The phrase Maslow before Bloom refers to two 20th century American psychologists, Abraham Maslow and Benjamin Bloom. If you’re familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Bloom’s Taxonomy, feel free to breeze through this section but do consider refreshing your memory a bit.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) is known for his "Hierarchy of Needs" which frames five tiers of human needs. These tiers include Physiological, Safety, Belonging, Esteem, and finally Self-actualization. Maslow's final work was never published and includes one additional tier he referred to as the tier of Self-transcendence, but this tier is typically excluded because it is seen as an unfinished concept by Maslow.

Benjamin Bloom was another 20th century American psychologist (1913-1999) who is known for his Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, tiers of verbs that organize higher- and lower- levels of cognitive skills for learning. These verbs are organized into Cognitive tiers labeled knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. There is also another less popular Bloom taxonomy, Affective tiers, described later in this article.

Maslow

Maslow’s two lowest tiers physiological and safety needs involve our most basic needs such as food, water, shelter, as well as security to relax socially and financially. These levels extend to things like sleep, clean air, exercise, clothing, warmth, and other physical or bodily needs. For those families struggling to afford these basic necessities or without a space to relax without fear of physical or mental stress, children may find this tier keeping them from Bloom’ing at school. Families that struggle to meet these needs for their children each day often have little energy to address the higher tiers in positive ways.

The next two tiers have to do with belonging (love) and esteem needs. These two tiers are together because, as Maslow himself is quoted as saying, for some, “self-esteem seems to be more important than love” and is “the most common reversal in the hierarchy”; this occurs when individuals see that esteem is rewarded with belonging and so they approach esteem as a means-to-an-end rather than for self-esteem itself. For families that provide basic needs and securities for their children, these next two tiers are often the focus of their concerns at school and in the community. What is interesting is that struggling communities and families, too, focus on these tiers - but for a variety of different reasons. This is addressed in the next section.

The last tier is one that presumes all other tiers are positively being met, self-actualization. This tier is a tricky one because it addresses the fact that humans, upon finding themselves in a place of comfort and satisfaction, will find new discontent and restlessness for which they must then reach some degree of satisfaction. This constant search for personal and professional growth, dependent on all other tiers being met, is encompassed in Maslow’s words, “what a man can be, a man must be”. It’s this phrase that best describes the idea behind Maslow’s tier of self-actualization.

Bloom

As for Bloom’s Taxonomy, there’s a reason why the phrase Maslow before Bloom is so important. How a person develops through Maslow’s hierarchy directly impacts their capacity and attention toward learning, both academic and social-emotional learning. What Bloom’s taxonomy provides is more than a list of verbs used in a school. It identifies three categories of learning that rounds out all of human learning in any context: Knowledge (cognitive), Attitude (feelings), and Skills (psychomotor).

The cognitive stages of Bloom’s taxonomy are the most popular. The taxonomy has been revised since their original publishing in 1956, but I prefer the original version. What’s important is that a person must not be required to move specifically through each stage; more complex stages may require basic knowledge to be first learned. For example, the highest level of the original taxonomy is labeled evaluation, to explain or justify the value of ideas or materials. This is far different than the lowest level of the taxonomy labeled knowledge, to recite or list information.

The affective stages of Bloom’s taxonomy are much less popular. First is receiving phenomena, an awareness or willingness to hear new information. Next is responding to phenomena, a motivation to respond with understanding. Third is valuing, seen in the visible actions due to the belief in presented information. This is followed by organization, which involves prioritization and balancing of values. Lastly is internalizing values, exercising beliefs across different contextual situations. These stages are explained by Bloom et al to be codependent with the cognitive stages such that knowledge and complex thinking is as necessary as a person’s capacity for valuing and organizing their beliefs toward their own cognitive and affective development (Bloom, 33).

Adapted from Exploring The Core