Bloom’s Taxonomy was proposed by a committee of educational psychologists to categorize cognitive levels of learning by rank of complexity. The ordinal ranking of cognitive complexities was revised for the 21st Century learner by Anderson and Kathwohl in 2001. Anderson was a student of bloom who sought to add a definitive zenith to the levels originally proposed by bloom. Below is a table from University of Florida that compares the levels of cognitive complexity between both models. For the sake of this course, the revised version will be used predominantly.
Remember: The ability to retain, recite, define, duplicate, or state foundational facts or ideas in a larger composition of complex information.
Understand: An extension of the ability to define, recite, and remember into the ability to classify, translate, or explain complex information in depth. To understand, as a speaker, is the ability to accurately and adequately order complex information so that an audience can both remember and comprehend new, multifaceted concepts.
Apply: A logical extension of understanding into an implementation of information into data that can be implemented, integrated, interpreted, or arranged artfully to demonstrate how specific information can lead to specialized solutions for the audience member to actively apply in real-world situations.
Analyze: The ability to make definitive connections between applications through comparative arrangement, contrasting arrangement, and/or elucidation of relationships between pieces of complicated information. Meaningful analysis also refers to the ability to test or experiment with new ideas given the curation and aggregation of complex information into parsed, well-constructed and well-organized interpretations that can be easily understood by an audience.
Evaluate: The ability to actively and accurately provide a justification for a specific stance on the information being presented. Support for a specific defense of perspective and formulation of a point of view considers the capacity to assess the value of and argue ardently for the chosen stance on the presented information. Criticism can also be viewed as an evaluation because it is an act of evaluating what has already been created by others.
Create: The ability to synthesize all levels of the cognitive taxonomy to formulate and actively develop a unique point of view given all of the previous levels of complexity being adequately addressed. Criticism is viewed as a form of evaluation rather than creation because the critic is evaluating what is, not materializing what can be.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Applied to Informative Speaking
Remember: A person at this level will probably feel an overwhelming need to read a script and stick to the script as a definitive crutch for novice skills. Manuscript reading comes off as less credible to the audience precisely because it is a form of rehearsed, constrained speech that is often monotone as a result of reading notes aloud. It is very simple to move from this stage to a form of understanding when the speaker accepts that the audience does not care for what the speaker could write beforehand, no matter how beautiful the prose may be. A person who needs to read from a script can be critiqued actively by the audience as necessarily not believing what he or she reads to the audience. The Remember level of cognition is perfect for repeated practice before a speech, but should remain in practice rather than performance. If you need to write a script, do so only to enhance practice. Use the script until you can place the script facedown without needing to stop your speaking conversationally to read. When you can place the script away from yourself and speak extemporaneously, glancing at notes rather than reading aloud, definitive understanding has been reached.
Understand: When a speaker understands his or her topic, in depth, they will only need to glance at notes periodically for the purpose of relaying data, complex definitions, legal codes, or oral citations of research and researchers. For this stage, the speaker should be able to view the speech as an opportunity to exemplify his or her expertise and experience rather than reading a carefully arranged script. The ability to improvise, in the moment, is a distinction that those who understand the complexity of information can actively engage in with the audience. Notes may be present, but do not need to be read aloud more than three times.
Apply: The speaker can actively integrate his or her experiential learning to practical applications for the information being presented. The speaker is able to view the speaking experience as more of a conversation than a performance. At this juncture, a speaker can actively engage audience feedback and questions in the present to enhance rapport with the audience and exemplify applied expertise. The speaker makes abundantly clear how the audience can benefit from his or her point of view and relate the information to real-world applications.
Analyze: The speaker can actively compare and contrast their point of view against critics of their perspective. The speaker can operationalize conversational tone to point out how the audience will benefit as individuals and communities of well-informed individuals. The speaker has the ability to allow their information to be actively critiqued by the audience and not be offended if adaptations need to be made. When asked a complicated question the speaker has the capability, on the spot, to say ‘I don’t know that information yet, but I can tell you how I might find out an answer.’ Very little need for notes here. The speaker may glance at a notecard once or twice.
Evaluate: Notes are never needed because the speaker is, or has become, the expert on the topic. The speaker can actively integrate, critique, or refute new information presented by the audience. The speaker can focus on impact through synthesis of complex research or history. Implications or unexpected consequences of integration of the information can be discussed at length and on the spot. The speaker welcomes questions because they are confident in their ability to elucidate an expert point of view on the topic. The speaker is able to thank the audience for letting them know where their point of view might be deficient or otherwise wrong.
Create: The speaker can shock and awe the audience with a well-structured opening strategy (question, quote, anecdote, cited statistic, visualization, or hypothetical situation). The speaker can construct an insightful arrangement of information from basic definitions to the most complicated applications for decidedly fringe cases. Explicit applications for information and the point of view of the speaker communicate inexorable value to the audience. Even if the audience does not agree with the point of view presented, audience members can definitively benefit from learning a nuanced point of view. The speaker can wrap up the speech with a concluding strategy that reminds the audience of the opening strategy. Expertise is exemplified by being able to bring the information full circle to provide both a broad and nuanced point of view on a topic.
References
Anderson, L. W. (1999). Rethinking Bloom's Taxonomy: Implications for Testing and Assessment.
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.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom's taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41(4), 212-218.
Parker, E. (2025, July). Bloom’s Taxonomy: Overview. University of Florida Center for Teaching Excellence.