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Was Bloom's Taxonomy Pointed in the Wrong Direction?

Article in Phi Delta Kappan · January 2010

DOI: 10.1177/003172171009100412

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 Pyramids in thousands of classrooms
portrayed knowledge as low-hanging
fruit and evaluation as the terrain of
Intellectual mountaineers.

Was Bloom's
Taxonomy
Pointed in Benjamin Bloom did not set out to design a poster
the Wrong for teachers. Yet in thousands of classrooms around th e
\vorld , familiar pictures of pyramids line the walls.

Direction? The scheme has been translated into every lan­

guage known to man, and laminated posters of
Bloom's Taxonomy adorn schoolrooms from Okla­
homa City to Osaka, Tallahassee to Tajikistan.
Created in a postwar world marked by increasing
Placing knowledge at the specialization and fragmentation, Bloom's Taxonomy
bottom of the Bloom pyramid offered a way of thi nking about knowing writ large.
T hough teachers might ca ll themselves math teachers,
sends the wrong message about or English teachers, or history teachers, they were re­
the importance of knowledge ally all engaged in the same process: teaching students
to think \ nd thinking, whatever particular disciplin es
in learning , it came in, could be organized and classified according
to Bloom's levels. The taxonomy, in short, promised to
establish a scientific sense of order.
By Sam Wineburg Bloom was not alone in categori zing human
and thought. But the beauty of his taxonomy was simplic­
ity. It was made up of six categories, not 60. And even
Jack Schneider when the original taxonomy was joined by its help­
mate, the Taxonomy of Affective Educationa l Out­
comes, it still remained lean and intui tive, easy to re­
member, easy to use. Teachers could close their eyes
and picture it. Entrepreneurial consultants could
cover the basics in an hour-long workshop.
At the wide and stable base of the taxonomic struc­
ture was "knowledge." A prerequisite to all of the steps
that came afterward, it was the platform from which
PDKConnect students might reach higher and more impressive
To comment
on this article,
log in at SAM WINEBURG is a professor of educalion and of history (by cour­
pdkintl.org and tesy) at Stanford University, Stanford, California. JACK SCHNEIDER
click on is a doctoral student at Stanford whose research focuses on the his­
PDKConnect. tory of American education.

S6 Kappan December 2009/Janu ary 2010 1<1 tl

- ------ --------------------
ground. Pyramids in thousands of classrooms por­ served a variety of Advanced Placement CAP) class­
trayed knowledge as low-hanging fruit and evalua­ rooms in Washington's Puget Sound. L1 those
tion as the terrai n of intellectual mountaineers. classes, we tested students on the released items
The pyramid was clear, straightforward, and pop­ ii'om the National Assessment of Educational
ular. But, at least when it came to the history class­ Progress, as well as the AP test itself, and selected as
room, it was also upside down. participants in our study only those who did well.
Knowledge of history, as those Bloomian pyra­ Over the course of 2 Y, years , we followed these stu­
mids imply, can function as a set of building blocks dents in the hope that we would learn something
to be assembled for the purpose of making judg­ about how they approached history.
ments. But ,,,hile mastering new facts can help stu­ One case from the study - an interview withJa­
dents see the world more intelligibly and formulate cob, an articulate AP student from a private high
opinions, it doesn't necessarily follow that it will school - is both exemplary and illustrative. After
teach them to tbink. As math is more than theorems the AP exam, on whichJacob scored a 4, we gave him
and science more than formulas, the discipline of a document he'd never seen - a proclamation made
history is mor e than facts. As historians well know, by President Benjamin Harrison about Discovery
it is a way of thinking about problems, guiding prac­ Day in 1892. vVe asked him to read the piece aloud,
titioners through the process of reconstructing the and to articulate, as he read, what he thought about
past from incomplete fragments . And the process the document and its historical context.
never ends. Its final destination must always lead to
a new beginning. FIG. 1.

THROUGH A STUDENT LENS Text of Historical Document Presented to Students

Monday through Thursday, students in a typical

hjgh school history class work through definitions DISCOVERY DAY
and new knowledge. On Friday, they're quizzed. In OCTOBER 21 PROCLAIMED A NATIONAL HOLIDAY BY
many schools, this goes on from the first day of THE PRESIDENT
school in September through the beginning of
(WASI-{f.\JGTON, JULY 21) The following proclama tion was is­
Christmas break. When asked for his take on the sued this afternoon by the President:
logic behind the practice, one tea cher we spoke to
I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of
found succor in Bloom's Taxonomy:
America ... do hereby appoint Friday, Oct. 21, 1892 , the
400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus,
You see, I want kids to engage in critical thinking, as a general holiday for the people of th e United States. On
but, hey, you can't think about nothing. You need a that day, let the people so far as possible cease from toil and
database to get to all those higher-order places, devote themselv " to such exercises as may best express honor
Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation - you need knowl­ to the discoverer .Id their appreciation of the great achieve­
edge, how can you ask questions if you don't have a ments of the four completed centuries of American life.
data base) So, between September and December,
I provide them with. a knowledge base, and after Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and en­
Christmas we start to think. lightenment. The system of universal education is in our age
the most prominent and sa lutary feature of the spirit of en­
ligluenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools
It's true that many students lack basic knowledge be made by the people the ce nter of the day's demonstration.
about the past. And plugging gaping holes in student
Let the national flag float over evelY school house in the
background knowledge is how many savvy history country, and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our
teachers begin each new unit. But does that kind of youth the patriotic duties of Ameri can citizenship.
knowledge - the sort typically purveyed in work­
In the churches and in the other places of assembly of the
sheets - always pave the way to higher-order think­ people, let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Prov­
ing? idence for the devout faith of the discoverer, and for the Di­
Those who go back and read Bloom will find vine care and guidance which has directed our history and so
much to praise. Tha t knowledge is the foundation abundantly blessed our people.
for all further acts of mind, for instance, is a fun­ The New York Times, July 22 , 1892: 8
damentally sound concept. But our concern is
about Bloom in practice - the way that the Taxon­
omy takes on a life of its own. Pyramids, after all,
are images th a t point in one direction. Placing Jacob's response was illuminating. "The first
knowledge at the bottom often sends the wrong thing that jumps out is that Columbus is a pioneer
message. of 'progress and enlightenment,'" Jacob noted,
In a study we completed several years ago, we ob­ "which was certainly one way of looking at it, but

V91 N4 Kappan 57
 from what I've learned , his goals were not entirely
noble. Just get rich, whatever. Find a way to the In­
dies. Show that the Earth wasn't flat.
"And then," Jacob grumbled, "it praises him for his
devout faith ... he claimed to be a true Christian, but
he also caprured and torrured Indians, so he wasn 't
maybe as noble as this is having him be."

Knowledge possessed does not

automatically mean knowledge deployed.

Asked if he noticed anything else, Jacob added :

"And the fact that it's becoming a holiday that we're
supposed to revere, that's even worse l "
His response was typical among this group of
bright, articulate students. And in man y ways, his re­
sponse is ideal. He immediately marshals back­
ground knowledge about Columbus and uses that
knowledge to challenge the image of the "discov­
erer" in Harrison's proclamation. Clearly he "com­
prehends" the document and, in fact, starts on his No contempo1"a7JI painting of Columbus has szwuived. This
ascent of the Bloomian peak, comparing the descrip­ painting, called the Jovian Portrait, was painted about 50
tion with his own knowledge (Application). He rec­ )lears after Columbus' death and does not match an)' contern­
ognizes that there are multiple ways of understand­ pOl'tII)' description ofthe ad'l1lim/.
ing Columbus and sees that the image of "pioneer
of progress and Englightment" is one among several to superheroes in order to gain votes in urban cen­
possible interpretations (Analysis and Synthesis). ters, " and "the beginning of Pan-Whiteness in post­
lJltimately, he casts doubt on the image, challeng­ bellum America."
ing it with an alternative critical of Columbus (Eval­ Huh?
uation). Pantheons? Shameless appeals? Pan-Whiteness?
Relying on his background knowledge about Did they even read the same document?
Colum bus and using that knowledge as a touchstone To ' e clear, these graduate students were not spe­
for evaluating the document's contents, Jacob pro­ cialists in American history. In fact, th ey possessed
ceeds through different kinds of thinking. And his no more specialized knowledge of Columbus than
response, though still rough around the edges, Jacob or his AP U.S. History classmates. But what
seems at first blush like critical thinking in the raw. the histori ans did possess was the ability to think his­
Indeed, when we showed Jacob's thinking to a fo­ torically about the documents.
cus group of teachers, this is precisely how many Right from tl1e start, it's clear what the young his­
characterized it. torians are doing differently: "Okay, it's 1892."
Given how passive students can be when pre­ There are many moves that separate the histori­
sented with new information, this isn't surprising. ans' readings from Jacob's, but there is none more
Jacob engaged energetically with the material, ex­ crucial, none more basic than these three words.
pressed a forceful opinion about Columbus' voyage, Without a doubt, Jacob knew the story of Colum­
and didn't accept the document at face value. No bus. But he was unable to see the document as a
wonder many teachers viewed Jacob's response fa­ product of unique historica l circumstances. To Ja­
vorably. cob, the document was about Columbus. But to the
But what if this document has little to do with historians, critical thinking meant revealing the un­
1492? Or. .. even with Columbus himself? seen - asking questions and piecing together some­
thing they didn't yet know.
THROUGH A HISTORICAL LENS
To them, Harrison's docum en t was born of a par­
Asked what the same document was about, a ticular moment. And this moment, 1892, not 1492
group of history graduate students saw something or even 1992, means something. But what exactly
different: "the expansion of the heroic pantheon to does it mean? This is where the historians start: with
include former undesirables," "the shameless appeal questions.

58 Kappan December 2009/January 2010 pClkintl.org

 "So it's the 400th anniversary. Benjamin Harri­ swarthy, spoke strange languages, and worshipped
son. Curious. It's not on the front page. Why? But God differently than the Protestant majority.
it is in The New York Times, the so-called national· Jacob knew this story, at least in broad contour.
newspaper." The great wave of immigration, Ellis Island, Emma
The young historians puzzle, search, piece to­ Lazarus' "The New Colossus" were stock topics in
gether context. The story's not important enough to his AP class, as well as in nearly every other 11 th­
be on the front page. What might this mean? Is it grade history class across the nation. Yet, to access
significant? Repeatedly, they ask "why?" In dozens this information and harness its power, Jacob would
of interviews with high school students, not a single have had to think about "Discovery Day" histori­
one ever asked why. cally.
One historian begins making connections:

The 1890s, the beginning of the Progressive Era, Pyramids are images that point in one
end of the centUlY, closing of the frontier, Freder­
ickJackson Turner, you've got the Columbian Ex­ direction. Placing knowledge at the bottom
position coming up the following year. Biggest often sends the wrong message.
wave of immigration in U.S. histoly.

"That's it l "
That's it? That's what? At the beginning of the 1880s, about 300,000
The young historian was referring to the Italians were in the United States; 10years later, that
makeover America was getting at the end of the 19th number had doubled. Joined by a swelling Irish
century. Unprecedented immigration had trans­ ("Celtic") community, they formed a massive new
formed the country's look overnight; in the 30 years political interest group - urban Catholics. But
between 1880 and 1910, 18 million newcomers though their numbers were strong, Catholics were
carne to America's shores. And these immigrants still much maligned as un-American "papists."
were of a different breed - "Slavs," "Alpines," "He­ And yet, Catholics had an ace in the hole in
brews," "Iberics," or "Mediterraneans." They were Columbus. What better way to express their Amer-

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pdki tl.or~ V91 N4 Kappan 59

 icanism than to tie themselves to the Catholic "dis­
coverer" of the New World? Despite their national
origins in Ireland, Germany, Pola'nd, or elsewhere,
ties to Columbus made these new immigrants "real"
Americans. Nothing exemplified this more clearly
than the naming of what would become the nation's
largest pan-Catholic fraternal organization: the
Knights of Columbus, founded in 1882.

The pyramid treats knowledge with all the

glamour of a dank concrete basement ­
necessary for a house's foundation but hardly
the place to host honored guests.

The historians reasoned that embracing Colum­

bus was a political move. By establishing "Discovery
Day, " Harrison was hoping to usher into the party
the millions of new voters who saw Columbus as a
hero. If the historians had cared to verify their
hunches, they would have found that they were on Portrait of President Benjamin Harrison. George Prince,
to something. By the time Harrison's "Discovery 1888. (CoZl1'tesy of the Libm7Y of Congress, LC-USZ62­
7611.)
Day" came along, itmerely sanctioned the many cel­
ebrations already in place. San Francisco's Italians
celebrated their first Discovery Day in 1869, and in
1876, Philadelphia's Italians erected a statue of mean knowledge deployed. \Vhy would students
Columbus in that city's Fairmount Park. \Vell before think Ellis Island and Emma La za rus if they looked
the 1892 proclamation, the celebration was on the past 1892 and saw only 1492?
calendar in St. Louis, Boston, Cincinnati, and New To call Jacob's reading an instance of critical
Orleans. Harrison wasn't breaking ground; he was think 3' is true - by half. It's critical, but there's lit­
pandering. tle thinking in it. Sure Jacob brought some back­
Problem solved. ground knowledge and strong opinions to this doc­
Picture painted. ument, but he didn't know how to get at the docu­
Knowledge gained. ment's untold story.
That's critical thinking. The historians saw the document differently. To
them, questions begin at the base of the pyramid:
KNOWLEDGE DEPLOYED \Vhat am I looking at, a diary? A secret commu­
Let's be fair. \Vhat 17-year-old could be expected nique? A government pronouncement? \Vhen was
to possess all of that contextual knowledge? To be it written and what else was going on at the time?
sure, specialists in 19th-century American history For them, critical thinking meant determining the
would have known intricate details like the fact that knowledge they needed to better understand this
Harrison wooed Irish Catholics by endorsing home document and its time.
rule in Ireland in the 1892 Republican Platform, or "Was there a precedent to Harrison 's declara­
that he organized the Irish-American Protective tion?"
Tariff League. But remember: We didn't qui z spe­ "Did individual states make Oct. 12 a holiday be­
cialists. We asked graduate students writing their fore the federal declaration? "
theses on such topics as French colonialists in "If so, was it in states with the largest population
Tunisia and the aftershocks of the Meiji Restoration. of Catholics?"
If anything, Jacob and his AP colleagues were at a "Was there nativist opposition to Harrison's
factual advantage when it came to some of the finer Proclamation?"
details of U.S. history. "Did the proclamation cause anti-Catholic back­
Yet knowledge possessed does not automatically lash?"

60 Kappan December 2009!January 2010 pdl,jntJ.og

 "How and when did the event go from a Procla­
mation in 1892 to becoming a national holid ay? "
These questions - what we refer to elsewhere as To learn more ...
the "the specification of ignorance" - distinguished
historians from bright high school students, who
Reading Like a Historian intervention in San Francisco
typically encountered this document and issued
judgments. Such pronouncements, like the judge's \lvvw.). youtube. com/watch ?v=wWz08mVU Its
gavel, close the case on history.
Not so with historians. Faced with an unfamiliar Historical Thinking Matters
document, they framed questions that would help www.historicalthinkingmatters.org
them understand the fullness of the historical mo­
ment. They emerged from the text curious, puzzled,
Stanford History Education Group
and provoked. T hey ended their reading, in other
http://sheg .stanford .edu
words, ready to learn.
For students of history, the pyramid posters have
it wrong - or at least upside down. Putting knowl­ National History Education Clearinghouse
edge at the base implies that the world of ideas is http://teachinghistory.org
fully known and that critical thinking involves gath­
ering known facts to cast judgment. The pyramid
treats knowledge with all the glamour of a dank con­
crete basement - necessary for a house's foundation Of course knowledge is a prerequisite to critical
but hardly the place to host honored guests. Such an thinking. But most important, knowledge repre­
approach inverts the process of historical thinking sents its highest aim. And there can be no new
and distorts why we study history in the first place. knowledge without new questions.
New knowledge, the prize of intellectual activity, The pyramid narrows to a point. Turning it on its
gets locked in the basement. head opens up new worlds. K

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