Aligning assessment tasks with Bloom's taxonomy verbs
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| Cognitive level / Bloom's taxonomy | Definition | Cognitive action verbs for course learning outcomes | Discussion questions | Best practice | Assessment tasks |
| Remember | Retrieve, recall, or recognize knowledge from long-term memory | Define, Describe, Identify, Label, List, Locate, Match, Name, Recall, Select, State | What do we already know about...? What did you notice about...? What are the principles of ...? How does...tie in with what we learned before? | Allow multiple attempts (reiteration) Interleaving (switching between topics to reinforce recall) | Regular practice quizzes (multiple choice, multiple answer, fill in blank, matching questions, true/false), In-video quizzes, Journals |
| Understand | Demonstrate comprehension through one or more forms of explanation | Articulate, Classify, Contrast, Clarify, Demonstrate, Describe, Discuss, Explain, Infer, Extend, Interpret, Paraphrase, Summarize | Summarize.or Explain... What will happen if...? What does...mean? How might you demonstrate...? | Explicitly share the organization of activities / Structure opportunities to connect new learning to prior knowledge and/or lived experience | Weekly & daily practice quizzes (multiple choice, fill in blank, short answer questions), Concept maps, Discussion boards, Group collaboration annotation of articles, In-video quizzes |
| Apply | Use information or skill in a new situation | Apply, Calculate, Change, Choose, Construct, Discover, Experiment, Illustrate, Modify, Predict, Solve, Use | What would happen if...? What is a new example of ...? How could...be used to...? What is the counterargument for...? What would you have done in this situation? What do you think they should do? How does ....play out in this context? | Use rubrics to offer incremental feedback on projects | Reflection discussion boards (how do concepts relate to the real world, field, etc.), Problem sets, Blog posts, Journals, Papers, Case studies |
| Analyze | Break material into its constituent parts and determine how the parts relate to one another | Analyze, Appraise, Categorize, Compare, Contrast, Debate, Diagram, Differentiate, Examine, Experiment, Organize | Why is ... important? What might...have in common? How are they different? What are the implications of...? Explain why / explain how? | Scaffold complex tasks / Make evaluative criteria explicit | Case studies, Papers, Debates, Group (collaborative) annotation of articles/ textbooks |
| Evaluate | Make judgments based on criteria and standards | Appraise, Assess, Compare, Contrast, Critique, Defend, Determine, Discriminate, Estimate, Explain, Interpret, Measure, Predict, Summarize, Support | How does ...affect ...? Why is...happening? What is the best...and why? Do you agree or disagree with the statement...? What evidence is there to support your answer? What are the strengths and weaknesses of...? What is the nature of...? | Design rubric for peer feedback and evaluation and self-evaluation | Peer review activities, Group member evaluation, Self-evaluation, Journals, critiques, product or service reviews, studies |
| Create | Put elements together to form a new coherent or functional whole; reorganize elements into a new pattern or structure | Animate, Arrange, Create, Construct, Design, Develop, Devise, Formulate, Generate, Modify, Outline, Produce, Reconstruct | What is the solution to the problem of...? What do you think causes ...? What is another way to look at...? | Offer several, varied exemplars to model and inspire / Make explicit criteria for the provision of reflection on/rationale for creative choices | Portfolios, Project (research, performance, website design), Papers, Case studies, Peer-reviewed video presentations |