The Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor Domains
The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, better known as Bloom’s Taxonomy, is a classification system that governs how learning objectives are designed, implemented and assessed. First proposed in 1956, Benjamin Bloom began his scrutiny into educational objectives by exploring the cognitive domain (which will serve as the focus for this chapter). Later, with other colleagues including Lorin W. Krathwohl and S. R. Kibler, he considered the affective and psychomotor domains to round out his body of study. Bloom’s taxonomy differentiates six levels of teaching and learning: (1) knowledge, (2) comprehension, (3) application, (4) analysis, (5) synthesis, and (6) evaluation. This chapter offers a perspective for developing instruction purposely targeting the traditional learner.