Taxonomy of Educational Objectives –
Benjamin S Bloom
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom. An American educational
psychologist had detailed his concept on instructional objectives all teaching
learning processes. Bloom (with
collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl)
published a title on categorizing educational goals - Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives. Taxonomy simple means classification of learning outcomes and
objectives
The
framework of instruction objectives explained by Bloom and his collaborators
consisted of six major categories in a cognitive domain: Knowledge,
Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
There are three major categories of instructional goals or
objectives – concept/ knowledge-based goals, skills-based goals, and affective
goals (affective: values, attitudes, and interests); Under these three major
categories there is categorization for each.
Domains (objective or goal dimensions)
As it is mentioned above, Bloom has categorised
instructional/educational objectives in to three major categories- conceptual/
knowledge objectives, skill objectives and affective objectives. Based on
these, he observed that the out come of the achievement of objectives may be in
three domains. Hence, he categorised the achievement level of objectives in
three domains, they ae cognitive domain, affective domain and psycho motor
domain. All the educational objectives are classified in to these three
domains.
The domains are not separate entities. They are sharing
variants at many contexts. These domains loosely described thus: cognitive for
knowing/head, affective for feeling/heart and psychomotor for doing/ hands.
Cognitive Domain
Bloom classified certain conceptual/knowledge objectives
under this domain. This domain includes those objectives which deal with the
development of intellectual and cognitive abilities- acquisition, processing
and mastery of knowledge. The objectives
in this domain are categorized to sis levels. The levels are:
1.
Knowledge
2.
Comprehension
3.
Application
4.
Analysis
5.
Synthesis
6.
Evaluation
Bloom in Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Handbook
One, pp. 201-207) explain the levels as follows;
Knowledge “involves the
recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and processes, or the
recall of a pattern, structure, or setting.”” Knowledge
of can be specifically recalling the years, places terminology, specific fact
and so on.
Comprehension “refers to a
type of understanding or apprehension such that the individual knows what is
being communicated and can make use of the material or idea being communicated
without necessarily relating it to other material or seeing its fullest
implications.” Comprehension involves representing an
understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, summarizing, translating,
generalizing, giving descriptions, and stating the main ideas.
Application refers to the
“use of abstractions in particular and concrete situations.” Application means applying or using acquired knowledge. It is
the ability for solving problems in different situations by applying acquired
knowledge, facts, techniques and rules. Learners should be able to use prior
knowledge to solve problems, identify connections and relationships and how
they apply in new situations.
Analysis represents the “breakdown of a communication into
its constituent elements or parts such that the relative hierarchy of ideas is
made clear and/or the relations between ideas expressed are made explicit.” Analysis means examining and breaking information into
component parts. It also involves determining how the parts relate to one
another, identifying motives or causes, making inferences, and finding evidence
to support generalizations. It can be analysis of elements, or relationships or
organizations
Synthesis involves the “putting together of elements and
parts so as to form a whole.” Synthesis
involves building a structure from diverse elements. It is a process of
building a pattern from the scattered elements. It also refers to the act of
putting parts together to form a whole. Its can be production of a unique
communication or of a plan, or proposed
set of operations or derivation of a set of abstract relations
Evaluation engenders “judgments about the value of material
and methods for given purposes. The specific outcome of the objectives in this
level are evaluating, adjudicating, assessing, estimating and judging. Evaluation involves presenting and defending opinions by
making judgments about information, ideas, or assessing quality of work based
on a set of criteria. It can be judging in terms of internal evidence, external
and evidences or judgments in terms of external criteria.
Visit this
website for further details https://teaching.uncc.edu/
Objectives
on other domains also taxonomized in to different levels. They are given under;
Affective
Domain (affective objectives)
Affective domain includes those objectives which are
concerned with desirable modifications in the emotional pattern related to
attitude, interest, appreciation, values and so on. Levels in this domain are;
1.
Receiving: Reveals willingness to participate in the activity
2.
Responding: Shows interest in the objects, phenomena, or activity by seeking it
out or pursuing it for pleasure
3.
Valuing: in this level individual adopts an
appreciation for the objectives, phenomena, or activity. In other words, individual
begins to value these things.
4.
Organizing: Begins to compare different values/ attitudes/behaviours, and
resolves conflicts between them to form an internally consistent system of
values
5.
Characterizing:
Adopts a long-term value system that is "universal, consistent, and
predictable." In other words, individual adopts desirable changes in
values or attitude to his behaviour/character.
In this domain the objectives are categorized to the
above said five levels.
Psycho motor Domain (skill-based
objectives)
This domain includes the development
of individual capacity in manipulating the motor skills. The objectives that
are set with desirable motor activities are coming under this head. There are
seven levels in this domain:
1. Perception: Uses sensory cues to guide action
2. Set: Reveals readiness to take action to perform the
task or objective
3. Guided response: Knows steps required to complete the
task or objective
4. Mechanism: Performs task or objective in a
somewhat confident, proficient, and habitual manner
5. Complex overt response: Performs task or objective in a
confident, proficient, and habitual manner
6. Adaptation: Performs task or objective as above, but can also modify actions
to account for new or problematic situations.
7. Origination: Creates new tasks or objectives
incorporating with the learned ones
Blooms described the instructional
objectives or educational goal in the above mentioned three objective areas or
domains. In formal classroom situation, we give importance to the cognitive
domain. A lesson should be planned accordingly to achieve these objectives by
the learner and learner has to perform with the proper learning out comes.
This is
a brief note only to have a preliminary understanding on Blooms Taxonomy.
