What should my learners be able to do, and to what depth?

Bloom's taxonomy of learning objectives helps you to formulate learning objectives in a clear, structured and practical way according to the depth of knowledge required. This is very helpful in education and training in order to move from pure ‘knowledge’ to independent action in the workshop. 🔧⚙️

It is named after the American psychologist and educationalist Benjamin Bloom, who developed it together with others in 1956.

The taxonomy divides learning objectives into six levels – from simple memory recall to complex problem solving.

👉 Important: The higher the level, the more demanding the learning performance of the learners.

1️⃣ Recall facts & terms

Learners can reproduce facts.

🔹 Typical verbs: name, list, describe

🔹 Example: ‘The learner can list the personal protective equipment required for drilling.’ 🦺

2️⃣ Explain connections

Knowledge is understood and reproduced in the learner's own words.

🔹 Typical verbs: explain, elaborate, summarise

🔹 Example: ‘The trainee can explain why cooling is used during drilling.’ ❄️

3️⃣ Apply in practice

Now it's time to get hands-on 🔨

🔹 Typical verbs: carry out, apply, adjust

🔹 Example: ‘The apprentice can correctly adjust and operate a drill press.’ 🔩

4️⃣ Analysing problems

Learners reflect on their actions.

🔹 Typical verbs: analyse, compare, distinguish

🔹 Example: ‘The apprentice can analyse the causes of an unclean drill hole.’ 🧐

5️⃣ Justify decisions

This is about professional assessment and responsibility.

🔹 Typical verbs: assess, evaluate, justify

🔹 Example: ‘The apprentice can justify their choice of the appropriate drill bit for different materials.’ ⚙️

6️⃣ Develop your own solutions

The highest level 🚀

🔹 Typical verbs: plan, develop, construct

🔹 Example: ‘The trainee can independently create a complete work plan for a complicated metal workpiece.’ 📋

✅ Learning levels and goals become clear and verifiable

✅ You can make tasks more challenging in a targeted manner

✅ Theory and practice are neatly linked

✅ Ideal if you want to use the AI features of MLS to generate questions/forms.

🔁 Combine several levels!

Good instruction often starts with remembering facts and terms and ends with developing your own solutions.

📌 Example instruction ‘Drilling’:

This way, your trainees not only learn what, but also why and how 👍 This is also reflected in the complete action model, which you can ideally map with MLS.