Benjamin Bloom chaired the committee that developed Bloom’s taxonomy in 1956.
The framework was created by educators seeking a shared way to classify educational objectives and improve communication about curricula and examinations. The group’s work followed discussions among college examiners at the 1948 American Psychological Association convention and conferences held from 1949 to 1953.
Bloom edited the first volume, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, published in 1956. Its cognitive domain originally listed six levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
A common mix-up is crediting Bloom as the sole creator. He chaired the committee, but the taxonomy was a collaborative project involving educators including David Krathwohl and other contributors. The original framework also covered affective and psychomotor domains, not just academic recall. A revised cognitive taxonomy appeared in 2001, changing the labels to Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.