What is the goal of Gift & Talented instruction? In one word:
thinking.
In 1956 the educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom proposed a taxonomy (def: a way of organizing) of learning. One section of his taxonomy describes cognitive (thinking) skills. He proposed that there are several distinct levels of thinking, with each level building upon the previous levels. Since then, other education specialists have modified and explained the original Bloom thinking levels, so when you search online you will find some differences. It should be noted that Bloom also described two other objectives of learning: Affective (emotions and empathy) and Psychomotor (physical).
In a nutshell, here are the Cognitive levels:
| Knowledge | knowing facts & figures; memorization | What is ...? |
| Comprehension | understanding the facts & figures; compare, describe | Describe ... Explain ... Summarize ... |
| Application | using knowledge and understanding to solve problems | Demonstrate ... Predict ... Solve ... |
| Analysis | examine for understanding, relationships, motives, causes, and to generalize | Characterize ... Debate ... Relate ... to ... |
| Synthesis | combine understanding from multiple area to create and solve | Devise ... |
| Evaluation | make judgements based on understanding and defend those decisions | Critique ... Evaluate ... Justify ... |