1. Bloom’s Taxonomy: Six Levels for Understanding
Developing Questions for Scripture Study that support Maximum Learning Jan Paron, PhD All Nations Leadership Institute
Bloom’s Taxonomy:
Six Levels for Understanding

2. Six Levels of Understanding
When teaching, one needs to address understanding in six different levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. 
Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning, each level is a building block for understanding the next.
Beginning with the most basic level, which is knowledge, understanding becomes progressively more complex. The most complex is evaluation.

3. Six Levels of Understanding
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Learning Progression of the Six Levels of Understanding
Knowledge
Fundamental level of understanding
Complex & advanced levels of understanding

4. Six Levels of Understanding
When developing questions and activities associated with your selected scripture study, you should address each level of understanding

5. Six Levels of Understanding
The length of time you allow for at each level is determined by the prior knowledge of the audience.
Make adjustments and adaptations to time and approach, but include questions representative of all understanding levels.

6. Six Levels of Understanding
Let’s review the basic meaning of each level of understanding.

7. Six Levels of Understanding
Knowledge
Recognize information, ideas, and principles
Function
List, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc.
Associated Action Verbs
Define the principles of individual and communal ministry
Describe the “temptation to be spectacular.”
Example

8. Six Levels of Understanding
Comprehension
Comprehends or interprets scripture or text based on prior meaning 
Function
Summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend
Associated Action Verbs
Discuss how the “temptation to be spectacular” impacts communal ministry
Example

9. Six Levels of Understanding
Application
Selects, transfers, and uses data and principles to complete a life task with minimum direction
Function
Apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine, modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, and discover
Associated Action Verbs
Think of a situation involving communal ministry. Relate how you would avoid the “temptation to be spectacular” in that situation.
Example

10. Six Levels of Understanding
Analysis
Thought process in use: can examine, classify, hypothesize, collect data, and draw conclusions
Function
Analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer
Associated Action Verbs
Why do you think Nouwen included a separate chapter in his book about the “temptation to be spectacular”?
Example

11. Six Levels of Understanding
Synthesis
Originates, integrates, and combines ideas into a product, plan, or proposal that is new
Function
Combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invent, what?, compose, formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite
Associated Action Verbs
Create a plan showing how you would adjust your personal and public actions as a mission team member in Belize, keeping in mind avoiding the temptations of being spectacular.
Example

12. Six Levels of Understanding
Evaluate
Appraises, assesses, criticizes on a basis or specific standards or criteria.
Function
Assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, and summarize
Associated Action Verbs
Critique another group’s plan for effectiveness of actions that show how to avoid the “temptation to be spectacular” (as a team member on the Belize mission trip).
Example

13. Six Levels of Understanding
Guided Practice
Let’s try writing questions for each of the six levels of understanding for Nouwen’s chapter on “The Temptation: To Be Spectacular.”

14. Six Levels of Understanding
Guided Practice
Before you begin, determine your vision for learning for that chapter. In other words, what is the enduring understanding you want your students to have when they walk away from this study?

15. Six Levels of Understanding
Guided Practice
Here’s my vision or enduring understanding for this study:
“Each type of ministry environment, whether it be individually or communally based, poses unique challenges. As a pastor, one must be acutely aware of his own fleshly nature and spiritually prepare for successful ministry regardless of the environment.”

16. Six Levels of Understanding
References
Acknowledgments go to the authors of “Bloom’s Taxonomy for Learning.” Bloom and other colleagues identified the knowledge and skills involved in the cognitive domain of learning. The six levels of understanding I explained are actually the major categories of the cognitive domain from Bloom.
(Bloom, 1956)