When writing course objectives, educators need to be aware of the level at which students are asked to demonstrate or perform mastery of course concepts.

Objectives for an introductory course may be appropriately concentrated in the lower levels (i.e., remembering, understanding, applying), while objectives for an advanced course will usually be concentrated in the upper levels (i.e., analyzing, evaluating, creating).

Keep the end result in mind: What will students need to be able to do, and how will they be assessed? That will help narrow down the options for creating a strong learning objective.

For example, if students need to be able to solve mathematical problems,under which level would that fall ?

The unit/module-level objectives should be consistent with the course-level objectives. If the course level objectives are at a high level of Bloom's taxonomy, it might be perfectly appropriate (even necessary) to begin with lower-level objectives at the module-level in the first few weeks of the course and then move to the higher levels as the course develops. You'll have the opportunity to match the learning objective to the Bloom Level on the next page.

Consider the Cognitive and Knowledge Dimensions

Among other modifications, Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revision of the original Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956) redefined the cognitive domain as the intersection of the “Cognitive Process Dimension” and the “Knowledge Dimension.”

One of the dimensions, “The Knowledge Dimension,” identifies the kind of knowledge to be learned, while the second, “The Cognitive Process Dimension” identifies the process used to learn. As represented on the grid from the link above, the intersection of the Knowledge and Cognitive Process Dimensions form 24 separate cells.

The Knowledge Dimension is composed of four levels that are defined as:

Factual: The basic elements students must know to be acquainted with a discipline or solve problems in it.
Conceptual: The interrelationships among the basic elements within a large structure that enable them to function together.
Procedural: How to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for using skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods.
Meta-Cognitive: Knowledge of cognition in general as well as awareness and knowledge of one’s own cognition.

The Cognitive Process Dimension across the top of the grid consists of six levels that are defined as: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating.

Utilizing these two dimensions, Bloom's taxonomy is a very useful tool for curriculum planning, instructional delivery, and assessment.