Using Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy For Social Studies Courses
When writing an essential standard or a clarifying objective, remember to use only ONE (1) verb.
CATEGORY VERB (*These verbs,
listed below, should always be used
when writing an Essential Standard for
NC Social Studies courses.)
*Remember- Asks individuals to
retrieve relevant knowledge from
long-term memory.
*Understand-Asks individuals to
construct meaning from
instructional messages, including
oral, written and graphic
communication.
*Apply-Asks individuals to carry
out or use a procedure in a given
situation.
*Analyze-Asks individuals to break
material into its constituent parts
and determine how the parts relate
to one another and to an overall
structure or purpose. The analysis is
of the whole thing. Going from the
whole to the parts. How do the
pieces fit?
*Evaluate-Asks individuals to make
judgments based on criteria and
standards of the whole.
*Create-Asks individuals to put
elements together to form a coherent
or functional whole; reorganize
elements into new pattern or
structure. Something totally new
must be the end result. Creating a
college would not be what is meant
with using create in RBT.
THE COGNITIVE PROCESS (These should be used in the crafting of Clarifying Objectives. These
should not be used to write the Essential Standards when in the development of the NC Social Studies
standards.
 Examples are not all inclusive.
Recognize-the person is identifying information
 Example: Recognize the dates of important events in U.S. History.
 Example: Identify places on a map.
Recall-the person would be retrieving information
 Example: Recall the dates of important events in U.S. History.
Interpret- clarifying, paraphrasing, representing, and translating information
 Example: Paraphrase important speeches and documents.
Exemplify-Illustrating, providing examples of concepts or information
 Example: Give examples of a concept or principle.
 Example: Give examples of various types of civil court cases.
Classify-putting information in categories or subsets
 Example: Classify observed or described cases of mental disorders.
Summarize-generalizing or summarizing information obtained from a source
 Example: Writer a summary of the event portrayed on a videotape.
Infer-concluding, extrapolating, predicting outcomes based on information presented
 Example: Draw a logical conclusion from the information printed in the newspaper headline article
in the New York Times on December 8, 1941.
Compare-contrasting, mapping, matching two or more pieces of information, ideas, etc.
 Example: Compare historical events to contemporary situations.
Explain-constructing cause and effect models
 Example: Explain the causes of important 18th Century events in France.
Execute-carrying out procedures, methods of doing things or practices
 Example: Divide the percent change in quantity demanded by the percent change in price to find the
price elasticity of demand.
Implement-using procedures or methods to do something
 Example: Use “glittering generalities” in a given situation seeking to influence the opinions of the
masses.
Differentiate-discriminating, distinguishing or selecting relevant from irrelevant parts or important from
unimportant parts
 Example: Distinguish between the procedures of civil and criminal cases.
Organize-outlining, structuring, finding coherence in determining how parts/pieces fit or function as a whole
or within a structure
 Example: Outline the immediate causes of the Civil War.
 Example: Outline the process of a bill becoming a law.
Attribute-deconstructing, giving criteria to
 Example: Determine the author’s theme(s) about nature in The Last of the Mohicans.
Check-testing, coordinating, monitoring, detecting inconsistencies in processes, products or information
 Example: Determine if Upton Sinclair’s conclusion about the meat packing industry follow from
observable data.
Critique-judging, rating, assessing inconsistencies between criteria, situations, events, products
 Example: Judge which of the two Doctrines was most effective in achieving the desired outcomes
outlined by the U.S.
Generate-hypothesizing, coming up with theories or statements based on criteria
 Example: Generate alternative hypotheses for the failure to pass the Equal Rights amendment (ERA).
 Example: Generate alternative hypotheses for the national economic recession of 2009.
Plan-designing a procedure or something to get a task done
 Example: Plan a research paper on an approved historical topic.
 Example: Design a new alternative system of transportation between urban, suburban and rural
communities.
Produce-constructing or inventing a new product
  Example: Build a model of how you envision a green community 30 years into the future.
NCDPI-SS Doc 4/2010