The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, often called Bloom's Taxonomy

[DrNSMani GMC Thrissur]

The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, often called Bloom's Taxonomy,
is a classification of the different objectives that educators set for
students (learning objectives). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by
Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of
Chicago. Bloom's Taxonomy divides educational objectives into three
"domains:" Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. Like other
taxonomies, Bloom's is hierarchical; meaning that learning at the
higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge
and skills at lower levels (Orlich, et al. 2004). A goal of Bloom's
Taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains,
creating a more holistic form of education.

Most references to the Bloom's Taxonomy only notice the Cognitive
domain. There is also a so far less referred, revised version of the
Taxonomy, published in 2001 under the name of "A Taxonomy for
Learning, Teaching, and Assessing."
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Affective
* 2 Psychomotor
* 3 Cognitive
* 4 See also
* 5 Notes
* 6 References

Affective

Skills in the affective domain describe the way people react
emotionally and their ability to feel another living thing's pain or
joy. Affective objectives typically target the awareness and growth in
attitudes, emotion, and feelings.

There are five levels in the affective domain moving through the
lowest order processes to the highest:

Receiving
The lowest level; the student passively pays attention. Without
this level no learning can occur.

Responding
The student actively participates in the learning process, not
only attends to a stimulus; the student also reacts in some way.

Valuing
The student attaches a value to an object, phenomenon, or piece of
information.

Organizing
The student can put together different values, information, and
ideas and accommodate them within his/her own schema; comparing,
relating and elaborating on what has been learned.

Characterizing
The student holds a particular value or belief that now exerts
influence on his/her behaviour so that it becomes a characteristic.

Psychomotor

Skills in the psychomotor domain describe the ability to physically
manipulate a tool or instrument like a hand or a hammer. Psychomotor
objectives usually focus on change and/or development in behavior and/
or skills.

Bloom and his colleagues never created subcategories for skills in the
psychomotor domain, but since then other educators have created their
own psychomotor taxonomies.[1]

Cognitive
Categories in the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy (Anderson &
Krathwohl, 2001)

Skills in the cognitive domain revolve around knowledge,
comprehension, and "thinking through" a particular topic. Traditional
education tends to emphasize the skills in this domain, particularly
the lower-order objectives.

There are six levels in the taxonomy, moving through the lowest order
processes to the highest:

Knowledge
Exhibit memory of previously-learned materials by recalling facts,
terms, basic concepts and answers

* Knowledge of specifics - terminology, specific facts
* Knowledge of ways and means of dealing with specifics -
conventions, trends and sequences, classifications and categories,
criteria, methodology
* Knowledge of the universals and abstractions in a field -
principles and generalizations, theories and structures

Questions like: What are the health benefits of eating apples?

Comprehension
Demonstrative understanding of facts and ideas by organizing,
comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating
main ideas

* Translation
* Interpretation
* Extrapolation

Questions like: Compare the health benefits of eating apples vs.
oranges.

Application
Using new knowledge. Solve problems to new situations by applying
acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way

Questions like: Which kinds of apples are best for baking a pie, and
why?

Analysis
Examine and break information into parts by identifying motives or
causes. Make inferences and find evidence to support generalizations

* Analysis of elements
* Analysis of relationships
* Analysis of organizational principles

Questions like: List four ways of serving foods made with apples and
explain which ones have the highest health benefits. Provide
references to support your statements.

Synthesis
Compile information together in a different way by combining
elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions

* Production of a unique communication
* Production of a plan, or proposed set of operations
* Derivation of a set of abstract relations

Questions like: Convert an "unhealthy" recipe for apple pie to a
"healthy" recipe by replacing your choice of ingredients. Explain the
health benefits of using the ingredients you chose vs. the original
ones.

Evaluation
Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information,
validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria

* Judgments in terms of internal evidence
* Judgments in terms of external criteria

Questions like: Do you feel that serving apple pie for an after school
snack for children is healthy? Why or why not?

Some critiques of Bloom's Taxonomy's (cognitive domain) admit the
existence of these six categories, but question the existence of a
sequential, hierarchical link.[2] Also the revised edition of Bloom's
taxonomy has moved Synthesis in higher order than Evaluation. Some
consider the three lowest levels as hierarchically ordered, but the
three higher levels as parallel. Others say that it is sometimes
better to move to Application before introducing concepts[citation
needed]. This thinking would seem to relate to the method of problem-
based learning.

See also

* Educational psychology
* Educational technology
* Higher order thinking skills
* Mastery learning
* Physical education
* David Krathwohl
* Fluid and crystallized intelligence

Notes

1. ^ Learning Domains or Bloom's Taxonomy - Donald R. Clark
2. ^ Paul, R. (1993). Critical thinking: What every person needs to
survive in a rapidly changing world (3rd ed.). Rohnert Park,
California: Sonoma State University Press.

References

* Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of
Educational Goals; pp. 201–207; B. S. Bloom (Ed.) Susan Fauer Company,
Inc. 1956.
* A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing — A Revision of
Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives; Lorin W. Anderson, David
R. Krathwohl, Peter W. Airasian, Kathleen A. Cruikshank, Richard E.
Mayer, Paul R. Pintrich, James Raths and Merlin C. Wittrock (Eds.)
Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2001

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Taxonomy_of_Educational_Objectives"
Categories: Educational technology | Educational psychology |
Classification systems