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8.2 Learning Activity Design 131

(1) Revised Taxonomy
Bloom’s taxonomy is a scheme for classifying educational goals, objectives, and
standards. It provides an organizational structure and a common meaning to
learning objectives classified in one of its categories.
Lorin W. Anderson and David R. Krathwohl revisited the cognitive domain in
the learning taxonomy to reflect a positive form of thinking and made some
changes, such as changing the names from noun to verb forms, and slightly rear-
ranging them (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). In contrast to the single dimension of
the original taxonomy, the revised framework is two-dimensional, cognitive process
and knowledge dimension.
The cognitive process dimension contains six categories from cognitively simple
to cognitively complex: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create.
The knowledge dimension contains four categories from concrete to abstract:
factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.
In the revised taxonomy, the cognitive process dimension has six levels that are
arranged in a hierarchical structure, but not as rigidly as in the original taxonomy
(Krathwohl, 2002). In combination, the knowledge and cognitive process dimen-
sions form a handy Table 8.1, the taxonomy table (see Table 8.1).
(2) Gagné’s taxonomy Gagné proposed five categories of learning objective:
verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills, and atti-
tudes. Gagné and Bloom represent learning objectives in different aspects, that
Bloom’s classification is more from the “form” of the learning objectives, and
Gagné’s classification is mainly from the “content” point of view, and he did not
subdivide affective and psychomotor domain. Gagne assumed that different types of
learning outcomes required different learning conditions (Gagné, 1987).

8.2.3 Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitive load theory is created for letting learners get information and learning
content efficient. It is an instructional theory based on the field’s knowledge of

Table 8.1 Comparison of the original taxonomy by the revised taxonomy for cognitive domain
and the taxonomy table (adapted from Spector, 2015)
Original Revised The knowledge dimension
taxonomy Taxonomy Factual Conceptual Procedural Metacognitive
Knowledge Remembering
Comprehension Understanding
Application Applying
Analysis Analyzing
Synthesis Evaluating
Knowledge Creating