t know, and to follow out logical implications of thought” (Paul and Elder 2007).

Socratic questioning is most frequently employed in the form of scheduled discussions about assigned material, but it can be used on a daily basis by incorporating the questioning process into your daily interactions with students.

In teaching, Paul and Elder (2007) give at least two fundamental purposes to Socratic questioning:

• To deeply explore student thinking, helping students begin to distinguish what they do and do not know or understand, and to develop intellectual humility in the process
• To foster students’ abilities to ask probing questions, helping students acquire the powerful tools of dialog, so that they can use these tools in everyday life (in questioning themselves and others)

How do I assess the development of critical thinking in my students?

If the course is carefully designed around student-learning outcomes, and some of those outcomes have a strong critical-thinking component, then final assessment of your students’ success at achieving the outcomes will be evidence of their ability to think critically.  Thus, a multiple-choice exam might suffice to assess lower-order levels of “knowing,” while a project or demonstration might be required to evaluate synthesis of knowledge or creation of new understanding.

Critical thinking is not an “add on,” but an integral part of a course.

• Make critical thinking deliberate and intentional in your courses—have it in mind as you design or redesign all facets of the course
• Many students are unfamiliar with this approach and are more comfortable with a simple quest for correct answers, so take some class time to talk with students about the need to think critically and creatively in your course; identify what critical thinking entail, what it looks like, and how it will be assessed.

Additional Resources

• Barell, John. Teaching for Thoughtfulness: Classroom Strategies to Enhance Intellectual Development . Longman, 1991.
• Brookfield, Stephen D. Teaching for Critical Thinking: Tools and Techniques to Help Students Question Their Assumptions . Jossey-Bass, 2012.
• Elder, Linda and Richard Paul. 30 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living through Critical Thinking . FT Press, 2012.
• Fasko, Jr., Daniel, ed. Critical Thinking and Reasoning: Current Research, Theory, and Practice . Hampton Press, 2003.
• Fisher, Alec. Critical Thinking: An Introduction . Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Paul, Richard and Linda Elder. Critical Thinking: Learn the Tools the Best Thinkers Use . Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.
• Faculty Focus article, A Syllabus Tip: Embed Big Questions
• The Critical Thinking Community
• The Critical Thinking Community’s The Thinker’s Guides Series and The Art of Socratic Questioning

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What Is Higher-Order Thinking and How Do I Teach It?

Go beyond basic remembering and understanding.

Educators know that people learn in a variety of ways and that we often learn best when we can make connections to the material on a deeper level. That’s why higher-order thinking is such a valuable skill, one that serves students well throughout their school years and beyond. But what exactly does the term mean? And how can teachers build higher-order thinking skills in their students? Learn what you need to know here.

What is higher-order thinking?

Source: Vanderbilt University

Higher-order thinking refers to the top levels of cognitive thinking, as laid out in the Bloom’s Taxonomy model. When we use higher-order thinking, we push beyond basic memorization and recall to analyze and synthesize information. These are the skills that help us evaluate information and think critically. We also use these skills to develop new ideas and concepts, building on previous knowledge to create something entirely new.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Benjamin Bloom headed a team of educational researchers in the 1950s and led the development of the model that bears his name today. He and his team broke cognitive thinking into six levels, shown as a pyramid. The bottom levels provide the foundation for the higher-order thinking skills at the top.

Source: Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy/University of Michigan

If you first learned about Bloom’s Taxonomy more than 20 years ago, it looked a little bit different. In 2001, education experts decided to revise the taxonomy to make it more accurate and easier for educators to understand and apply. They changed the category names from nouns to verbs, showing the action learners would take for each. And they determined that the top two tiers should actually be switched, making “Create” (Synthesis) the highest order of thinking.

Learn more about the history and development of Bloom’s Taxonomy here.

What are the Lower-Order Thinking Skills (LOTS)?

Source: Lower-Order Thinking Skills/Helpful Professor

The bottom three levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy are referred to as the Lower-Order Thinking Skills (LOTS). It’s important to note that even though these skills are considered lower on the pyramid, they’re still extremely important. Think of these as the foundational skills students must have to support their higher-order thinking.

These are skills like memorizing math facts, defining vocabulary words, or knowing the main characters and basic plot points of a story. This is the kind of information you can check using flash cards, spelling tests, true/false questions, and more. There are many basic facts that kids must master so they can quickly recall them as needed.

Check out 21 Ways To Build Background Knowledge to learn more.

When you understand a concept, you can explain how it works to someone else. True understanding is more than memorization or reciting facts. It’s the difference between a child reciting by rote “one times four is four, two times four is eight, three times four is twelve,” versus recognizing that multiplication is the same as adding a number to itself a certain number of times. This is why we often ask students to “show their work” or “show their thinking” on math tests.

See 20 Ways To Check for Understanding for more information.

When you apply your knowledge, you take a concept you’ve already mastered and apply it to new situations. For instance, a student learning to read doesn’t need to memorize every word. Instead, they use their skills in sounding out letters to tackle each new word as they come across it.

Explore 25 Easy Ways To Make Math Practice Fun here.

Which levels constitute higher-order thinking skills (HOTS)?

Source: Higher-Order Thinking Skills/Helpful Professor

The top three levels make up the Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), also known as critical thinking skills . When students use these skills, they delve deeper into information. Rather than simply accepting facts, they explore the reasons behind them and make cause-and-effect connections. They evaluate the validity of facts and use them to synthesize new concepts, ideas, and inventions.

When we analyze something, we don’t take it at face value. Analysis requires us to find facts that stand up to inquiry. We put aside personal feelings or beliefs, and instead identify and scrutinize primary sources for information. This is a complex skill, one we hone throughout our entire lives. When students compare and contrast multiple concepts, sort and categorize, or ask “why” questions, they’re analyzing.

Try these 25 Cause-and-Effect Lesson Plans and Activities to help kids analyze information.

Evaluating means reflecting on analyzed information, selecting the most relevant and reliable facts to help us make choices or form opinions. True evaluation requires us to put aside our own biases and accept that there may be other valid points of view, even if we don’t necessarily agree with them. Students evaluate when they debate topics, write persuasive essays, assess their own or others’ writings, and more.

Use these 35 Strong Persuasive Writing Examples to show students how evaluation works in practice.

At the highest level, students take the facts that they’ve mastered, evaluated, and analyzed, and use them to create something entirely new. This might be designing a science experiment, building a computer program, writing a paper putting forth new ideas, authoring a story or making art, and other creative activities.

Discover 40 Ways To Make More Time for Creativity in Your Lesson Plans .

Why is it so important to teach higher-order thinking?

Source: Equal Levels/University of Michigan

While remembering, understanding, and applying are key skills, they don’t really develop students into lifelong learners and critical thinkers. As kids often point out, if they need to know the date of the start of the American Civil War or the third law of motion, they can just look it up in a book or online.

What really matters is what we do with the information we have. Higher-order skills are the ones people use in daily life to make informed decisions and create new products and processes. They help us think critically, something that’s incredibly vital in this age of constant information overload.

When we teach higher-order thinking skills, we give students the ability to solve problems, develop creative solutions, make smart choices, and evaluate the validity of information. Kids grow into adults who understand how to think carefully about the world and feel confident enough to share their own ideas, concepts, and creations with others.

Read more about the importance of higher-order thinking here.

How do I teach higher-order thinking?

Source: The IDEA Lab

There are a multitude of ways to encourage higher-order thinking in your students. While some say that kids don’t really begin to develop these skills until upper elementary, others argue that it’s never too soon to challenge kids to make connections and ask questions. You can tweak these quick higher-order thinking strategies to work in any classroom, no matter the age or subject.

1. Ask higher-order thinking questions.

Keep a list of higher-order thinking questions on hand, and use them regularly in class. Consider making a bulletin board or anchor chart with some of your favorites, and refer kids to it as they learn. Get a huge list of higher-order thinking questions here.

2. Encourage discussion and debate

When kids learn to disagree respectfully and argue their own opinions using facts to back their beliefs, they’re preparing to take part in the discourse of the world at large. Encourage those with conflicting points of view to share them in your classroom, and teach kids how to analyze and evaluate those points though discussion and debate. Try these resources:

• 60 Funny Debate Topics for Kids of All Ages
• 100 Winning Debate Topics for Middle School Students
• 100 High School Debate Topics To Engage Every Student
• 110+ Controversial Debate Topics to Challenge Your Students
• 60 Interesting Persuasive Essay Topics for Kids and Teens

3. Try STEM challenges.

STEM challenges encourage kids to come up with their own unique answers to problems. They use their knowledge and understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math to analyze and evaluate the challenge and create new solutions. Start with these 50 STEM Activities To Help Kids Think Outside the Box . Then, visit our archive of STEM challenges and science experiments for ideas .

4. Use graphic organizers.

Graphic organizers are tools that let kids make connections, create a plan, and communicate effectively. A good organizer simplifies complex information and lays it out in a way that makes it easier for a learner to digest. Graphic organizers may include text and images, depending on the purpose and student’s learning style. Read all about graphic organizers and learn how to use them here.

5. Incorporate project-based learning.

Project-based learning uses HOTS like analysis and evaluation, collaboration and communication, and problem-solving. As students conduct their hands-on projects, they dig deeper into a real-world topic and make personal connections to the knowledge and skills they’re gaining. In many ways, PBL is more like the work adults do in their daily jobs, especially because students collaborate with others outside their school community. Discover the basics of project-based learning here , then check out 55+ Real-World Project-Based Learning Ideas for All Ages and Interests .

Have more questions about higher-order thinking? Come talk it over with other educators in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, what is critical thinking and why do we need to teach it .

You Might Also Like

70 Higher-Order Thinking Questions To Challenge Your Students (Free Printable)

Plus 45 lower-order thinking questions too. Continue Reading

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The pursuit of performance excellence, bloom’s taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification system developed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom to categorize cognitive skills and learning behavior. The word taxonomy simply means classifications or structures. Bloom’s Taxonomy classifies thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The categories are ordered from simple to complex and from concrete to abstract. According to Bloom, each level must be mastered before moving to the next higher level. Each level becomes more challenging as you move higher. 

The classification begins at the basic level that is simple recall skills and progresses to the perceived highest level of cognitive processing which they believe to be “evaluation.” The various levels have often been depicted as a stairway to reference a progressive climb to a higher level of thinking. A learner would have to first recall data and then understand it before he or she is able to apply it.

The basic or lowest level in the taxonomy focuses on knowledge acquisition and at this level, people simply memorize, recall, list, and repeat information. In the second level, people are able to classify, describe, discuss, and explain information. At the next tier, people demonstrate, interpret, and apply what they have learned and are able to use the information to solve problems. At the following level, they examine, compare, contrast, and distinguish what they have learned with other information. Then at the second to the highest level, people build a structure or pattern from diverse elements, and are able to put parts together to form a whole. Finally, at the highest level, people make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Chart

Knowledge	Recall data or information
Comprehension	Demonstrate understanding of the meaning and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, summarizing, and giving descriptions, and can state a problem in one’s own words.
Application	Use acquired knowledge by applying a concept in a new situation or different way.
Analysis	Examine and break information or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Make inferences and able to distinguishes between facts and inferences.
Synthesis	Compile information in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions. Build a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Able to put parts together to form a whole.
Evaluation	Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials and able to present and defend opinions based on a set of criteria.

Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a valuable framework for teachers, trainers, and instructional designers to use to focus on higher order thinking. By providing a hierarchy of thinking, Bloom’s Taxonomy can help in developing performance tasks, creating questions, or constructing problems.

The following chart illustrates the expectation of the learner at each level of the hierarchy and gives some examples of how the learner can demonstrate his or her ability at each level.

Knowledge	Learner exhibits memory of previously learned material by recalling facts, terms, or basic concepts.  Example: List steps in a procedure, names the parts of a bicycle, or recall characters from a novel.
Comprehension	Learner demonstrates understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, paraphrasing, translating, or summarizing main ideas.Example:   Explain how the main character felt about what happened to them or summarize what happened in a story.
Application	Learner is able to solve problems in new situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way.Example:   Explain how water bottles could be used to determine the weight of a basket of apples.
Analysis	Learner is able to examine and break information into components by identifying motives or causes as well as make inferences and find evidence to support generalizations.Example: Categorize material in groups of recycle and unrecyclable.
Synthesis	Learner is able to compile information in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions.Example: Create a new character and explain how that character would fit into the storyline.
Evaluation	Learner is able to present and defend opinions by making judgments about information or validity of ideas based on a set of criteria.Example:   Determine if a person acted in a reasonable manner and defend that opinion, or determine if the route taken by an explorer was the best route to take at the time.

Bloom’s Action Verbs

The following chart provides action verbs for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. By creating learning objectives using these action verbs, you indicate explicitly what the learner must do in order to demonstrate learning.

Knowledge	Arrange, Define, Describe, Draw, Find, Identify, Label, List, Match, Memorize, Name, Order, Outline, Quote, Recognize, Recall, Recite, State, Tell, Write
Comprehension	Classify, Convert, Conclude, Demonstrate, Describe, Discuss, Distinguish, Explain, Generalize, Identify, Illustrate, Interpret, Indicate, Infer, Paraphrase, Predict, Report, Rewrite, Restate, Review, Summarize, Translate
Application	Apply, Change, Choose, Compute, Demonstrate, Discover, Dramatize, Employ, Illustrate, Interpret, Interview, Manipulate, Modify, Predict, Prepare, Produce, Select, Show, Solve, Transfer, Use
Analysis	Analyze, Appraise, Breakdown, Categorize, Characterize, Classify, Compare, Contrast, Debate, Deduce, Diagram, Differentiate, Discriminate, Distinguish, Examine, Illustrate, Infer, Outline, Relate, Research, Separate, Subdivide
Synthesis	Arrange, Assemble, Categorize, Combine, Comply, Compose, Construct, Create, Design, Develop, Devise, Formulate, Generate, Integrate, Invent, Perform, Plan, Propose, Reconstruct, Relate, Reorganize, Revise, Rewrite, Synthesize
Evaluation	Appraise, Argue, Assess, Choose, Conclude, Critic, Decide, Defend, Estimate, Evaluate, Interpret, Judge, Justify, Predict, Prioritize, Rank, Rate, Value

Bloom’s Taxonomy Revised

Thinking Skills

Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook 1; Cognitive Domain.

Overbaugh, R. & Schultz, L. “Bloom’s Taxonomy.”

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). “A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An Overview.” Theory into Practice

Clark, D. (2010). Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains: The three types of learning. Big Dog & Little Dog’s Performance Juxtaposition .

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How Bloom's Taxonomy Can Help You Learn More Effectively

monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Getty Images

• The Six Levels
• How It Works
• Applications
• How to Use It

Bloom’s Taxonomy in Online Learning

• Limitations

Bloom's taxonomy is an educational framework that classifies learning in different levels of cognition. This model aims to help educators better understand and evaluate the different types of complex mental skills needed for effective learning .

The taxonomy is often characterized as a ladder or pyramid. Each step on the taxonomy represents a progressively more complex level of learning. The lower levels of learning serve as a base for the subsequent levels that follow.

Bloom’s taxonomy was developed by a committee of educators through a series of conferences held between 1949 to 1953. It was published in “Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals” and is named after Benjamin Bloom, the educational psychologist who chaired the committee and edited the book.

The Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy

There are six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. The original six levels were: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

In 2001, the original Bloom's taxonomy was revised by a group of instructional theorists, curriculum researchers, and cognitive psychologists. The goal was to move away from the more static objectives that Bloom described to utilize action works that better capture the dynamic, active learning process. The six levels of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy:

Remember	Recognizing, recalling
Understand	Interpreting, paraphrasing, classifying, summarizing, comparing, explaining, inferring
Apply	Implementing, executing
Analyze	Distinguishing, differentiating, organizing, deconstructing
Evaluate	Detecting, coordinating, testing, critiquing
Create	Generating ideas, planning, designing, constructing

At the lowest level of the taxonomy, learners recognize and recall the information they have learned. This level focuses on memorizing information and recalling the concepts and facts learned.

This level of the taxonomy involves demonstrating a comprehension of what has been learned. People are able to explain the ideas in their own words and explain what the concepts mean.

At this level of Bloom's taxonomy, learners are able to use the information and knowledge they have acquired in new situations. For example, they can apply a skill they have learned in order to solve a different problem or complete a new task.

At this level, learners are able to break down information in order to analyze the components and examine their relationships. Here, learners are able to compare and contrast to spot similarities and differences. They can also make connections and spot patterns.

This level involves being able to make an assessment of the quality of information that has been presented. Learners are able to evaluate arguments that have been presented in order to make judgments and form their own opinions.

This represents the highest level of Bloom's taxonomy. Learners who reach this point are able to form ideas by utilizing the skills and knowledge they have obtained. This level involves the generation of creative, original ideas.

How Bloom's Taxonomy Works

Understanding and utilizing Bloom's taxonomy allows educators and instructional designers to create activities and assessments that encourage students to progress through the levels of learning. These activities allow students to go from the acquisition of basic knowledge and work their way through the levels of learning to the point where they can think critically and creatively.

The progression of knowledge matters because each level builds on the previous ones. In other words, it is important to remember that students must have a solid foundation before continuing to build higher-order thinking skills.

The basic knowledge they learn at the beginning of the process allows them to think about this knowledge in progressively more complex ways.

"To successfully use Bloom’s taxonomy, it’s essential to follow the steps in the correct order because the taxonomy's steps naturally progress and reinforce learning at every level," explains Marnix Broer, co-founder and CEO of Studocu .

While the foundational stages of learning provide a solid base, it is essential to keep building on those skills. Challenge yourself to learn in new ways and hone those high-level skills that are so critical to cognitive flexibility and critical thinking

Marnix Broer, Co-Founder and CEO, Studocu

While you can review a set of study notes repeatedly, you’re really only hitting the 'remember' and 'understand' stages and limiting your skills and retention. Seeking out opportunities to analyze, evaluate, and create based on the subject matter will help you solidify your knowledge beyond being able to regurgitate it on a test.

The purpose of Bloom's taxonomy is to guide educators as they create instruction that fosters cognitive skills. Instead of focusing on memorization and repetition, the goal is to help students develop higher-order thinking skills that allow them to engage in critical, creative thinking that they can apply in different areas of their lives.

3 Domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom's taxonomy targets three key learning domains. These domains are focused on a number of desired educational outcomes.  

Cognitive Domain

This domain is focused on the development of intellectual skills. It involves the acquisition of knowledge and the development of problem-solving , decision-making , and critical-thinking abilities. 

Affective Domain

This domain is centered on developing emotional abilities, values, and attitudes. It's focus is on helping learners develop perspectives on different subjects as well as cultivating motivation, empathy , and social abilities.

Psychomotor Domain

This domain focuses on the physical skills that are needed to carry out different activities. This includes physical coordination and the ability to control and manipulate the body. Using the proper technique to hold a pencil while writing is an example of a psychomotor skills that is important in the learning process.

Applications for Bloom’s Taxonomy

Teachers utilize Bloom's taxonomy to design instruction that maximizes learning and helps students learn more effectively. For example:

• An educator would create a lesson that teaches students basic knowledge about a subject.
• Next, students would summarize and explain these ideas in their own words.
• Then, learners would take this knowledge and use it to solve problems.
• The educator would then provide activities where students must break down, compare, and connect different ideas.
• Next, educational activities would focus on giving students critical assessments of the quality, value, or effectiveness of what they have learned.
• Finally, at the end of this process, students would use what they have learned to create something independently.

One of the benefits of using this approach is that it can lead to deeper learning that allows skills to be transferred to various domains and situations. One study found that teaching Bloom's taxonomy helped improve learners' ability to learn independently. This approach also helped better stimulate critical thinking skills and boosted student motivation and interest in learning.

Uses for Bloom’s Taxonomy

The taxonomy is widely used today for a variety of purposes, including to:

• Develop classroom instruction and lesson plans
• Create instructional strategies
• Design and develop curricula
• Assess courses
• Identify assessment objectives
• Create effective written assessments
• Measure learning outcomes

How Can You Use Bloom's Taxonomy?

Bloom’s taxonomy is also something you can use to make learning new information and acquiring new skills easier. Understanding and applying the taxonomy can enhance learning efficacy to develop a richer understanding of the subject matter.

Utilizing different learning strategies at each level of the taxonomy can help you get the most out of your learning experiences:

Improving Remembering

Strategies that can be helpful during the first level of learning include:

• Making flashcards and repeating the information regularly to help reinforce your memory
• Quizzing yourself on what you have learned
• Using mnemonic devices to help improve your recall
• Reviewing your notes and readings often to help improve your retention of the information

Improving Understanding

At the second level of the taxonomy, you can enhance your understanding of the material by:

• Having discussions with others to help reinforce the ideas and clarify points you are confused about
• Writing down questions you might have about the material
• Teaching what you have learned to someone else
• Summarizing key points in your own words to ensure understanding

Improving Application

To apply knowledge more effectively, it can be helpful to:

• Work on projects that require you to solve real-world problems
• Solve practice problems that rely on the information you have learned
• Role-play different scenarios in groups
• Do lab experiments that require applying what you've learned

Improving Analysis

Activities that can help improve your analytical skills at this level of Bloom's taxonomy include:

• Creating mind maps to make connections between different ideas
• Comparing and contrasting different ideas or theories using tables, Venn diagrams, and charts
• Debating the topic with peers
• Writing your critical analysis of the topic

Improving Evaluation

You can help enhance your evaluation skills by:

• Utilizing peer review to give feedback on what other learners have written
• Listing the pros and cons of a concept
• Writing in a journal to track your thoughts
• Writing a review paper or giving a presentation on the subject
• Writing a persuasive or argumentative essay

Improving Creation

At the final level of Bloom's taxonomy, the goal is to take what you have learned as use that knowledge to produce original work. This might involve:

• Brainstorming new ideas
• Making decisions based on your knowledge
• Developing recommendations and presenting them to your peers
• Asking open-ended questions to encourage creative thought
• Integrating multiple ideas and perspectives into a new product or idea
• Designing a creative work based on your ideas

Use of the taxonomy may of course differ amongst individuals at different age levels.

How can online, self-directed learners utilize Bloom’s taxonomy to enhance their educational experience? Broer recommends looking for ways to mentally, physically, and emotionally connect to educational material.

“If online learning resources don’t offer opportunities to apply the knowledge, you may need to find those opportunities yourself,” he suggests. “Completing mock assignments or creating flow charts can help you shift from the learning to the application stage quickly, especially with quick access to online forums, apps, and social media.” 

What Are the Limitations of Bloom's Taxonomy?

While Bloom's taxonomy is still an influential theory and continues to influence classroom education and instructional design, it has limitations. Some of the primary criticisms of the framework:

Simplistic Hierarchy

One of the main complaints about the taxonomy is that the hierarchical structure oversimplifies the learning process. By breaking down thinking skills into discrete levels, it fails to capture the complexity of the learning process and how these different skills overlap and interact.

The taxonomy is typically framed as a hierarchy in which higher-level learning depends on foundational knowledge. However, learning often doesn't occur in distinct, separate steps. Learning experiences are often dynamic, involving many levels at the same time.

Rigid Structure

The taxonomy's lack of flexibility is another common critique. By suggesting that learning follows a fixed progression that starts with lower-order skills before progressing to higher-level thinking skills, it ignores the fact that learning is complex, dynamic, and frequently involves engaging multiple cognitive skills simultaneously.

Some critics suggest that the taxonomy may stifle creativity when designing instruction, limiting an educator's ability to develop effective learning strategies.

Cultural Bias

Because Bloom's taxonomy was developed from a Western perspective and educational context, it may not reflect learning methods from other cultural backgrounds. Educators should consider this factor when developing culturally-inclusive instruction.

Bloom's taxonomy was originally introduced during the 1950s as a framework for categorizing cognitive skills and understanding the learning process. While Bloom’s taxonomy has limitations, it is still a helpful framework for developing educational materials. Teachers, instructional designers, and curriculum developers can utilize the framework and incorporate other educational perspectives to create well-rounded instruction that benefits all students.

Bloom BS. Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals . New York, NY: Longmans, Green; 1956.

Anderson LW, Krathwohl DR, eds.  A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives . Complete ed. Longman; 2001.

Adams NE. Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives . J Med Libr Assoc . 2015;103(3):152-153. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.103.3.010

Zheng J, Tayag J, Cui Y, Chen J. Bloom's classification of educational objectives based on deep learning theory teaching design of nursing specialty . Comput Intell Neurosci . 2022;2022:3324477. doi:10.1155/2022/3324477

Larsen TM, Endo BH, Yee AT, Do T, Lo SM. Probing internal assumptions of the revised Bloom's Taxonomy . CBE Life Sci Educ . 2022;21(4):ar66. doi:10.1187/cbe.20-08-0170

Newton PM, Da Silva A, Peters LG. A pragmatic master list of action verbs for Bloom’s taxonomy . Front Educ . 2020;5:107. doi:10.3389/feduc.2020.00107

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Bloom's Taxonomy Levels of Learning: The Complete Post

If you've read our ultimate guide to understanding Bloom's taxonomy , you may want to find out more about Bloom's levels of learning. This post will explain everything you need to know about these levels and help you develop a full understanding of what they are, how they help and how they can be used to improve the learning process.   

This post will explain: 

What Bloom’s taxonomy levels of learning are 

The three key domains; affective, cognitive and psychomotor 

How to apply Bloom’s taxonomy levels of learning when designing a course 

How to use Bloom’s taxonomy level of learning to assess and evaluate learning.  

An introduction to Bloom’s taxonomy 

The Original Bloom’s taxonomy 6 levels of learning 

The Revised Bloom’s taxonomy 6 levels of learning 

Types of knowledge in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy  

How to use Bloom’s 6 levels of learning 

Examples of how to apply each level of learning 

Further reading 

 1. An introduction to Bloom’s taxonomy 

 In 1956, Benjamin Bloom and his team of collaborators published their book, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Their framework soon became known as  Bloom’s Taxonomy  and provides a way of categorizing educational goals. It went on to enjoy widespread popularity among generations of teachers and instructors and has been applied across a broad range of age groups, from kindergarten to college level. both at a K-12 school level and at a college level.  

Bloom’s taxonomy helps teachers and instructors create curricula, course, lesson plans, and learning activities, as well as formative and summative assessments. It helps ensure that the students have clear measurable goals and expectations.  

2. The Original Bloom’s taxonomy 6 levels of learning

The original taxonomy featured six major categories of thinking.  

There were:  

Comprehension 

Application 

Evaluation 

As a taxonomy, Bloom’s framework has to be followed in order; learners must start at the first stage – Knowledge – and master that level before moving on to the next. The first level – Knowledge – is a necessary precondition for the following five levels. For this reason, the taxonomy is often presented as a pyramid to show that knowledge acts as a foundation for all subsequent levels of learning:

The five areas of learning above Knowledge are known as ‘skills and abilities’. Each category contains various subcategories, ranging from simple tasks to complex tasks.  

A brief explanation of each category

The following explanations are derived from the 1984 edition of Bloom’s Handbook One.  

Knowledge This initial level involved recalling basic facts, processes, and methods, or patterns and structures.  

Comprehension  This level refers to the learners’ understanding of the ideas and materials presented at the first level. At this stage, they won’t necessarily be able to see the full implications or their knowledge or be able to relate it to other material.  

Application  At this level of thinking, learners should be able to use their knowledge and understanding in certain situations.  

Analysis  At the analysis level, learners are expected to be able to articulate the relationship between different ideas and be able to breakdown their learning into elements or parts.  

Synthesis  This level of thinking involves combining different ideas or elements to create new structures or ideas.  

Evaluation  In the original Bloom’s taxonomy, ‘evaluation’ was the highest level of thinking and was thought to require the most complex mental processes. At this level, learners are expected to make judgments about the value of the methods or materials presented to them.  

3. The Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy 6 levels of learning

A group of researchers, psychologists, and assessment specialists produced a revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy,  A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment , in 2001. Their main goal was to move the focus away from purely educational objectives and make it clearer for learners to understand specifically what was required of them at each stage.  

In place of static objectives and nouns used in the original Bloom’s taxonomy, the revised version uses verbs and gerunds to describe the cognitive processes that students and learners are required to use.  

These are: 

Understand 

In common with Bloom’s original work, learners must still approach a topic or subject from the lowest level – Remember – and master that before moving on to higher levels of thinking.  

A brief explanation of each category

The revised Bloom’s taxonomy categories are briefly explained below.  

Remember  Action verbs such as ‘recognizing’, and ‘recalling’ tell the learner that the learning is at the lowest level of thinking.  

Understand  Work at this level is likely to require actions such as ‘interpreting’, ‘exemplifying’, ‘classifying’, ‘summarizing’, ‘inferring’, ‘comparing’ and ‘explaining’.  

Apply  If learners are asked to ‘implement’ or ‘execute’ a task or action, they would likely be working at this level of thinking.  

Analyze  At the analytical stage, learners are commonly asked to ‘differentiate’, ‘organize’ or ‘attribute’ facts, data or subject matter.  

Evaluate  Learners working at this high level of thinking may be asked to ‘critique’ or ‘check’ materials.  

Create  In the revised Bloom’s taxonomy, creating something original or substantially new is considered to be the highest level of thinking. Verbs such as ‘generate’, ‘plan’ or ‘produce’ tell learners that they are required to work at this level.  

4. Types of knowledge in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy

In addition to the six cognitive processes, the authors of the revised taxonomy created a separate taxonomy for four distinct types of knowledge.  

These are:  

Factual Knowledge  Learners need to demonstrate knowledge of specific details, elements or terminology.  

Conceptual Knowledge  Learners need knowledge of theories, models, principles, classifications, and categories.  

Procedural Knowledge  Learners need to know specific techniques, skills, algorithms or methods.  

Metacognitive Knowledge  Learners need self-knowledge about cognitive tasks and contextual knowledge.  

5. How to use Bloom’s 6 levels of learning

At this point, you may be wondering, “Why use Bloom’s taxonomy?’ 

Here’s the deal:  

Bloom’s taxonomy is incredibly flexible and can be used in conjunction with most teaching philosophies and teaching styles. Its popularity stems from the fact that it is highly adaptability and versatile, making is well suited to a number of different tasks.  

Course or curriculum planning 

Setting learning goals or objectives 

Creating learning activities 

Creating assessments or evaluations 

Let’s look at each of these areas separately.  

Course or curriculum planning  Bloom’s taxonomy helps educators plan a curriculum, syllabus or course by offering a structure about how people learn. The lowest levels of learning – Remembering and Understanding – must feature near the start of the course or curriculum. Instructors must ensure that learners have a good grasp of the content at these levels before moving on to higher levels of learning such as applying, evaluating or creating.  

Setting learning goals or objectives  Objectives or learning goals are crucially important if the teacher is to establish a pedagogical interchange with their students. Clear goals will help the learners understand the purpose of the learning. They help the instructor plan and deliver instruction at an appropriate level. Bloom’s taxonomy helps to ensure that the right learning goals are set, according to the level of learning that the learners are engaged.  

Creating learning activities  Bloom’s taxonomy helps educators create appropriate learning activities for the level of learning that is taking place. For example, on a course focused at the lower levels of learning, an activity that involves analysis or creation may be unsuitable. Bloom’s taxonomy helps instructions set the activities at the right level.  

Creating assessments or evaluations   Lastly, Bloom’s taxonomy helps educators set assessments and evaluations at the right level. Worthwhile assessments will reflect the level of thinking that has been taking place.  

6. Examples of how to apply each level of learning

If you want to put Bloom’s taxonomy into practice, here are some examples of the ways you might apply each level of learning.  

Level 1: Remembering  This is the most basic level of Bloom’s taxonomy but is a necessary prerequisite for the following stages.  

If you are teaching at this level, you may use verbs such as: 

This will help you to measure the learner’s success in this stage. The purpose is to ensure that students memorize facts but doesn’t guarantee that they actually understand the material.  

Sample Level 1 learning activities  You may ask the learners to recite something you’ve taught them or ask them to quote information from previous classes, lectures or notes. Alternatives include multiple choice questions, or simple question and answer sessions.  

Level 2: Understanding  The second level of learning in Bloom’s taxonomy is when a learner can comprehend or interpret the materials presented during classes or lecture.  

At this level, you may use verbs like:   

• paraphrase 

Sample Level 2 Learning Activities   Your options include asking learners to provide analogies of a given topic or concept, telling a story, explaining a concept in their own words, or paraphrasing something they have learned. 

Level 3: Applying 

This level of thinking asks learners to use and apply the material or skills that they have been studying.  

You may use verbs like 

• demonstrate 

The goal is to measure whether students can make use of their learning.  

Sample Level 3 Learning Activities 

The range of learning activities at this level varies enormously. If the learning focuses on practical skills such as making phone calls or completing a form, the assessment would mirror that real-life activity. If the focus is on knowledge, such as a math formula, you might ask learners to make a calculation that demonstrates their understanding of the formula.  

Level 4: Analyzing 

Analyzing is the upper-half of the levels of learning in Bloom’s taxonomy. The goal is to assess whether students can draw connections between ideas and utilize their critical thinking skills.  

Verbs you may use include: 

• deconstruct 
• differentiate 

Sample level 4 learning activities 

You may ask students to find fallacies in the reasoning of various arguments or use logical deduction to determine how a particular piece of equipment works. These tasks allow the students to demonstrate that they can understand the material fully, and can break it down into its component parts.  

Level 5: Evaluating 

At the second-highest level of learning of Bloom’s taxonomy, you are assessing whether students can differentiate between facts, opinions, and inferences.  

Sample Level 5 Learning Activities 

You may ask learners to justify a specific decision or find an effective solution to a problem while backing up that decision with a justification. Blogs and surveys are popular learning activities at this level.  

Level 6: Creating 

The highest level of learning in Bloom’s taxonomy is asking the learner to create something either tangible or conceptual.  

You may use verbs such as:

Sample Level 6 Learning activities 

If the learning is practical in nature, you may ask learners to design a product or physical device such as a piece of machinery. If the learning is conceptual or intangible, a suitable learning activity may be writing a report, creating a manual, writing an essay or paper.   

7. Problems with using Bloom’s taxonomy 

As with any theoretical construct, Bloom’s taxonomy is open to interpretation and doesn’t have to be precisely followed or applied to every given situation. For instance, when designing a course, it may not be necessary to have the learners start at the lowest level – remembering – and work their way up.   

The solution? 

If you are creating a bespoke course or syllabus for a group of learners, you can use formative assessments to gauge learners’ abilities before you start designing. This will help you set appropriate learning goals and pitch the instruction at the right level.  

Creativity doesn’t have to be the end goal, either. You can use creativity as a tool to spark inspiration and learning. In a corporate learning environment, for example, you could ask the participants to create their own solution to a problem. This could act as an engaging and inspiring entry event, as you could deconstruct the solution and use it as a creative way of introducing facts, knowledge and basic concepts around a subject.   

8. Further reading 

To discover more about Bloom’s taxonomy and how to use it to improve the effectiveness of your training evaluation, consider getting in touch with us below. 

Related posts:

• How to Use Bloom's Hierarchy to Succeed in Evaluating Training Effectiveness  
• How to Use the Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy for Corporate Training

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All 6 Levels of Understanding (on Bloom’s Taxonomy)

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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According to Benjamin Bloom, there are 6 levels of understanding that we pass through as our intellect grows. They are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. He laid these out in his famous Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Bloom’s taxonomy is a hierarchical arrangement of six cognitive processing abilities and educational objectives that range from simple to complex and concrete to abstract.

The taxonomy starts with the proposition that learning exists on a continuum that reflects degrees of understanding and learning.

According to Bloom’s taxonomy , students must first learn basic facts of a subject and gradually progress to more advanced levels of understanding that eventually lead to being able to produce original knowledge.

In addition to identifying the cognitive abilities at each level of understanding, the taxonomy also includes describing the affective and psychomotor processes that are involved at each level.

Although the taxonomy is named after Benjamin Bloom in the book Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956), the work was the result of a collaboration that included coauthors Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl. A revision was later produced in 2001.

6 Levels of Understanding

1. remembering.

This is the most fundamental level of understanding that involves remembering basic information regarding a subject matter. This means that students will be able to define concepts, list facts, repeat key arguments, memorize details, or repeat information.

This is the first step of developing a comprehensive understanding of a subject, but it doesn’t not mean that the student has a very deep understanding. Producing a critical analysis or counterarguments are beyond the student’s ability at this level.

For example, a history teacher may assign a reading and give a lecture about a significant historical event. The material includes information about the key figures involved and outlining the chronological of events that took place.

For assessment, the exam asks students to answer questions about the dates of certain events and the names of the people associated with those events. In one section of the exam, students are presented with a blank timeline with some dates indicated. They have to write the name of the event that took place at that date and give the name of at least two people involved.

In another section of the exam, students answer multiple choice questions about the role of key figures. Other questions describe an event and then students must choose the name of the person associated with that moment.

At this level of understanding, students are expected to memorize information. This is a form of rote memory.

Synonyms for Remembering

Reiterate	Memorize	Duplicate	Repeat
Cite	Identify	Copy	Define
Find	Quote	List	Cram
Locate		Recall	Duplicate

2. Understanding

Understanding means being able to explain. This can involve explaining the meaning of a concept or an idea.

Students should be able to classify and categorize concepts based on descriptive terms or identify key features. If presented with a theory, students can describe the basic tenets and discuss the basic principles.

Although this level of understanding is more advanced, it is very descriptive. Students cannot produce an independent critical analysis of a theory or identify its strengths and weaknesses.

For example, in a psychology course, students might be asked to write a report on attachment. The report might include describing the basic characteristics of the different types of attachment and discussing in detail how attachments are formed.

Students should also be able to describe specific research studies in broad terms and explain the results well enough that another person could understand. This involves the ability to paraphrase. Instead of just repeating information straight for a source document, students should be able to describe the study in their own words.

Another version of assessment could include responding to simple questions about the subject matter. The response should come in the form of writing a short answer consisting of several sentences that shows the student understands the subject and is able to describe it from memory.

However, students will not be able to conduct a comparison of different theories, or identify their similarities and differences. Although the student clearly understands the theories, that level of understanding is not deep enough for them to generate a critical analysis.    

Synonyms for Understanding

Explain	Paraphrase	Report	Describe
Summarize	Elucidate	Interpret	Discuss
Exemplify	Express	Respond	Reflect
Sum Up	Recap	Elaborate	Infer

3. Applying  

Applying refers to the ability to use information in situations other than the situation in which it was learned. This represents a deeper level of understanding.

The key development is the ability to “apply” information. Understanding can be demonstrated by taking knowledge and using it in a variety of ways.

This can involve using knowledge of how to perform a specific mathematical calculation to solve a problem or illustrate how a principle in physics can be seen in everyday life.

Students can engage in problem-solving on their own and discover solutions independently.

For example, if a physics teacher were to provide students information regarding the weight of a rocket and the degree of force generated by the engines, students could calculate how far the rocket would travel.

They could extend that understanding by performing the same calculations for a rocket traveling under different conditions related to gravity, wind resistance, and other factors.

Similarly, students should be able to illustrate specific concepts with examples or demonstrate simple scientific principles with various objects. This could involve showing how the weight of an object will affect its momentum or alter the direction of another moving object.

The key development in the student’s cognitive processing is the ability to apply descriptive information to a variety of situations.

Synonyms for Applying

Practice	Do	Illustrate	Calculate
Operate	Use	Utilize	Implement
Solve	Show	Demonstrate	Produce
Enact	Construct (Put Together)	Act Out	Implement

4. Analyzing

Conducting an analysis independently is the next level of understanding. This includes the ability to draw logical conclusions based on given facts or make connections between various constructs.

Students are now able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a theory, as well as compare and contrast different theoretical perspectives.

When studying literary works, students should be able to identify specific passages or statements that reflect the author’s philosophical perspective.

They can also identify patterns and trends in data, construct charts and graphs that organize information in a logical manner, and describe how and why data is connected.

For example, students in a political science course may be asked to identify the key ideals of democracy and socialism, highlight the differences and similarities, and discuss the ramifications of each political system.

Similarly, in an art class, students should be able to look at two works of art and make a variety of comparisons. This can include differentiating the genre of two pieces, identifying the medium used, compare and contrast the techniques used by the artist and the different effects those have on the viewer.

At this level of understanding, students are now able to manipulate information, organize it in meaningful ways according to various criteria, and both differentiate and connect various concepts.

Synonyms for Analyzing

Compare	Contrast	Categorize	Organize
Distinguish	Correlate	Deconstruct	Find Patterns
Mind-Map	Integrate	Structure	Question
Discriminate	Connect	Classify	Inquire

See More Examples of Analysis Here

5. Evaluating

Evaluating means determining correctness. Here, students will be able to identify the merits of an argument or point of view and weigh the relative strengths of each point.

They can critique a decision or appraise the rationale given for a certain act.   

This level of understanding represents a significant advancement of cognitive processes. Now students are able to grapple with very abstract concepts.

This can be demonstrated by making arguments for or against a particular legal ruling, conducting a critical analysis underlying a socio-political philosophy, or discuss the various issues to consider in a moral dilemma .

For example, students in a law course may be asked to produce a legal brief regarding a controversial ruling.

This requires presenting the key elements of a case and critiquing the legal arguments presented by others. Ultimately, the student can produce a final judgement of the ruling and justify their position with facts and other legal precedents.

In another example, if presented with a debate topic, students should be able to take a position on the issue and support their view with logical arguments. They may cite facts or statistics that make their position stronger, while at the same time being able to pinpoint the weaknesses of the opposing side and support those criticisms with strong counterarguments .

The advancement here is the ability to critique , judge, and even criticize abstract concepts such as a theory, philosophy, or legal perspective.

Synonyms for Evaluating

Find Strengths	Find Weaknesses	Judge	Defend
Prioritize	Critique	Pros and Cons	Create Hierarchies
Assess	Choose	Conclude	Debate
Justify	Argue	Value Judgement

6. Creating

The final level of Bloom’s taxonomy is when students can create something new. It is characterized by inventing, designing, and creating something that did not exist previously.

At this last level of cognitive ability, the student becomes the master. Instead of being a consumer of information, they are now producers.

This level requires the ability to use the features of all previous levels in a way that will then lead to producing something completely new.

For example, an individual may be able to author an original literary piece such as a novel or screenplay. Or, a person may invent a completely new way to analyze data by creating a new formula. Other examples include formulating a new theoretical perspective or inventing an original piece of machinery.

A less dramatic example would be in the case that a manager designs a detailed schedule to manage a project. The schedule will include assigning work teams based on abilities, allocating resources, anticipating problems, and developing contingencies.

This is the highest form of understanding that goes far beyond fundamental understanding and into the realm of creation.

Synonyms for Creating

Invent	Develop	Construct (something new)	Design
Compose	Generate	Innovate	Formulate
Pioneer	Conceive	Theorize	Originate
Build (something new)	Hypothesize	Push boundaries	Propose (something new)

Bloom’s taxonomy of understanding gives educators a framework that is helpful in understanding the progression of student abilities and a way to organize assessment. Sometimes, we might also refer to it as the levels of knowledge . Teachers at different grade levels should develop lessons and assessment strategies that correspond to their students’ level of abilities.

As students move up the educational ladder from K1 to secondary school, and then further to university study and doctoral training, their cognitive abilities and observable learning behaviors continuously evolve. They become capable of handling increasingly challenging educational tasks, starting from simply being able to list facts, to a level of development that can lead to the invention of a new piece of machinery or the creation of a literary work.

The taxonomy has been well-received in the education world and is still in use today by educators worldwide. Bloom’s original book has been translated into at least 20 languages. However, today, an alternative taxonomy called the SOLO taxonomy is increasingly used because it’s believed to present more measurable outcomes for teachers.

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J. D., & Wittrock, M. C. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman

Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Vol. 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay , 20, 24.

Eber, P. A., & Parker, T. S. (2007). Assessing Student Learning: Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy. Human Service Education , 27 (1). Doi: link.gale.com/apps/doc/A280993786/AONE?u=anon~395a775c&sid=sitemap&xid=d925de51

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41 (4), 212-218. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4104_2

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Number Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Word Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Outdoor Games for Kids
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 50 Incentives to Give to Students

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High-Level Thinking vs. Critical Thinking: What's the Difference?

What is High-Level Thinking?

High-level thinking is a cognitive process that involves abstract and complex reasoning. It is characterized by the ability to analyze information, synthesize ideas, and develop new concepts. High-level thinking typically requires a strong foundation in factual knowledge and the ability to connect disparate pieces of information to form a new idea or concept.

Skills Required for High-Level Thinking

To engage in high-level thinking, an individual must possess certain skills, including:

• Analytical Thinking: the ability to break down complex information into smaller parts and analyze each part to gain a deeper understanding.
• Synthetic Thinking: the ability to take disparate pieces of information and combine them to form a new idea or concept.
• Imaginative Thinking: the ability to think creatively and imagine new ways of solving problems or conceptualizing ideas.
• Reflective Thinking: the ability to evaluate one’s own thinking and make corrections or adjustments as necessary.

Examples of High-Level Thinking

Examples of high-level thinking include:

• Developing a new theory or concept based on existing research and knowledge.
• Creating a new product or service that solves a current problem or meets a need in the market.
• Synthesizing information from multiple sources to develop a new hypothesis or idea.
• Analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing campaign to improve future efforts.

Overall, high-level thinking is a critical skill for success in both personal and professional settings. By engaging in this type of thinking, individuals can develop new ideas, solve complex problems, and create innovative solutions to the challenges they face.

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking refers to the process of analyzing information to form a well-reasoned judgment or evaluation. It involves deliberate and systematic processing of information, often requiring the skills of reasoning, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and problem-solving.

Key components of Critical Thinking

Logical reasoning.

Logical reasoning is essential in critical thinking as it helps us to reach conclusions based on evidence, reasoning, and observations. It involves evaluating and analyzing arguments based on whether they are sound or not.

Attentive Observation

Attentive observation is the ability to observe and gather information accurately. This type of observation enables a person to pick up on details that may be missed by someone who is not paying attention.

Fair-Mindedness

Fair-mindedness is the ability to approach issues in a way that is objective and unbiased. It involves considering all sides of an argument objectively, rather than just taking one side.

Critical Thinking in Practice

Critical thinking is essential in various aspects of our lives. In the workplace, employees with strong critical thinking skills are better equipped to analyze information, identify problems, and provide effective solutions. In personal life, critical thinking helps individuals to make informed decisions, evaluate arguments, and solve complex problems.

The Importance of Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Developing critical thinking skills can be valuable in any field or situation. It enables individuals to think more deeply and critically about issues, making them more efficient problem-solvers. Critical thinking skills can also improve communication, as individuals can more effectively convey their ideas and reasoning.

Critical thinking is a vital cognitive skill that plays an essential role in personal and professional development. It involves analyzing information, evaluating arguments, and making informed decisions. By developing critical thinking skills, individuals can become better equipped to solve problems and make informed decisions in all aspects of their lives.

Why Do These Different Types of Thinking Matter?

Both high-level thinking and critical thinking are important skills to have, and they serve different functions in our lives. High-level thinking allows individuals to think expansively, creatively, and abstractly. It enables people to brainstorm new ideas, synthesize complex pieces of information, and envision the big picture.

On the other hand, critical thinking involves analyzing and evaluating information to form rational conclusions or make informed decisions. It involves identifying faulty logic, weighing the evidence, and detecting inconsistencies.

These different types of thinking are essential for success in many personal and professional environments. They help individuals navigate complex issues, solve problems, make informed decisions, and communicate ideas more effectively.

In a professional setting, high-level thinking skills are particularly important for leaders and entrepreneurs. These individuals must be able to envision new business opportunities, cultivate innovative solutions, and think creatively to compete in a rapidly changing marketplace. Without high-level thinking, businesses can become stagnant and fail to adapt to changing circumstances.

Meanwhile, critical thinking is vital in many fields, including law, medicine, science, and finance. In these areas, individuals must be able to analyze complex data, identify patterns or inconsistencies, and make sound decisions based on the available evidence. They must also be able to recognize potential issues, anticipate consequences, and develop effective solutions.

In a personal setting, both high-level thinking and critical thinking skills can be applied to everyday problems and challenges. These skills can help individuals navigate complicated relationships, make important life decisions, and think creatively about their goals and aspirations.

Overall, understanding the differences between high-level thinking and critical thinking is essential for anyone looking to cultivate a more insightful and skilled mindset. By practicing both types of thinking, individuals can become more creative, analytical, and effective problem-solvers, better equipped to tackle challenges across all areas of their lives.

In conclusion, the ability to think critically and engage in high-level thinking is essential to success in personal and professional environments. By differentiating between high-level thinking and critical thinking, individuals can leverage these thinking styles to their benefit. High-level thinking allows individuals to think creatively and envision the big picture, while critical thinking enables them to analyze information and make informed decisions.

Moreover, both types of thinking are complementary to one another, rather than mutually exclusive. For instance, high-level thinking aids in brainstorming multiple solutions to a particular problem, while critical thinking assists in evaluating these solutions and selecting the best one. By practicing both types of thinking, we can become more insightful and skilled problem-solvers, better equipped to tackle challenges in various areas of our lives.

In summary, understanding the differences between high-level thinking and critical thinking is crucial in sharpening our problem-solving skills in both personal and professional settings. Engaging in both types of thinking enables us to approach problems from different perspectives and make informed decisions based on critical evaluation and creative thinking.

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3 types of questions to boost higher-order thinking

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In Julie Jaeger’s experience, enhancing students’ creativity and critical thinking doesn’t come from having all the right answers. It comes from asking more questions.

Jaeger, a gifted education teacher for Minot Public Schools in North Dakota, finds that when you create an environment where students have time to ponder and ask deep questions, it encourages them to think more creatively and more critically. And that’s the kind of thinking that brings students to the highest levels of learning.

“During my master’s program, I was introduced to Costa and Kallick’s 16 Habits of Mind for self-directed learners and realized this was a framework and foundation for much of what I believed should happen for students. The questioning strategy they designed fell right in line with how I wanted my students to think.”

In fact, Jaeger uses questioning strategies with both young and adult learners to elevate thinking and creativity. It’s an approach that should be a natural part of what teachers do.

In addition to Costa and Kallick’s work, she points to Blooms Taxonomy , a framework teachers can use to focus on higher-order thinking. By providing a hierarchy of levels, it assists teachers in designing performance tasks, crafting questions for conferring with students and providing feedback on student work.

While Bloom’s points to six levels of questioning, Jaeger’s a fan of a three-story house model that connects to both the Habit’s of Mind and Bloom’s Taxonomy. “There are images of the three-story model that are posted in many classrooms to inspire students to think beyond the ‘ground floor’ and shoot for the ‘attic’ or ‘rooftop’ with their questioning and thinking,” Jaeger says.

First floor questions . Students use questions to gather information: What is ___? When did___? Which one ___? How would you show ___?

Second-floor questions . Students tackle questions that help them process information: How would you categorize ___? What can we infer from ___? How would you summarize ___? What is the function of ___? What conclusions can you draw?

Third floor or attic questions . Students ask questions that require them to apply the information they’ve learned: What would you predict if ___? How would you prioritize ___? How could you prove or disprove __? What evidence supports ___?

Jaeger admits that posing lots of questions can be uncomfortable for students at first, but when teachers ask higher-level questions, students deepen their knowledge and create connections to the material being presented. She also encourages teachers to leave time for “creative pauses” after posing questions to give students think time and to prevent them from raising their hands before you’ve even finished asking the question. Then seek many, varied and unusual responses. Educators looking for more tips to help students become critical thinkers can watch a recording of the  ISTE Professional Learning Series webinar “Elevate Critical Thinking and Creativity With Technology”  Viewers will:

• Get tips for elevating students’ critical thinking skills with help from the latest tech tools.
• Learn how to create a classroom environment where students are comfortable with pondering, thinking and guessing.
• Get resources and tools you can use to help students practice critical thinking.

ISTE members can sign up now for the ISTE Professional Learning Series that includes the recorded webinar “Elevate Critical Thinking and Creativity With Technology.” Not a member? Join ISTE today .

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“Too many facts, too little conceptualizing, too much memorizing, and too little thinking.” ~  Paul Hurd , the Organizer in Developing Blueprints for Institutional Change

Introduction The question at issue in this paper is: What is the current state of critical thinking in higher education?

Sadly, studies of higher education demonstrate three disturbing, but hardly novel, facts:

• Most college faculty at all levels lack a substantive concept of critical thinking.
• Most college faculty don’t realize that they lack a substantive concept of critical thinking, believe that they sufficiently understand it, and assume they are already teaching students it.  
• Lecture, rote memorization, and (largely ineffective) short-term study habits are still the norm in college instruction and learning today.

These three facts, taken together, represent serious obstacles to essential, long-term institutional change, for only when administrative and faculty leaders grasp the nature, implications, and power of a robust concept of critical thinking — as well as gain insight into the negative implications of its absence — are they able to orchestrate effective professional development. When faculty have a vague notion of critical thinking, or reduce it to a single-discipline model (as in teaching critical thinking through a “logic” or a “study skills” paradigm), it impedes their ability to identify ineffective, or develop more effective, teaching practices. It prevents them from making the essential connections (both within subjects and across them), connections that give order and substance to teaching and learning.

This paper highlights the depth of the problem and its solution — a comprehensive, substantive concept of critical thinking fostered across the curriculum. As long as we rest content with a fuzzy concept of critical thinking or an overly narrow one, we will not be able to effectively teach for it. Consequently, students will continue to leave our colleges without the intellectual skills necessary for reasoning through complex issues.

Part One: An Initial Look at the Difference Between a Substantive and Non-Substantive Concept of Critical Thinking

Faculty Lack a Substantive Concept of Critical Thinking

Studies demonstrate that most college faculty lack a substantive concept of critical thinking. Consequently they do not (and cannot) use it as a central organizer in the design of instruction. It does not inform their conception of the student’s role as learner. It does not affect how they conceptualize their own role as instructors. They do not link it to the essential thinking that defines the content they teach. They, therefore, usually teach content separate from the thinking students need to engage in if they are to take ownership of that content. They teach history but not historical thinking. They teach biology, but not biological thinking. They teach math, but not mathematical thinking. They expect students to do analysis, but have no clear idea of how to teach students the elements of that analysis. They want students to use intellectual standards in their thinking, but have no clear conception of what intellectual standards they want their students to use or how to articulate them. They are unable to describe the intellectual traits (dispositions) presupposed for intellectual discipline. They have no clear idea of the relation between critical thinking and creativity, problem-solving, decision-making, or communication. They do not understand the role that thinking plays in understanding content. They are often unaware that didactic teaching is ineffective. They don’t see why students fail to make the basic concepts of the discipline their own. They lack classroom teaching strategies that would enable students to master content and become skilled learners.

Most faculty have these problems, yet with little awareness that they do. The majority of college faculty consider their teaching strategies just fine, no matter what the data reveal. Whatever problems exist in their instruction they see as the fault of students or beyond their control.

Studies Reveal That Critical Thinking Is Rare in the College Classroom Research demonstrates that, contrary to popular faculty belief, critical thinking is not fostered in the typical college classroom. In a meta-analysis of the literature on teaching effectiveness in higher education, Lion Gardiner, in conjunction with ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education (1995) documented the following disturbing patterns: “Faculty aspire to develop students’ thinking skills, but research consistently shows that in practice we tend to aim at facts and concepts in the disciplines, at the lowest cognitive levels, rather than development of intellect or values."

Numerous studies of college classrooms reveal that, rather than actively involving our students in learning, we lecture, even though lectures are not nearly as effective as other means for developing cognitive skills. In addition, students may be attending to lectures only about one-half of their time in class, and retention from lectures is low.

Studies suggest our methods often fail to dislodge students’ misconceptions and ensure learning of complex, abstract concepts. Capacity for problem solving is limited by our use of inappropriately simple practice exercises.

Classroom tests often set the standard for students’ learning. As with instruction, however, we tend to emphasize recall of memorized factual information rather than intellectual challenge. Taken together with our preference for lecturing, our tests may be reinforcing our students’ commonly fact-oriented memory learning, of limited value to either them or society.

Faculty agree almost universally that the development of students’ higher-order intellectual or cognitive abilities is the most important educational task of colleges and universities. These abilities underpin our students’ perceptions of the world and the consequent decisions they make. Specifically, critical thinking – the capacity to evaluate skillfully and fairly the quality of evidence and detect error, hypocrisy, manipulation, dissembling, and bias – is central to both personal success and national needs.

A 1972 study of 40,000 faculty members by the American Council on Education found that 97 percent of the respondents indicated the most important goal of undergraduate education is to foster students’ ability to think critically.

Process-oriented instructional orientations “have long been more successful than conventional instruction in fostering effective movement from concrete to formal reasoning. Such programs emphasize students’ active involvement in learning and cooperative work with other students and de-emphasize lectures . . .”

Gardiner’s summary of the research coincides with the results of a large study (Paul, et. al. 1997) of 38 public colleges and universities and 28 private ones focused on the question: To what extent are faculty teaching for critical thinking?

The study included randomly selected faculty from colleges and universities across California, and encompassed prestigious universities such as Stanford, Cal Tech, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and the California State University System. Faculty answered both closed and open-ended questions in a 40-50 minute interview.

By direct statement or by implication, most faculty claimed that they permeated their instruction with an emphasis on critical thinking and that the students internalized the concepts in their courses as a result. Yet only the rare interviewee mentioned the importance of students thinking clearly, accurately, precisely, relevantly, or logically, etc... Very few mentioned any of the basic skills of thought such as the ability to clarify questions; gather relevant data; reason to logical or valid conclusions; identify key assumptions; trace significant implications, or enter without distortion into alternative points of view. Intellectual traits of mind, such as intellectual humility, intellectual perseverance, intellectual responsibility, etc . . . were rarely mentioned by the interviewees. Consider the following key results from the study:

• Though the overwhelming majority of faculty claimed critical thinking to be a primary objective of their instruction (89%), only a small minority could give a clear explanation of what critical thinking is (19%). Furthermore, according to their answers, only 9% of the respondents were clearly teaching for critical thinking on a typical day in class.
• Though the overwhelming majority (78%) claimed that their students lacked appropriate intellectual standards (to use in assessing their thinking), and 73% considered that students learning to assess their own work was of primary importance, only a very small minority (8%) could enumerate any intellectual criteria or standards they required of students or could give an intelligible explanation of those criteria and standards.
• While 50% of those interviewed said that they explicitly distinguish critical thinking skills from traits, only 8% were able to provide a clear conception of the critical thinking skills they thought were most important for their students to develop. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority (75%) provided either minimal or vague allusion (33%) or no illusion at all (42%) to intellectual traits of mind.
• Although the majority (67%) said that their concept of critical thinking is largely explicit in their thinking, only 19% could elaborate on their concept of thinking.
• Although the vast majority (89%) stated that critical thinking was of primary importance to their instruction, 77% of the respondents had little, limited or no conception of how to reconcile content coverage with the fostering of critical thinking.
• Although the overwhelming majority (81%) felt that their department’s graduates develop a good or high level of critical thinking ability while in their program, only 20% said that their departments had a shared approach to critical thinking, and only 9% were able to clearly articulate how they would assess the extent to which a faculty member was or was not fostering critical thinking. The remaining respondents had a limited conception or no conception at all of how to do this.

A Substantive Conception of Critical Thinking

If we understand critical thinking substantively, we not only explain the idea explicitly to our students, but we use it to give order and meaning to virtually everything we do as teachers and learners. We use it to organize the design of instruction. It informs how we conceptualize our students as learners. It determines how we conceptualize our role as instructors. It enables us to understand and explain the thinking that defines the content we teach.

When we understand critical thinking at a deep level, we realize that we must teach content through thinking, not content, and then thinking. We model the thinking that students need to formulate if they are to take ownership of the content. We teach history as historical thinking. We teach biology as biological thinking. We teach math as mathematical thinking. We expect students to analyze the thinking that is the content, and then to assess the thinking using intellectual standards. We foster the intellectual traits (dispositions) essential to critical thinking. We teach students to use critical thinking concepts as tools in entering into any system of thought, into any subject or discipline. We teach students to construct in their own minds the concepts that define the discipline. We acquire an array of classroom strategies that enable students to master content using their thinking and to become skilled learners.

The concept of critical thinking, rightly understood, ties together much of what we need to understand as teachers and learners. Properly understood, it leads to a framework for institutional change. For a deeper understanding of critical thinking see The Thinker’s Guide Series , the book, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life , and the Foundation For Critical Thinking Library.

To exemplify my point, The Thinker’s Guide Series consists in a diverse set of contextualizations of one and the same substantive concept of critical thinking. If we truly understand critical thinking, for example, we should be able to explain its implications:

• for analyzing and assessing reasoning
• for identifying strengths and weaknesses in thinking
• for identifying obstacles to rational thought
• for dealing with egocentrism and sociocentrism
• for developing strategies that enable one to apply critical thinking to everyday life
• for understanding the stages of one’s development as a thinker
• for understanding the foundations of ethical reasoning
• for detecting bias and propaganda in the national and international news
• for conceptualizing the human mind as an instrument of intellectual work
• for active and cooperative learning
• for the art of asking essential questions
• for scientific thinking
• for close reading and substantive writing
• for grasping the logic of a discipline.

Each contextualization in this list is developed in one or more of the guides in the series. Together they suggest the robustness of a substantive concept of critical thinking. What is Critical Thinking (Stripped to its Essentials)?

The idea of critical thinking, stripped to its essentials, can be expressed in a number of ways. Here’s one:

Critical thinking is the art of thinking about thinking with a view to improving it. Critical thinkers seek to improve thinking, in three interrelated phases. They analyze thinking. They assess thinking. And they up-grade thinking (as a result). Creative thinking is the work of the third phase, that of replacing weak thinking with strong thinking, or strong thinking with stronger thinking. Creative thinking is a natural by-product of critical thinking, precisely because analyzing and assessing thinking enables one to raise it to a higher level. New and better thinking is the by-product of healthy critical thought.

A person is a critical thinker to the extent that he or she regularly improves thinking by studying and “critiquing” it. Critical thinkers carefully study the way humans ground, develop, and apply thought — to see how thinking can be improved.

The basic idea is simple: “Study thinking for strengths and weaknesses. Then make improvements by building on its strengths and targeting its weaknesses.”

    A critical thinker does not say:

“My thinking is just fine. If everyone thought like me, this would be a pretty good world.”

    A critical thinker says:

“My thinking, as that of everyone else, can always be improved. Self-deception and folly exist at every level of human life. It is foolish ever to take thinking for granted. To think well, we must regularly analyze, assess, and reconstruct thinking — ever mindful as to how we can improve it.”

Part Two: A Substantive Concept of Critical Thinking Reveals Common Denominators in all Academic Work

Substantive Critical Thinking Can be Cultivated in Every Academic Setting

By focusing on the rational capacities of students’ minds, by designing instruction so students explicitly grasp the sense, the logicalness, of what they learn, we can make all learning easier for them. Substantive learning multiplies comprehension and insight; lower order rote memorization multiplies misunderstanding and confusion. Though very little present instruction deliberately aims at lower order learning, most results in it. “Good” students have developed techniques for short term rote memorization; “poor” students have none. But few know what it is to think analytically through the content of a subject; few use critical thinking as a tool for acquiring knowledge.(see Nosich)

We often talk of knowledge as though it could be divorced from thinking, as though it could be gathered up by one person and given to another in the form of a collection of sentences to remember. When we talk in this way we forget that knowledge, by its very nature, depends on thought. Knowledge is produced by thought, analyzed by thought, comprehended by thought, organized, evaluated, maintained, and transformed by thought. Knowledge exists, properly speaking, only in minds that have comprehended it and constructed it through thought. And when we say thought we mean critical thought. Knowledge must be distinguished from the memorization of true statements. Students can easily blindly memorize what they do not understand. A book contains knowledge only in a derivative sense, only because minds can thoughtfully read it and, through this analytic process, gain knowledge. We forget this when we design instruction as though recall were equivalent to knowledge.

Every discipline — mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, sociology, anthropology, history, philosophy, and so on — is a mode of thinking. Every discipline can be understood only through thinking. We know mathematics, not when we can recite mathematical formulas, but when we can think mathematically. We know science, not when we can recall sentences from our science textbooks, but when we can think scientifically. We understand sociology only when we can think sociologically, history only when we can think historically, and philosophy only when we can think philosophically. When we teach so that students are not thinking their way through subjects and disciplines, students leave our courses with no more knowledge than they had when they entered them. When we sacrifice thought to gain coverage, we sacrifice knowledge at the same time.

In the typical history class, for example, students are often asked to remember facts about the past. They therefore come to think of history class as a place where you hear names and dates and places; where you try to memorize and state them on tests. They think that when they can successfully do this, they then “know history.”

Alternatively, consider history taught as a mode of thought. Viewed from the paradigm of a critical education, blindly memorized content ceases to be the focal point. Learning to think historically becomes the order of the day. Students learn historical content by thinking historically about historical questions and problems. They learn through their own thinking and classroom discussion that history is not a simple recounting of past events, but also an interpretation of events selected by and written from someone’s point of view. In recognizing that each historian writes from a point of view, students begin to identify and assess points of view leading to various historical interpretations. They recognize, for example, what it is to interpret the American Revolution from a British as well as a colonial perspective. They role-play different historical perspectives and master content through in-depth historical thought. They relate the present to the past. They discuss how their own stored-up interpretations of their own lives’ events shaped their responses to the present and their plans for the future. They come to understand the daily news as a form of historical thought shaped by the profit-making motivations of news collecting agencies. They learn that historical accounts may be distorted, biased, narrow, misleading.

Every Area or Domain of Thought Must Be Thought-Through to Be Learned

The mind that thinks critically is a mind prepared to take ownership of new ideas and modes of thinking. Critical thinking is a system-opening system. It works its way into a system of thought by thinking-through:

• the purpose or goal of the system
• the kinds of questions it answers (or problems it solves)
• the manner in which it collects data and information
• the kinds of inferences it enables
• the key concepts it generates
• the underlying assumptions it rests upon
• the implications embedded in it
• the point of view or way of seeing things it makes possible.

It assesses the system for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and (where applicable) fairness. There is no system no subject it cannot open.

There is a Necessary Connection Between Critical Thinking and Learning

The skills in up-grading thinking are the same skills as those required in up-grading learning. The art of thinking well illuminates the art of learning well. The art of learning well illuminates the art of thinking well. Both require intellectually skilled metacognition. For example, to be a skilled thinker in the learning process requires that we regularly note the elements of our thinking/learning:

• What is my purpose?
• What question am I trying to answer?
• What data or information do I need?
• What conclusions or inferences can I make (based on this information)?
• If I come to these conclusions, what will the implications and consequences be?
• What is the key concept (theory, principle, axiom) I am working with?
• What assumptions am I making?
• What is my point of view?

There is a Necessary Connection Between Critical Thinking and Skilled Reading and Writing

The reflective mind improves its thinking by reflectively thinking about it. Likewise, it improves its reading by reflectively thinking about how it is reading. It improves its writing by analyzing and assessing each draft it creates. It moves back and forth between thinking and thinking about thinking. It moves forward a bit, then loops back upon itself to check its own operations. It checks its inferences. It makes good its ground. It rises above itself and exercises oversight on itself.

One of the most important abilities that a thinker can have is the ability to monitor and assess his or her own thinking while processing the thinking of others. In reading, the reflective mind monitors how it is reading while it is reading. The foundation for this ability is knowledge of how the mind functions when reading well. For example, if I know that what I am reading is difficult for me to understand, I intentionally slow down. I put the meaning of each passage that I read into my own words. Knowing that one can understand ideas best when they are exemplified, then, when writing, I give my readers examples of what I am saying. As a reader, I look for examples to better understand what a text is saying. Learning how to read closely and write substantively are complex critical thinking abilities. When I can read closely, I can take ownership of important ideas in a text. When I can write substantively, I am able to say something worth saying about something worth saying something about. Many students today cannot.

We can Get Beyond Non-Substantive Concepts of Critical Thinking Students in colleges today are achieving little connection and depth, either within or across subjects. Atomized lists dominate textbooks, atomized teaching dominates instruction, and atomized recall dominates learning. What is learned are superficial fragments, typically soon forgotten. What is missing is the coherence, connection, and depth of understanding that accompanies systematic critical thinking. Without the concepts and tools of substantive critical thinking, students often learn something very different from what is “taught.” Let us consider how this problem manifests itself in math instruction. Alan Schoenfeld, the distinguished math educator, says that math instruction is on the whole “deceptive and fraudulent.” He uses strong words to underscore a wide gulf between what math teachers think their students are learning and what they are actually learning. (Schoenfeld, 1982) He elaborates as follows: All too often we focus on a narrow collection of well-defined tasks and train students to execute those tasks in a routine, if not algorithmic fashion. Then we test the students on tasks that are very close to the ones they have been taught. If they succeed on those problems, we and they congratulate each other on the fact that they have learned some powerful mathematical techniques. In fact, they may be able to use such techniques mechanically while lacking some rudimentary thinking skills. To allow them, and ourselves, to believe that they “understand” the mathematics is deceptive and fraudulent. (p. 29) Schoenfeld cites a number of studies to justify this characterization of math instruction and its lower order consequences. He also gives a number of striking examples, at the tertiary as well as at the primary and secondary levels: At the University of Rochester 85 percent of the freshman class takes calculus, and many go on. Roughly half of our students see calculus as their last mathematics course. Most of these students will never apply calculus in any meaningful way (if at all) in their studies, or in their lives. They complete their studies with the impression that they know some very sophisticated and high-powered mathematics. They can find the maxima of complicated functions, determine exponential decay, compute the volumes of surfaces of revolution, and so on. But the fact is these students know barely anything at all. The only reason they can perform with any degree of competency on their final exams is that the problems on the exams are nearly carbon copies of problems they have seen before; the students are not being asked to think, but merely to apply well-rehearsed schemata for specific kinds of tasks. Tim Keifer and Schoenfeld (Schoenfeld, 1982) studied students’ abilities to deal with pre-calculus versions of elementary word problems such as the following: An 8-foot fence is located 3 feet from a building. Express the length L of the ladder which may be leaned against the building and just touch the top of the fence as a function of the distance X between the foot of the ladder and the base of the building. Keifer and Schoenfeld were not surprised to discover that only 19 of 120 attempts at such problems (four each for 30 students) yielded correct answers, or that only 65 attempts produced answers of any kind (p. 28). Schoenfeld documents similar problems at the level of elementary math instruction. He reports on an experiment in which elementary students were asked questions like, “There are 26 sheep and 10 goats on a ship. How old is the captain?” Seventy-six of the 97 students “solved” the problem by adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing 26 and 10. And that is not all, the more math they had, the greater was the tendency. Schoenfeld cites many similar cases, including a study demonstrating that “word problems,” which are supposed to require thought, tend to be approached by students mindlessly with key word algorithms. That is, when students are faced with problems like “John had eight apples. He gave three to Mary. How many does John have left?,” they typically look for words like ‘left’ to tell them what operation to perform. As Schoenfeld puts it, “… the situation was so extreme that many students chose to subtract in a problem that began ‘Mr. Left’.” This tendency to approach math problems and assignments with robotic lower order responses becomes permanent in most students, killing any chance they had to think mathematically. Habitual robotic learning is not, of course, peculiar to math. It is the common mode of learning in every subject area. The result is a kind of global self-deception that surrounds teaching and learning, often with the students clearer about what is really being learned than the teachers. Many students, for example, realize that in their history courses they merely learn to mouth names, dates, events, and outcomes whose significance they do not really understand and whose content they forget shortly after the test. Whatever our stated goals, at present, students are not learning to think within the disciplines they “study.” There are a number of reasons why establishing general education courses in critical thinking will not, of itself, solve the problem. The first is that most such courses are based in a particular discipline and, therefore, typically teach only those aspects of critical thinking traditionally highlighted by the discipline. For example, if these courses are taught within Philosophy Departments, the course will typically focus on either formal or informal logic. If the English Department teaches sections, the course will probably focus on persuasive writing and rhetoric. Though good in themselves, none of these focuses comes close to capturing a substantive concept of critical thinking. The result is that instructors in other departments will not see the relevance of the “critical thinking” course to their discipline, and therefore the course will be ignored. It will do little to help students become skilled learners. There are a number of reasons why establishing courses in study skills will not, of itself, solve the problem. The first is that most such courses are not based on a substantive concept of critical thinking. Indeed, most lack any unifying theory or organizing concept. They do not teach students how to begin to think within a discipline. They do not typically teach students how to analyze thinking using the elements of thought. They do not typically teach students intellectual standards, nor how to assess their own work. What is missing is the coherence, connection, and depth of understanding that accompanies systematic critical thinking. Substantive knowledge is knowledge that leads to questions that lead to further knowledge (that, in turn, leads to further knowledge and further vital questions, and on and on). Acquiring substantive knowledge is equivalent to acquiring effective organizers for the mind that enable us to weave everything we are learning into a tapestry, a system, an integrated whole. Substantive knowledge is found in that set of fundamental and powerful concepts and principles that lie at the heart of understanding everything else in a discipline or subject. For example, if you understand deeply what a biological cell is and the essential characteristics of all living systems, you have the substantive knowledge to ask vital questions about all living things. You begin to think biologically. Teaching focused on a substantive concept of critical thinking appeals to reason and evidence. It encourages students to discover as well as to process information. It provides occasions in which students think their way to conclusions, defend positions on difficult issues, consider a wide variety of points of view, analyze concepts, theories, and explanations, clarify issues and conclusions, solve problems, transfer ideas to new contexts, examine assumptions, assess alleged facts, explore implications and consequences, and increasingly come to terms with the contradictions and inconsistencies of their own thought and experience. It engages students in the thinking required to deeply master content. ( ) Critical thinking is not to be devoured in a single sitting nor yet at two or three workshops. It is a powerful concept to be savored and reflected upon. It is an idea to live and grow with. It focuses upon that part of our minds that enables us to think things through, to learn from experience, to acquire and retain knowledge. It is like a mirror to the mind, enabling us to take ownership of the instruments that drive our learning. Not only to think, but to think about how we are thinking, is the key to our development as learners and knowers. Short-term reform can do no more than foster surface change. Deep change takes time, patience, perseverance, understanding, and commitment. This is not easy in a world saturated with glossy, superficial, quick-fixes, a world plagued by a short attention span. Nevertheless it is possible to create a long-term professional development program that focuses on the progressive improvement of instruction and learning. (See Elder) But this can only happen when those designing professional development have a substantive concept of critical thinking. Only then will they be able to guide faculty toward a long-term approach. Only then will they be able to provide convincing examples in each of the disciplines. Only then will they see the connection between thinking and learning, between understanding content and thinking it through, between intellectual discipline and education. Only then will the “learning college” become what it aims, all along, to be. {This article was written by Richard Paul, Fall 2004, website }

• Academic Success
• Higher Order Thinking

Higher Order Thinking: Bloom's Taxonomy

Many students start college using the study strategies they used in high school, which is understandable—the strategies worked in the past, so why wouldn’t they work now? As you may have already figured out, college is different. Classes may be more rigorous (yet may seem less structured), your reading load may be heavier, and your professors may be less accessible. For these reasons and others, you’ll likely find that your old study habits aren’t as effective as they used to be. Part of the reason for this is that you may not be approaching the material in the same way as your professors. In this guide, we provide information on Bloom’s Taxonomy—a way of thinking about your schoolwork that can change the way you study and learn to better align with how your professors think (and how they grade).

Why Higher Order Thinking Leads to Effective Study

Most students report that high school was largely about remembering and understanding large amounts of content and then demonstrating this comprehension periodically on tests and exams. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework that starts with these two levels of thinking as important bases for pushing our brains to five other higher order levels of thinking—helping us move beyond remembering and recalling information and move deeper into application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation—the levels of thinking that your professors have in mind when they are designing exams and paper assignments. Because it is in these higher levels of thinking that our brains truly and deeply learn information, it’s important that you integrate higher order thinking into your study habits.

The following categories can help you assess your comprehension of readings, lecture notes, and other course materials. By creating and answering questions from a variety of categories, you can better anticipate and prepare for all types of exam questions. As you learn and study, start by asking yourself questions and using study methods from the level of remembering. Then, move progressively through the levels to push your understanding deeper—making your studying more meaningful and improving your long-term retention.

Level 1: Remember

This level helps us recall foundational or factual information: names, dates, formulas, definitions, components, or methods.

Study Methods	Types of Questions to Ask Yourself
Make and use flashcards for key terms.	How would you define…?
Make a list or timeline of the main events.	List the _________ in order.
List the main characteristics of something.	Who were…?

Level 2: Understand

Understanding means that we can explain main ideas and concepts and make meaning by interpreting, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

Study Methods	Types of Questions to Ask Yourself
Discuss content with or explain to a partner.	How would you differentiate between _____ and _____?
Explain the main idea of the section.	What is the main idea of ________?
Write a summary of the chapter in your own words.	Why did…?

Level 3: Apply

Application allows us to recognize or use concepts in real-world situations and to address when, where, or how to employ methods and ideas.

Study Methods	Types of Questions to Ask Yourself
Seek concrete examples of abstract ideas.	Why does _________ work?
Work practice problems and exercises.	How would you change________?
Write an instructional manual or study guide on the chapter that others could use.	How would you develop a set of instructions about…?

Level 4: Analyze

Analysis means breaking a topic or idea into components or examining a subject from different perspectives. It helps us see how the “whole” is created from the “parts.” It’s easy to miss the big picture by getting stuck at a lower level of thinking and simply remembering individual facts without seeing how they are connected. Analysis helps reveal the connections between facts.

Study Methods	Types of Questions to Ask Yourself
Generate a list of contributing factors.	How does this element contribute to the whole?
Determine the importance of different elements or sections	What is the significance of this section?
Think about it from a different perspective	How would _______ group see this?

Level 5: Synthesize

Synthesizing means considering individual elements together for the purpose of drawing conclusions, identifying themes, or determining common elements. Here you want to shift from “parts” to “whole.”

Study Methods	Types of Questions to Ask Yourself
Generalize information from letures and readings.	Develop a proposal that would…
Condense and re-state the content in one or two sentences.	How can you paraphrase this information into 1-2 concise sentences?
Compare and contrast.	What makes ________ similar and different from __________?

Level 6: Evaluate

Evaluating means making judgments about something based on criteria and standards. This requires checking and critiquing an argument or concept to form an opinion about its value. Often there is not a clear or correct answer to this type of question. Rather, it’s about making a judgment and supporting it with reasons and evidence.

Study Methods	Types of Questions to Ask Yourself
Decide if you like, dislike, agree, or disagree with an author or a decision.	What is your opinion about ________? What evidence and reasons support your opinion?
Consider what you would do if asked to make a choice.	How would you improve this?
Determine which approach or argument is most effective.	Which argument or approach is stronger? Why?

Level 7: Create

Creating involves putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole. Creating includes reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through planning. This is the highest and most advanced level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Study Methods	Types of Questions to Ask Yourself
Build a model and use it to teach the information to others.	How can you create a model and use it to teach this information to others?
Design an experiment.	What experiment can you make to demonstrate or test this information?
Write a short story about the concept.	How can this information be told in the form of a story or poem?

Pairing Bloom’s Taxonomy with Other Effective Study Strategies

While higher order thinking is an excellent way to approach learning new information and studying, you should pair it with other effective study strategies. Check out some of these links to read up on other tools and strategies you can try:

• Study Smarter, Not Harder
• Simple Study Template
• Using Concept Maps
• Group Study

Works Consulted

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D.R., Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., & Wittrock, M.C (2001). A taxonomy of learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Longman.

“Bloom’s Taxonomy.” (PDF).

Overbaugh, R., and Schultz, L. (n.d.). “Image of two versions of Bloom’s Taxonomy.” Norfolk, VA: Old Dominion University.

Developed and shared by The Learning Center , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Brain Teasers, Higher Level Thinking, Early Finisher, Enrichment, Logic Puzzles

What educators are saying

Description.

Give your students higher-level thinking activities! This set of Brain Teasers includes 40 full pages with more than 400 activities to promote critical thinking! These are perfect as an educational but fun activity for transitions or any time you'd like to stretch your students' thinking! You can use them for fast finishers, enrichment, morning work, or to throw in the sub tub!

This set includes:

40 Pages of Brain Teaser Questions

Record Sheet

Editable Record Sheet

Answer Keys

Teacher Notes

Why you'll love this resource:

• It's an easy way to encourage your students to think critically !
• Kids love the variety of questions and think they're fun!
• The Brain Teasers can be used with the whole class without running off copies! You can use a document camera or simply ask a question and have kids respond. I like having students use whiteboards, but you could also do thumbs up or down, a simple raising of the hand, partner sharing, and more.
• You can use the record sheet for an easy fast finisher activity!
• You can throw the brain teasers in the sub tub to be used as a perfect "filler" activity for extra minutes.
• The Brain Teasers are an easy way to provide a challenge while allowing everyone to learn something new!

Each page is loaded with a variety of activities that are fun and engaging! Here’s a sample of a few types of activities your students will love!

• Two Truths and a Lie: Two of the facts about famous people from history are absolutely true, but one of them isn't. Read all of the facts and have students guess which one is the lie.

• Would you Rather… Students must choose between the two items. There is no “I like them the same” or “I don’t like either of them” business!

• Find the Pattern: Math thinking activity. After coming up with the next two numbers, I like to have students tell me the rule mathematically

• How Many ______ Can You Name? Here the whiteboards would come in handy. I definitely set a time limit for this, or some students will go all day!

• Analogies: Once students figure them out, it’s a great idea to discuss “why” they work.

• Name That Continent: A country is listed, and students try to determine (Ok…lots of times they guess) which continent it is from. Here’s your chance to add some geography to the day!

• Which Two Don’t Belong: A list of words that fit a certain category. Sounds easy? Not always, since the words are very similar in nature.

• Scientific Questions: Food chains, landforms, solar system, magnets, weather, animals, and more!

Still not sure? Want to sample the FREE set of three Brain Teasers?

FREE Brain Teasers

Looking for some new Brain Breaks? This set has 100 task cards with over 250 ideas for simple, quick brain breaks you can use throughout the year.

Brain Breaks

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EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR)

• Vol. 10 Issue. 8 (August-2024) EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR)

INTERACTIVE LEARNING AIDS ON CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION

Normin odinia arejola.

	:	10
	:	8
	:	August
	:	2024

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Register for the trottier 2024 symposium, doc of detox tries to rewrite all of medicine.

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If you are desperate enough, there is someone out there willing to rewrite all of medicine and relieve you of your savings. A former nurse with multiple sclerosis lost over $10,000 in this way, according to a CBC Marketplace investigation. To whom did she give this money, you may wonder? To Darrell Wolfe, who calls himself Doc of Detox.

I read his 544-page  Ultimate Healing Guide , available as  a free PDF  on his website or as  a $95 printed book . Even if you’re neither a doctor nor a scientist, you’ll be able to see that things simply don’t add up. Scientific theories need to be coherent; his wild ideas, meanwhile, are bursting at the seams with contradictions.

Full of crap

Darrell Wolfe should not be confused with David “Avocado” Wolfe, although there are plenty of similarities. Both men feed mistrust in science and medicine to their large audiences and sell unproven and disproven “natural” remedies. David Wolfe is American, while Darrell Wolfe is Canadian.

In his book  Healthy to 100 , the Canadian Wolfe describes his origin story as being tied to his grandmother, who ran a nursing home in North Bay, Ontario. While living with her at the age of 16, he decided that every ailment afflicting her elderly residents was caused by a dysfunction of their bowels. Basically, teenage Wolfe became convinced these people were full of poop and they were rotting from the inside. Not bad for an adolescent with no medical degree! He drew a connection between these older adults and the piles of manure he had witnessed growing up on a farm. His grandma agreed but told him she was not able to use any herbal medicine or perform enemas. Medicine, it seemed to Wolfe, limited itself to the use of chemicals. He would aim to do better.

He fleshed out his worldview over the ensuing decades, and his healing guide reads like a rambling regurgitation of contrarian viewpoints. This is a 500-plus-page Galileo gambit: they laughed at Galileo when he said the Earth revolved around the Sun, goes the flawed argument, and they’re laughing at  me  now, therefore I too am a genius! You don’t usher in a scientific revolution simply because you want to, however, and you certainly can’t pull this off if your ideas are incoherent. The problem with Darrell Wolfe is that he can’t quite settle on what a disease actually is.

All you need to do is to read through his manual and ask yourself if what is claimed on one page is consistent with what is written on the next. On many pages, Wolfe claims that diseases are caused by negative emotions and traumatic events, like losing your job, which results in blockages. But on page 80, he states that “diseases are not errors of Nature, they are specialized programs of nature to support and protect an organism during unexpected trauma.” Diseases, he says, are “a natural process of healing” (page 92) but also “the root cause of almost all disease, on a physical level, is the root organ: the large intestine,” because it rots, leading to leaky gut (page 54). So which is it?

He writes that “excessive sugar in your system is called Cancer” (page 11) but that “cancer is a metaphysical imbalance” (page 75) or that “cancer is a meaningful, life saving, biological process” (page 76). Prostate cancer, according to his thinking, happens because the colon is rotting and the prostate sits in front of it, so now it’s “swimming in the middle of a cesspool of putrefaction” (page 86). Wolfe seems to have no good understanding of actual sepsis. If what he describes were true, we would all be dead by the end of the day.

Wolfe thinks that dairy is the major cause of multiple sclerosis (page 168) and that COVID-19 is actually graphene poisoning (page 210). He disavows Louis Pasteur and his germ theory of disease (page 78), but later writes that you should buy hemp oil and silver from him because they destroy harmful bacteria and viruses (pages 259 and 281). Healthcare will apparently never change and remain “toxic” and “contaminated” (page 27), and the medical system and governments are “systems built to break everything” (page 11), but we should still trust the WHO when they verify that processed meat causes cancer (page 168).

I was reminded of the Nigerian prince scam. An email lands in your inbox stating that a large sum of money will be transferred to you. All you need to do is pay a small fee up front. We may wonder who in this day and age would fall for this, but all the fraudster needs is a few victims to make a lot of money. Doc of Detox does not need to be coherent: enough people will fail to notice his lack of consistency and will give him a lot of money.

Because what he is selling indeed costs a lot of money.

Only I can save you

To get a phone consult with Wolfe, you will have to shell out  $350 . To get a “degree” or certification from his “university,” you will need to pay  between $1,197 and $8,000 . Then there’s the  slew of products , from cleansing teas to Black Diamond crystals, as well as the pieces of equipment he recommends like the “structured” water units for your shower or whole house and his CellSonic gadget, which can allegedly reverse erectile dysfunction. None of this, it bears mentioning, is free. Every product is a cure-all, which makes me wonder why you need to buy them all.

Heavy promotion of expensive products and workshops is something we often see with health-related pseudoscience. There is no clear line that separates real science from fake science, just red flags. Reading through Wolfe’s manual and website, I saw many of the hallmarks of pseudoscience.

Wolfe wants you to drink  hydrogen-rich water  (elsewhere, he prefers “structured” water) and he links to three studies showing its worth. The  first study  has nothing to do with hydrogen but rather with vitamin levels; the  second  was funded by a company which sells hydrogen water, was done in 26 people, and the error bars for the hydrogen-water group and the placebo group are so large, they almost completely overlap; and the  third study , also funded by corporate interest, reported ho-hum results of the sort we come to expect when scientists compare two groups using eight different blood markers and all of the messenger RNA contained in white blood cells. It’s easy to blind people with science by linking to studies no one will bother reading, much less appraising.

His healing manual is also littered with quotes from dead geniuses, which pseudodoctors love to do as it allows their readers to associate them with these brainy revolutionaries. He quotes Einstein’s E = mc 2  to claim that “where the mind goes the body must follow,” which definitely does not follow from that equation. Hippocrates is quoted as saying, “If you are not your own doctor, you are a fool,” but I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean you should operate on yourself in the middle of an appendicitis. And of course he cites Tesla’s disputed quote that “if you want to learn the secrets of the universe, look at Energy, Vibration and Frequency,” a staple of influencers who want to convince you that you’re simply not vibrating at a high enough frequency to be healthy.

All of this shaky pseudoscience needs a foundation of grand conspiracy theories, of course: how else to explain that the medical establishment does not regularly promote the products hawked by Doc of Detox? The opening pages of his healing manual are metaphorically ripped from the canon of Joe Mercola, who has built his own wellness empire south of the Canadian border. Doc of Detox decries the “Slave Masters” indoctrinating our children in school, and the taxes we have to pay, and the Deep State, and the “woke” world in which we live where “your children don’t know which bathroom to use anymore.” Once he has properly scared you into thinking that no one can be trusted, he can offer his hand in salvation. But be careful what that hand will do to your body.

Slaps and purges

He calls it “clapping” and it’s one of many dangerous practices Doc of Detox promotes. Clapping means slapping an area of your body for 15 to 60 minutes (“longer for serious conditions,” he writes on page 314). It is meant to bring existing diseased tissue to the surface, but that is simply not how biology works. If you don’t want to use your hand or that of one of his trained practitioners, you can buy  the DOCOFDETOX Clapper for $25 .

He also writes about the power of coffee enemas (which are part of Gerson therapy and are  absolutely not supported by scientific evidence ) and of something he terms Advanced Therapeutic Vomiting. Calling it “one of the most powerful tools for restoring your health,” he invites you to drink three glasses of warm water in which one of his supplements has been dissolved; to jiggle your stomach up and down; and to make yourself puke by placing your fingers at the back of your throat. Not once. Not twice. But three times. This is utter madness, but it is in keeping with his senseless idea that we need to detox from the modern world. It may just be one of the most powerful tools for developing an eating disorder.

You may be wondering what kind of doctor he is. He is the kind of “doc” who is not a doctor. His website’s About page credits him with two doctorates in natural medicine, one doctorate in Indigenous medicine, one doctorate of humanitarian services, and a certification with the Board of Integrative Medicine.

According to  the CBC , he is indeed not a licensed medical practitioner. His business is registered in British Columbia, yet at the time of the CBC’s reporting, he was not registered in B.C. as either a physician or a naturopath (not that the latter would give him actual legitimacy). I suspect that his doctorate in Indigenous medicine is along the lines of the doctorate of Indigenous Plant Medicine he promotes on page 110 of his healing manual. To receive the latter, it’s very simple: first call Darrell Wolfe at the listed phone number, then read the two books he will send you. You then have to answer questions about these two books and write a 2,000-word (or less!) thesis as to how you will incorporate this new knowledge into your practice. This essay is apparently reviewed by a Board of Elders, and once approved, you are adopted into the Taino Sovereign Indigenous Nation and given a doctorate and license to practice. All for the low, low price of $3,500.

Wolfe was exposed by the CBC for promoting a fake AIDS cure in the 1990s which involved pumping ozone up a person’s rectum. His business shut down, he filed for bankruptcy in 1997, and has simply rebranded himself. He now “treats” desperate customers in Mexico, where looser regulations allow him to provide unproven physical interventions that former customers have said were close to “torture.”

Distress in the face of terminal illness will obscure Wolfe’s many contradictions. Though he is deeply anti-surgery—claiming that surgical interventions cause more scar tissue than anything else and thus disease, which is either good or bad depending on the page in his book—the CBC attended one of his workshops in which Wolfe admitted to raising $20,000 to have one of his clients’ orange-sized facial tumour excised… via surgery.

When the CBC talked to him on the record at a later seminar in Ontario, he told them that “he never said he could cure cancer.” Brian Clement did the same. When he was  exposed  for saying behind closed doors that his Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida saw many customers cured of their multiple sclerosis, he denied having said so when confronted by a reporter and said the CBC had  fabricated the audio recording .

Among the desperate, these would-be Galileos promise to cure everything if you let go of conventional medicine. In the spotlight, they backtrack and remember that there are laws and regulations in place.

But there’s just too much money in it for them to stop.

Take-home message: - Darrell Wolfe, AKA Doc of Detox, is not a licensed medical practitioner - His inconsistent claims around health and disease are often not supported by evidence or medical consensus - Many of his interventions are actually harmful, such as slapping yourself for an hour to allegedly bring diseased tissue to the surface and making yourself vomit repeatedly to allegedly restore your health

@CrackedScience

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How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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UK riots latest: Thousands take part in anti-racism protests; petrol bomb thrown at mosque in 'racially motivated' incident

Police are on high alert this weekend amid concerns over more disorder breaking out as protests take place across the country. In Northern Ireland, police are investigating a "racially motivated" attack on a mosque.

Saturday 10 August 2024 23:00, UK

• Protesters gather outside Reform UK's London office
• Liverpool court hears how teenager stole £19,000 of vapes during riots
• Petrol bomb thrown at mosque in 'racially motivated' incident
• Impact of riots could be felt for years to come, warns justice secretary
• Tory councillor's wife remanded in custody over stirring up racial hatred online
• Listen: 'Unease and fear' - How Muslim communities feel about the riots
• Watch : Bodycam footage of Southport riot
• Watch : Pubgoers embrace Muslims 'defending their community'
• Analysis: The many reasons the far right stayed off streets
• Further reading : The men who've been jailed so far

That's all our coverage on this story for now. 

Thousands of anti-racism protesters have descended on cities across the country - outnumbering anti-immigration demonstrators for the fourth day in a row. 

Before we go, here's a recap of the main updates from the last 24 hours: 

• A court in Liverpool has heard how a 16-year-old stole £19,000 worth of vapes during riots in the city centre last week;
• A petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Northern Ireland in an incident described by police as racially motivated. The mosque in Newtownards, County Down, was attacked at around 1am, with graffiti sprayed on its front door;
• Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Tory councillor, has been remanded in custody ahead of a crown court appearance over publishing written material intended to stir up racial hatred;
• Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has warned the impact of the riots on the judicial system will be felt for years to come;
• The parents of six-year-old Bebe King, who was killed in the Southport stabbings, have paid tribute to their "precious daughter" and revealed her older sister saw the attack and escaped. 

Police have been granted enhanced stop and search powers in part of Yeovil tonight.

Avon and Somerset Police said the powers allow officers to search people who they consider "at risk of violence", without reasonable suspicion. 

The force said the technique has already resulted in arrests being made this evening. 

It comes after it reported a small number of people had gathered in the grounds of a church for a peaceful demonstration. 

Four men have been charged following the riots in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough last week. 

Cleveland Police said a 24-year-old man had been charged with burglary over the unrest in Middlesbrough last Sunday. 

Another 24 year-old was charged with violent disorder and a 27-year-old was charged with assault by beating of an emergency worker. 

A 19-year-old was charged with violent disorder in relation to the riots in Hartlepool on 31 July. 

All four men have been remanded in custody and are due to appear in court on Monday. 

The impact of the riots could be felt for months or years to come, the justice secretary has warned. 

Writing a piece for The Observer, Shabana Mahmood said the justice system has shown it can act swiftly, but its work has been made more difficult due to the state it was left in by the Conservatives. 

Courts have been working extended hours to deal with rioters who were charged by police during the week-long disorder. 

"The justice system has shown it can rise to this challenge. Should further criminality and disorder ensue, we will continue to deliver justice, until the last offender languishes in one of our jails," Ms Mahmood said. 

"But we must make no mistake. Rising to this challenge has been made harder by doing so within the justice system we inherited from the Conservatives." 

She pointed out that there are "record crown court backlogs" and prisons "close to overflowing". 

"The impact of these days of disorder will be felt for months and years to come. They make the job of rebuilding the justice system harder," she added. 

The parents of a six-year-old girl who was killed in the Southport stabbings have paid tribute to their "precious daughter" and revealed her older sister saw the attack and escaped.

Bebe King died along with nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, after the stabbings at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in the Merseyside town on 29 July.

The deaths of the three girls sparked anti-immigration protests and riots across UK towns and cities after false information circulated on social media that the attacker was an illegal migrant.

In a statement issued by Merseyside Police, Bebe's parents Lauren and Ben said their daughter "was full of joy, light, and love, and she will always remain in our hearts as the sweet, kind, and spirited girl we adore".

They revealed their nine-year-old older Genie witnessed the attack and managed to escape, saying: "She has shown such incredible strength and courage, and we are so proud of her.

You can read more about this story here ...

Photos of three men have been released by police as they continue to investigate the disorder that broke out in Whitehall last week. 

Metropolitan Police said more than 100 arrests were made at the protest on Wednesday 31 July. 

However, in the days that followed, a huge amount of footage and other evidence has been reviewed to try to identify outstanding suspects, it added. 

It urged people who recognise any of the three men to get in touch or contact Crimestoppers. 

Sky News understands Sir Keir Starmer has cancelled his holiday as protests continue to take place across the country. 

Thousands of police officers have remained on duty today in case violence flared again. 

But, for a fourth day in a row, anti-racism protesters far outnumbered far-right demonstrators in several areas. 

A dispersal order has been enforced in Liverpool city centre today and will remain in place for 48 hours. 

It also covers parts of Everton, Kensington, Vauxhall and Kirkdale. 

Merseyside Police said it had been introduced "following incidents of disorder". 

Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Chris Taylor said: "This order will give officers on the ground the ability to direct people suspected of being involved in or planning criminality to leave the designated area for a period of 48 hours, and to arrest them if they return." 

A Section 60 order, which gives officers enhanced stop and search powers, is already in place in the area. 

"Both orders are extra tools at our disposal to help keep the public safe, and highly visible police patrols will enforce them in the next 48 hours," Mr Taylor said. 

A total of 779 people have been arrested over rioting, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has said. 

Of those, 349 have been charged, it added. 

Suspected rioters have continued to appear in court today, including the wife of a Tory councillor who has been accused of publishing written material intended to stir up racial hatred.

Lucy Connolly, 41, appeared at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on Saturday morning and did not enter a plea.

The NPCC said specialist officers have been tasked with pursuing suspected online offenders and so-called influencers, who they say are responsible for "spreading hate and inciting violence on a large scale".

Across the country, teams have been investigating "hundreds of leads".

"This abhorrent activity didn't happen by itself. Large crowds and gatherings didn't mobilise spontaneously," said Chief Constable Chris Haward, the NPCC lead for serious and organised crime. 

"It was the result of dozens of so-called influencers, exploiting the outpouring of grief from the tragic loss of three young girls in Southport.

"They knowingly spread misinformation, stoked the flames of hatred and division and incited violence from the comfort of their own homes, causing chaos on other people's doorsteps."

The leader of Newcastle City Council has said he is "angry" that some residents were made to "feel unsafe" by "right wing agitators". 

In a post on Facebook, Councillor Nick Kemp praised police for their work in the city, and urged people to stay "united". 

Protests organised by Enough Is Enough have been taking place today, but passed without any violence or disorder breaking out.

"Northumbria Police have done a phenomenal job in preparing for today and their swift actions throughout the entire week have acted as a deterrent," Cllr Kemp said. 

"Across the country, we have seen right wing agitators looking to divide our city and sow seeds of hatred. Today, Newcastle showed them what we are about.

"However, I am angry that they have made some of our residents feel unsafe. That their actions have caused doubt among those who call our city home."

You can read his full statement below... 

We are here, we are listening, and we are ready to act 🤝 That is the message from our Leader, Cllr Nick Kemp, who says... Posted by Newcastle City Council on  Saturday, August 10, 2024

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