What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Music educators typically apply Bloom’s (Revised) Taxonomy to think through and plan learning objectives and learning opportunities that vary along degrees of complexity in terms of what students will do to demonstrate what they know (or are learning).

The taxonomy, originally developed by Benjamin Bloom was revised by Anderson and Krathwohl in 2001 to account for cognitive and knowledge domains.

• Bloom saw the original Taxonomy as more than a measurement tool. He believed it could serve as a:
  • common language about learning goals to facilitate communication across persons, subject matter, and grade levels;
  • basis for determining for a particular course or curriculum the specific meaning of broad educational goals, such as those found in the currently prevalent national, state, and local standards;
  • means for determining the congruence of educational objectives, activities, and assessments in a unit, course, or curriculum; and
  • panorama of the range of educational possibilities against which the limited breadth and depth of any particular educational course or curriculum could be contrasted.” – Krathwohl (2002) p. 212
• Bloom’s Taxonomy is focused on classifying student behaviors (Bloom, 1956; Hardarson, 2017).

History of Bloom’s Taxonomy

The original taxonomy developed by Benjamin Bloom was essentially a system to save time for preparing comprehensive exams.

“The framework was conceived as a means of facilitating the exchange of test items among faculty at various universities in order to create banks of items, each measuring the same educational objective.” Krathwohl (2002) p. 212

“Benjamin S. Bloom, then Associate Director of the Board of Examinations of the University of Chicago, initiated the idea, hoping that it would reduce the labor of preparing annual comprehensive examinations. To aid in his effort, he enlisted a group of measurement specialists from across the United States, many of whom repeatedly faced the same problem.” Krathwohl (2002) p. 212

Visualizations of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

Resources on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

• Bloom’s Taxonomy – Iowa State University CELT
• Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Bloom’s Taxonomy – Niall McNulty
• Stapleton-Corcoran, E. (2023). “Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.” Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois Chicago. Retrieved [2026-3-13] from https://teaching.uic.edu/blooms-taxonomy-of-educational-objectives/

References

• Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives: complete edition. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
• Bloom, B. S. (Ed.). (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, NY: David McKay Company.
• Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: Affective domain (Vol. 2). Longmans, Green.
• Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An Overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 212–218.