Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking Skills
  Thinking words to use in assignments Desired student thinking skills Application to a study of Antarctica
6 – Evaluation: use these verbs 5to ask a student to make a judgement based on criteria. Appraise, choose, compare, conclude, decide, defend, evaluate, give your opinion, judge, justify, prioritize, rank, rate, select, support, value This thinking skill tells you that a student can appraise, assess, or criticize on the basis of specific standards and criteria. Should Antarctica remain a continent free of development and left with its natural habitat? Justify your position.
5 – Synthesis: use these verbs to ask a student to take parts of information to create an original whole. Change, combine, compose, construct, create, design, find an unusual way, formulate, generate, invent originate, plan, predict, pretend, produce, rearrange, reconstruct, reorganize, revise suggest, suppose, visualize, write This thinking skill tells you that a student can originate, combine, and integrate parts of prior knowledge into a product, plan, or proposal that is new. Pretend that you made the journey. Write an entry in your diary describing your emotions on the day you reached the South Pole.
4 – Analysis; use these verbs to ask a student to show that he or she can see parts and relationships. Analyze, categorize, classify, compare, contrast, debate, deduct, determine the factors, diagnose, diagram, differentiate, dissect, distinguish, examine, infer, specify This thinking skill tells you that a student can examine, take apart, classify, predict, and draw conclusions. Compare the weather at the South Pole on December 1 and June 1 in any given year.
3 – Application: use these verbs to ask a student to use learning in a new situation. Apply, compute, conclude, construct, demonstrate, determine, draw, find out, give an example, illustrate, make, operate, show, solve, state a rule or principle, use This thinking skill tells you that a student can transfer selected information to a life problem or a new task with a minimum of direction. Give an example of one piece of modern technology that, had it been available to the explorers, would have made a difference in the trip.
2 – Comprehension: use these verbs to ask a student to show comprehension or understanding. Convert, describe, explain, interpret, paraphrase, put in order, restate, retell in your own words, rewrite, summarize, trace, translate This thinking skill tells you that a student can grasp and interpret prior learning. Describe the difference between the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
1 – Knowledge: use these verbs to ask a student to recall information. Define, fill in the blank, identify, label, list, locate, match, memorize, name, recall, spell, state, tell, underline This thinking skill tells you that a student can recall or recognize information, concepts, and ideas in the approximate form in which they were learned. Who was the first person to reach the South Pole?