THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Autumn 2002 Revising Bloom’s Taxonomy

Richard E. Mayer

Rote Versus Meaningful Learning1

EARNING INVOLVES THE ACQUISITION of knowl- retention requires that students remember what they L edge. This is a commonsense view of learn- have learned, whereas transfer requires students not ing that has implications for how to teach—such only to remember but also to make sense of and be as presenting information to learners in books and able to use what they have learned (Bransford, lectures—and how to assess—such as testing to Brown, & Cocking, 1999; Detterman & Sternberg, see how much of the presented material students 1993; Haskell, 2001; Mayer, 1995; McKeough, can remember (Mayer, 2001). The revised Taxon- Lupart, & Marini, 1995; Phye, 1997). Stated some- omy is based on a broader vision of learning that what differently, retention focuses on the past; includes not only acquiring knowledge but also be- transfer emphasizes the future. After reading a text- ing able to use knowledge in a variety of new situ- book lesson on Ohm’s Law, for example, a reten- ations. When taking a knowledge acquisition view tion test might include questions asking students of learning, teachers sometimes emphasize one kind to write the formula for Ohm’s Law. In contrast, a of cognitive processing in instruction and assess- transfer test might include questions asking stu- ment—what we call Remembering. Like the origi- dents to rearrange an electrical circuit to maximize nal Taxonomy, however, the revised Taxonomy is the rate of electron flow or to use Ohm’s Law to based on the idea that schooling can be expanded explain a complex electric circuit. to include a fuller range of cognitive processes. Although educational objectives for promot- The purpose of this article is to describe this fuller ing retention are fairly easy to construct, educators range of processes in more detail. may have more difficulty in formulating, teaching, Two of the most important educational goals and assessing objectives aimed at promoting trans- are to promote retention and to promote transfer fer (Baxter, Elder, & Glaser, 1996; Mayer, 2002; (which, when it occurs, indicates meaningful learn- Phye, 1997). The revised Taxonomy is intended to ing). Retention is the ability to remember material help broaden the typical set of educational objec- at some later time in much the same way it was tives to include those aimed at promoting transfer. presented during instruction. Transfer is the abili- ty to use what was learned to solve new problems, A Tale of Three Learning Outcomes answer new questions, or facilitate learning new As an introduction, consider three learning subject matter (Mayer & Wittrock, 1996). In short, scenarios. The first exemplifies what might be Richard E. Mayer is a professor of psychology and edu- called no learning, the second, rote learning, and cation at the University of California, Santa Barbara. the third, meaningful learning.

THEORY INTO PRACTICE, Volume 41, Number 4, Autumn 2002 Copyright226 © 2002 College of Education, The Ohio State University Mayer Rote Versus Meaningful Learning

No learning possesses relevant knowledge, she also can use that Amy reads a chapter on electrical circuits in knowledge to solve problems and understand new her science textbook. She skims the material, certain concepts. She can transfer her knowledge to new that the test will be a breeze. When she is asked to problems and new learning situations. Carla has recall part of the lesson (as a retention test), she is attended to relevant information and has under- able to remember very few of the key terms and stood it. The resulting learning outcome can be facts. For example, she cannot list the major compo- called meaningful learning. nents in an electrical circuit even though they were Meaningful learning occurs when students described in the chapter. When she is asked to use build the knowledge and cognitive processes needed the information to solve problems (as part of a trans- for successful problem solving. Problem solving in- fer test), she cannot. For example, she cannot an- volves devising a way of achieving a goal that one swer an essay question that asks her to diagnose a has never previously achieved; that is, figuring out problem in an electrical circuit. In this worst-case how to change a situation from its given state into scenario, Amy neither possesses nor is able to use a goal state (Mayer, 1992). Two major components the relevant knowledge. Amy has neither sufficient- in problem solving are (a) problem representation, ly attended to nor encoded the material during in which a student builds a mental representation learning. The resulting outcome can be essentially of the problem, and (b) problem solution, in which characterized as no learning. a student devises and carries out a plan for solving the problem (Mayer, 1992). Rote learning A focus on meaningful learning is consistent Becky reads the same chapter on electrical with the view of learning as knowledge construc- circuits. She reads carefully, making sure she reads tion in which students seek to make sense of their every word. She goes over the material, memoriz- experiences. In constructivist learning, students ing the key facts. When she is asked to recall the engage in active cognitive processing, such as pay- material, she can remember almost all of the im- ing attention to relevant incoming information, portant terms and facts in the lesson. Unlike Amy, mentally organizing incoming information into a she is able to list the major components in an elec- coherent representation, and mentally integrating trical circuit. However, when Becky is asked to incoming information with existing knowledge use the information to solve problems, she cannot. (Mayer, 1999). In contrast, a focus on rote learn- Like Amy, she cannot answer the essay question ing is consistent with the view of learning as knowl- requiring her to diagnose a problem in an electri- edge acquisition in which students seek to add new cal circuit. In this scenario, Becky possesses rele- information to their memories (Mayer, 1999). vant knowledge but is unable to use that knowledge Meaningful learning is recognized as an im- to solve problems. She cannot transfer this knowl- portant educational goal. It requires that instruction edge to a new situation. Becky has attended to go beyond simple presentation of Factual Knowl- relevant information but has not understood it and, edge and that assessment tasks require more of stu- therefore, cannot use it. The resulting learning out- dents than simply recalling or recognizing Factual come can be called rote learning. Knowledge (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999; Lambert & McCombs, 1998). The cognitive process- Meaningful learning es summarized here describe the range of students’ Carla reads the same textbook chapter on cognitive activities in meaningful learning; that is, electrical circuits. She reads carefully, trying to these processes are ways students can actively en- make sense out of it. When asked to recall the gage in the process of constructing meaning. material, she, like Midori, can remember almost all of the important terms and facts in the lesson. Cognitive Processes for Furthermore, when she is asked to use the infor- Retention and Transfer mation to solve problems, she generates many pos- If you are interested mainly in teaching and sible solutions. In this scenario, Carla not only assessing the degree to which students have learned

227 THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Autumn 2002 Revising Bloom’s Taxonomy some subject matter content and retained it over some Recognizing (also called identifying) involves period of time, you would focus primarily on one locating knowledge in long-term memory that is class of cognitive processes, namely, those associat- consistent with presented material. For example, in ed with Remember. In contrast, if you wish to ex- social studies, an objective could be “Identify the pand your focus by finding ways to foster and assess major exports of various South American countries.” meaningful learning, you need to emphasize those A corresponding test item would be “Which of cognitive processes that go beyond remembering. these is a major export of Colombia? (a) bananas, What are some of the cognitive processes used (b) coffee, (c) silk, (d) tea.” for retention and transfer? As discussed above, the Recalling (also called retrieving) involves re- revised Taxonomy includes six cognitive process cat- trieving relevant knowledge from long-term mem- egories—one most closely related to retention (Re- ory. In literature, an objective could be “Recall the member) and the other five increasingly related to poets who authored various poems.” A correspond- transfer (Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and ing test question would be “Who wrote The Charge Create). Based on a review of the illustrative ob- of the Light Brigade?” jectives listed in the original Taxonomy and an examination of other classification systems, we Understand have selected 19 specific cognitive processes that As you can see from the previous section, fit within these six categories. These 19 cognitive when the goal of instruction is to promote reten- processes are intended to be mutually exclusive; tion, the most important cognitive process is Re- together they delineate the breadth and boundaries member. However, when the goal of instruction is of the six categories. In the discussion that fol- to promote transfer, the focus shifts to the other lows, each of the six categories, as well as the five cognitive process categories, Understand cognitive processes that fit within them, are de- through Create. Of these, arguably the largest cat- fined and exemplified. egory of transfer-based educational objectives em- phasized in schools and colleges is Understand. Remember Students are said to understand when they are able When the objective of instruction is to pro- to construct meaning from instructional messages— mote retention of the presented material in much including oral, written, and graphic communica- the same form in which it was taught, the relevant tions, and material presented during lectures, in books, process category is Remember. Remembering in- or on computer monitors. Examples of potential in- volves retrieving relevant knowledge from long- structional messages are an in-class physics dem- term memory. Remembering knowledge is essential onstration, a geological formation viewed on a field for meaningful learning and problem solving when trip, a computer simulation of a trip through an art that knowledge is used in more complex tasks. For museum, or a musical work played by an orches- example, knowledge of the correct spelling of com- tra, as well as numerous verbal, pictorial, and sym- mon English words appropriate to a given grade lev- bolic representations on paper. el is necessary if a student is to master writing an Students understand when they build connec- essay. When teachers concentrate solely on rote learn- tions between the new knowledge to be gained and ing, teaching and assessing focus solely on remem- their prior knowledge. More specifically, the in- bering elements or fragments of knowledge, often in coming knowledge is integrated with existing sche- isolation from any context. When teachers focus on mas and cognitive frameworks. Cognitive processes meaningful learning, however, remembering knowl- in the category of Understand include interpreting, edge is integrated within the larger task of con- exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, structing new knowledge or solving new problems. comparing, and explaining. In other words, when meaningful learning is the Interpreting (also called clarifying, para- goal, then remembering becomes a means to an phrasing, representing, or translating) occurs when end, rather than the end itself. The two associated a student is able to convert information from one cognitive processes are recognizing and recalling. form of representation to another. In mathematics,

228 Mayer Rote Versus Meaningful Learning for example, a sample objective could be “Learn Comparing (also called contrasting, mapping, to translate number sentences expressed in words or matching) involves detecting similarities and into algebraic equations expressed in symbols.” A differences between two or more objects, events, corresponding assessment item involves asking stu- ideas, problems, or situations. In the field of social dents to write an equation (using B for the number studies, for example, an objective may be “Under- of boys and G for the number of girls) that corre- stand historical events by comparing them to fa- sponds to the statement, “There are twice as many miliar situations.” A corresponding assessment boys as girls in this class.” question is “How is the American Revolution like Exemplifying (also called illustrating or in- a family fight or an argument between friends?” stantiating) occurs when a student finds a specific Explaining (also called constructing models) example or instance of a general concept or princi- occurs when a student mentally constructs and uses ple. In art history, an objective might be “Learn to a cause-and-effect model of a system or series. In identify various artistic painting styles.” A corre- natural science, an objective could be “Explain sponding assessment involves asking students to observed phenomena in terms of basic physics find a new example of the impressionist style (with laws.” Corresponding assessments involve asking new meaning an example not included in the text- students who have studied Ohm’s Law to explain book or used in class). what happens to the rate of the current when a Classifying (also called categorizing or sub- second battery is added to a circuit, or asking stu- suming) occurs when a student determines that dents who have viewed a video on lightning storms something (e.g., a particular instance or example) to explain how differences in temperature are in- belongs to a certain category (e.g., concept or prin- volved in the formation of lightning. ciple). In social studies, an objective may be “Learn to classify observed or described cases of mental Apply disorders.” A corresponding assessment item is to Apply involves using procedures to perform ask students to observe a video of the behavior of exercises or solve problems and is closely linked a mental patient and then indicate the mental dis- with Procedural Knowledge. The Apply category order that is being displayed. consists of two cognitive processes: executing— Summarizing (also called abstracting or gen- when the task is an exercise (i.e., familiar to the eralizing) occurs when a student produces a short learner), and implementing—when the task is a statement that represents presented information or problem (i.e., unfamiliar to the learner). abstracts a general theme. The length of the summa- Executing (also called carrying out) occurs ry depends to a certain extent on the length of the when a student applies a procedure to a familiar presented material. For example, a sample objective task. For example, a sample objective in elementa- in history could be “Learn to write summaries of ry level mathematics could be “Learn to divide events portrayed pictorially.” A corresponding as- one whole number by another, both with multiple sessment item involves asking students to watch a digits.” To assess the objective, a student may be videotape about the French Revolution and then given a worksheet containing 15 whole number write a cohesive summary. division exercises (e.g., 784/15) and asked to find Inferring (also called concluding, extrapolat- their quotients. ing, interpolating, or predicting) involves drawing a Implementing (also called using) occurs when logical conclusion from presented information. For a student applies one or more procedures to an example, in learning Spanish as a second language, a unfamiliar task. In natural science, a sample ob- sample objective could be “Students will be able to jective might be “Learn to use the most effective, infer grammatical principles from examples.” To as- efficient, and affordable method of conducting a sess this objective a student may be given the article- research study to address a specific research ques- noun pairs, “la casa, el muchacho, la senorita, el pero,” tion.” A corresponding assessment is to give students and asked to formulate a principle for when to use a research question and have them propose a research the article la and when to use the article el. study that meets specified criteria of effectiveness,

229 THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Autumn 2002 Revising Bloom’s Taxonomy efficiency, and affordability. Notice that in this Organizing (also called finding coherence, in- assessment task, students must not only apply a tegrating, outlining, parsing, or structuring) involves procedure (i.e., engage in implementing) but also determining how elements fit or function within a rely on conceptual understanding of the problem and structure. An objective in social studies could be procedure. Thus, unlike executing, which relies al- “Learn to structure a historical description into evi- most exclusively on cognitive processes associated dence for and against a particular explanation.” In a with Apply, implementing involves cognitive processes corresponding assessment students could be asked to associated with both Understand and Apply. prepare an outline showing which facts in a passage on American history support and which facts do not Analyze support the conclusion that the American Civil War Analyze involves breaking material into its was caused by differences in the rural and urban com- constituent parts and determining how the parts position of the North and the South. are related to each other and to an overall struc- Attributing (also called deconstructing) occurs ture. This category includes the cognitive process- when a student is able to determine the point of view, es of differentiating, organizing, and attributing. biases, values, or intent underlying presented materi- Therefore, objectives classified as Analyze include al. For example, in social studies, a sample objective learning to determine the relevant or important could be “Learn to determine the point of view of the pieces of a message (differentiating), the ways in author of an essay on a controversial topic in terms which the pieces of a message are configured (or- of his or her theoretical perspective.” A correspond- ganizing), and the underlying purpose of the mes- ing assessment task could ask students whether a re- sage (attributing). Although learning to Analyze port on Amazon rain forests was written from a may be viewed as an end in itself, it is probably pro-environment or pro-business point of view. A more defensible educationally to consider analysis corresponding assessment in the natural sciences as an extension of Understanding or as a prelude could be to ask a student to determine whether a to Evaluating or Creating. behaviorist or a cognitive psychologist wrote an Improving students’ skills in analyzing educa- essay about human learning. tional communications can be found as a goal in many fields of study. Teachers of science, social studies, Evaluate the humanities, and the arts frequently express “learn- Evaluate is defined as making judgments based ing to analyze” as one of their important objectives. on criteria and standards. The criteria most often used They may, for example, wish to develop in their stu- are quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and consisten- dents the ability to (a) connect conclusions with sup- cy. They may be determined by the student or given porting statements; (b) distinguish relevant from to the student by others. The standards may be either extraneous material; (c) determine how ideas are con- quantitative (i.e., is this a sufficient amount?) or qual- nected to one another; (d) ascertain the unstated as- itative (i.e., is this good enough?). This category in- sumptions involved in what is said; (e) distinguish cludes the cognitive processes of checking (which dominant from subordinate ideas or themes in poetry refers to judgments about internal consistency) and or music; and (f) find evidence in support of an au- critiquing (which refers to judgments based on exter- thor’s purposes for writing an essay. nal criteria). Differentiating (also called discriminating, Checking (also called coordinating, detect- selecting, distinguishing, or focusing) occurs when a ing, monitoring, or testing) occurs when a student student discriminates relevant from irrelevant parts detects inconsistencies or fallacies within a process or important from unimportant parts of presented or product, determines whether a process or product material. In mathematics, an objective could be “Dis- has internal consistency, or detects the effectiveness tinguish between relevant and irrelevant numbers in of a procedure as it is being implemented. When a word problem.” An assessment item could require combined with planning (a cognitive process in the that students circle the relevant numbers and cross category, Create) and implementing (a cognitive out the irrelevant numbers in a word problem. process in the category, Apply), checking involves

230 Mayer Rote Versus Meaningful Learning determining how well the plan is working. A sam- is followed by a convergent phase, in which a so- ple objective in social science could be “Learn to lution method is devised and turned into a plan of detect inconsistencies within persuasive messag- action (planning). Finally, the plan is executed as es.” A corresponding assessment task could involve the solution is constructed (producing). Not sur- asking students to listen to a television advertise- prisingly, then, Create can be broken down into ment for a political candidate and point out any three cognitive processes: generating, planning, and logical flaws in the persuasive message. A sample producing. objective in science could be “Learn to determine Generating (also called hypothesizing) in- whether a scientist’s conclusion follows from the volves inventing alternative hypotheses based on observed data.” An assessment task could involve criteria. When generating transcends the bound- asking students to read a report of a chemistry ex- aries or constraints of prior knowledge and exist- periment in order to determine whether the con- ing theories, it involves divergent thinking and clusion follows from the results of the experiment. forms the core of what can be called creative think- Critiquing (also called judging) occurs when a ing. In generating, a student is given a description student detects inconsistencies between a product or of a problem and must produce alternative solu- operation and some external criteria, determines tions. For example, in social science, an objective whether a product has external consistency, or judg- could be “Learn to generate multiple potentially es the appropriateness of a procedure for a given useful solutions for social problems.” A correspond- problem. Critiquing lies at the core of what has been ing assessment item could ask students to suggest called critical thinking. In critiquing, students judge as many ways as possible to assure that everyone the merits of a product or operation based on speci- has adequate medical insurance. An objective from fied or student-determined criteria and standards. In the field of mathematics could be “Generate alter- social science, an objective could be “Learn to eval- native methods for achieving a particular end re- uate a proposed solution (e.g., eliminate all grading) sult.” A corresponding assessment could be to ask to a social problem (e.g., how to improve K-12 edu- students to list alternative methods they could use cation) in terms of its likely effectiveness.” to find which whole numbers yield 60 when multi- plied together. For each of these assessments, ex- Create plicit scoring criteria are needed. Create involves putting elements together to Planning (also called designing) involves de- form a coherent or functional whole; that is, reor- vising a method for accomplishing some task. How- ganizing elements into a new pattern or structure. ever, planning stops short of carrying out the steps Objectives classified as Create involve having stu- to create the actual solution for a given problem. dents produce an original product. Composition (in- In planning, a student may establish subgoals (i.e., cluding writing), for example, often, but not always, break a task into subtasks to be performed when involves cognitive processes associated with Cre- solving the problem). Teachers often skip stating ate. It can, in fact, be simply the application of planning objectives, instead stating their objectives procedural knowledge (e.g., “Write this essay in in terms of producing, the final stage of the creative this way”). The creative process can be broken into process. When this happens, planning is either as- three phases: (a) problem representation, in which sumed or is implicit in the producing objective. In a student attempts to understand the task and gen- this case, planning is likely to be carried out by erate possible solutions; (b) solution planning, in the student covertly, in the course of constructing which a student examines the possibilities and de- a product (i.e., producing). In planning, a student vises a workable plan; and (c) solution execution, develops a solution method when given a problem in which a student successfully carries out the plan. statement. In mathematics, an objective could be Thus, the creative process can be thought of as “List the steps needed to solve geometry problems.” starting with a divergent phase in which a variety An assessment task may ask students to devise a of possible solutions are considered as the student plan for determining the volume of the frustum of attempts to understand the task (generating). This a pyramid (a task not previously considered in

231 THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Autumn 2002 Revising Bloom’s Taxonomy class). The plan may involve computing the volume Note of a large pyramid, then computing the volume of a 1. This article is based on Chapter 5, The Cognitive small pyramid, and, finally, subtracting the smaller Process Dimension in A Taxonomy for Learning, from the larger. Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Anderson, Producing (also called constructing) involves Krathwohl, et al., 2001) and is reproduced by per- inventing a product. In producing, a student is given mission of the publisher. I am pleased to acknowl- a functional description of a goal and must create a edge that the following authors contributed to this product that satisfies the description. In science, for article: Lorin W. Anderson, David R. Krathwohl, example, an objective might be “Learn to design hab- Paul Printrich, and Merlin Wittrock. I also grateful- ly acknowledge the assistance of the entire team of itats for certain species and certain purposes.” A cor- Taxonomy authors. responding assessment task may ask students to design the living quarters of a space station. References Baxter, G.P., Elder, A.D., & Glaser, R. (1996). Knowl- Conclusion edge-based cognition and performance assessment The primary goal of this article has been to in the science classroom. Educational Psycholo- examine how teaching and assessing can be broad- gist, 31, 133-140. Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R. (1999). ened beyond an exclusive focus on the cognitive How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and process of Remember. The revised Taxonomy con- school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. tains descriptions of 19 specific cognitive process- Detterman, D.K., & Sternberg, R.J. (Eds.). (1993). es associated with six process categories. Two of Transfer on trial: Intelligence, cognition, and in- these cognitive processes are associated with Re- struction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. member; 17 are associated with the five more com- Haskell, R.E. (2001). Transfer of learning. San Diego: Academic Press. plex cognitive process categories: Understand, Lambert, N.M., & McCombs, B.L. (Eds.). (1998). How Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create. students learn. Washington, DC: American Psy- Our analysis has implications for teaching and chological Association. assessing. On the teaching side, two of the cognitive Mayer, R.E. (1992). Thinking, problem solving, cogni- processes help to promote retention of learning, tion (2nd ed.). New York: Freeman. Mayer, R.E. (1995). Teaching and testing for problem whereas 17 of them help foster transfer of learning. solving. In L.W. Anderson (Ed.), International Thus, when the goal of instruction is to promote trans- encyclopedia of teaching and teacher education fer, objectives should include the cognitive processes (2nd ed., pp. 4728-4731). Oxford, UK: Pergamon. associated with Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evalu- Mayer, R.E. (1999). The promise of educational psy- ate, and Create. The descriptions in this chapter are chology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Mayer, R.E. (2001). Changing conceptions of learn- intended to help educators generate a more complete ing: A century of progress in the scientific study range of educational objectives that are likely to re- of learning. In L. Corno (Ed.), Education across sult in both retention and transfer. the century: The centennial volume—One hun- On the assessment side, our analysis of cog- dredth yearbook of the National Society for the nitive processes is intended to help educators (in- Study of Education (pp. 34-75). Chicago: National cluding test designers) broaden the way they assess Society for the Study of Education. Mayer, R.E. (2002). Teaching for meaningful learn- learning. When the goal of instruction is to pro- ing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. mote transfer, assessment tasks should involve cog- Mayer, R.E., & Wittrock, M.C. (1996). Problem-solv- nitive processes that go beyond recognizing and ing transfer. In D.C. Berliner & R.C. Calfee (Eds.), recalling. Although assessment tasks that use these Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 47-62). two cognitive processes have a place in assess- New York: Macmillan. McKeough, A., Lupart, J., & Martini, A. (Eds.). (1995). ment, these tasks can, and often should, be sup- Teaching for transfer. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. plemented with those that utilize the full range of Phye, G.D. (Ed.). (1997). Handbook of classroom as- cognitive processes required for transfer of learning. sessment. San Diego: Academic Press.

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