BLOOMS TAXONOMY

                                                                                              

                          

Dr.M.MARIA SAROJA

Research Director , IQAC Coordinator& 

Associate Professor for Biological Science  

St.Ignatius College of Education(Autonomous), 

Palayamkottai Tirunelveli-2

Introduction 

The Taxonomy Group

The idea for the classification of educational objectives first of all came up at an informal meeting of college examiners attending the 1948 American Psychological that Association convention in Boston U.S.A. The examiners at this meeting felt the same theoretical frame work which could be utilized to exchange ideas and material, among test workers shall facilitate communication among examiners.

The work done by the Taxonomy group started in 1949. The examiners agreed that educational objectives should be classified under the following three domains

1.  Cognitive

2.  Affective

3.  Psychomotor.

The taxonomy group consisting of Benjamin E. Bloom, Max Emgelhardt, Edward First, Walker Hill and David R. Krathwonl made a comprehensive attack on the problem of educational objectives. The group was of the view that the objective should be stated in behaviour form which can be observed and described. The group discussed the principles by which the taxonomy was developed. The group agreed, that taxonomy should have educational, logical and psychological basis.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Objectives

·         To facilitate communication among teachers, examiners and others educational workers.

·         To set up a comprehensive, systematic list of the types of behaviour at which educational procedures may aim.

·         To provide a source of hypotheses and questions for methods of developing curricula, teaching methods and testing techniques.

·         To arrange educational behaviours or objectives, from simple or complex.

·         In general, to lay bare many of the hitherto concealed assumptions underlying the statements of objectives that educators have developed in the past.

 

Domains

The educational objectives were divided into three major parts, the cognitive, the affective and the psycho-motor domains. They are described ahead in detail.

Cognitive Domain

It has been till now very well investigated and may include those objectives which deal with the recall and recognition of knowledge and development of intellectual abilities and skills.

1.   Knowledge Objective—The cognitive objectives are concerned with the development of recall and recognition activities of the pupils with the help of terms, facts, informations and theories. These creates essential conditions for recalling and recognising the conventions, laws, theories, criteria and categories by the pupils. From content’s viewpoint, following are the three levels in the knowledge category:

2.       Knowledge of Specifics—Knowledge of specific means recalling of specific terminology, facts and informations. The knowledge of specific is also divided into two—(a) Knowledge of terminology and (b) Knowledge of specific facts. The knowledge of terminology is the knowledge of verbal and non-verbal references. These have normal signs and these include defining specific terms, description of their qualities, relationships and their parts so that the general meaning of the various terms may be acquired. Contrary to this, the specific facts means the knowledge of events, dates, places and the persons. The knowledge of specific facts is concerned with the genera] knowledge of specific facts and their recalling.

3.       Knowledge of Ways and Means of Dealing with Specifics—In this, appropriate decisions are taken and the criticism is carried out by studying systematically the various ways and means of the knowledge. Bloom has divided the ways and means dealing with specifics into the following five categories:

1.       Knowledge of Conventions

2.       Knowledge of Trends and Sequences

3.      Knowledge of Criteria

4.       Knowledge of Methodology

5.       Knowledge of Classification and Categories

4.      Knowledge of Universals and Abstractions – It is concerned with laws and principles. Prof. Bloom has given two forms of knowledge of universals—(a) Knowledge of principles and generalization and (b) Knowledge of theories and structures.

2. Comprehension - It means understanding of new knowledge to the pupils. It includes knowledge. The pupils who have comprehension of the contents, i.e. the recalling and recognition abilities regarding certain contents have been developed, they can carry on the activities of translation, interpretation and extrapolation on the basis of comprehension objective. Thus, comprehension acclivities have three levels—(i) Translation, (ii) Interpretation and (iii) Extrapolation.

3.Application-Application objective has also three levels—(i) Generalisation of laws and principles, (ii) Diagnosis of pupils’ weaknesses and (iii) Use of contents or terms and laws by the pupils in their own statements.

4. Analysis - Analysis is possible only when the knowledge, comprehension and application objectives have been acquired. The analysis objective includes division of the contents into its elements and these are mutually related. Analysis objective has also three levels—(i) analysis of elements, (ii) analysis of relationships, and (iii) analysis of organised principles.

5. Synthesis - Synthesis is termed as the creative objective. The elements analysed in this step are assembled to give a complete picture and a new format is prepared. It develops the creative abilities of the pupils. Synthesis has also three levels—(i) Production of unique communication,(ii) Production of a plan or proposed set of operations after synthesizing the elements, (iii) Derivations of a set of abstract relations.

6.Evaluation - Highest level of the cognitive domain, Evaluation is a continuous process. After making critical decisions regarding the laws of contents, principles and facts it is explored by tests or other types of norms that

(i) Whether the determined teaching objectives have been achieved or not, if yes, to what extent?

 (ii) Whether the learning experiences created in the class-room proved effective or not amongst pupils? and

(iii)  How fairly the teaching objectives have been achieved?

Affective Domain

Affective objective is concerned with the interests, emotions, mental tendencies and values of the pupils. The development of affective domain is not easy because interests, emotions, mental tendencies and sentiments are individual conditions. First concerned with a particular person and then with other persons. It is not easy to understand their nature and determine elements. Since our interests, sentiments and mental tendencies are taken as the criteria for our personality, therefore these occupy important place in education. It’s the duty of the teacher to develop the affective domain of the pupils by affective objectives i.e. their interest, emotions, mental tendencies and sentiments. Bloom has divided affective objectives into the following categories in order to develop the affective domain of the pupils:

1.        Receiving

2.        Responding

3.        Valuing

4.        Conceptualization

5.        Organization

6.        Characterization of a value System.

1. Receiving - Receiving means pupil’s will to receive. It is directly concerned with the sensitivity of the pupils which occurs in the presence of some activity or stimulus. Receiving has the following three levels:

·         Awareness of the phenomena.

·         Willingness to receive phenomena.

·         Controlled or selected scheme.

2. Responding - In this, pupils actively receive new knowledge under the influence of motivation. Responding has three levels:

 

·         Acquiescence in responding

·         Willingness to respond

·         Satisfaction in response

3. Valuing - Valuing means those values in which the pupils have their belief and they give special importance to those in their life. It enables the pupils in showing the sentiments or stable feelings in their behaviour with the change in the circumstances. It has three levels:

·         Acceptance of a value

·         Preference for a value

·         Commitment

4. Conceptualization - As the conviction regarding those values starts forming in the pupils, such situations also arise where more than one value is appropriate. In such situation pupil thinks which value he should retain.

5. Organization - when such a situation changes before the pupils in which there is more than one value is appropriate, then they organise these received values in an order or sequence.

6. Characterization of a Value System - It is that level in which the consistency in the hierarchy of values of the pupil occurs. At this level, the teacher can characterise the knowledge of the value system of the pupils very easily. The characterisation of a value system has two levels:

·           Generalized set

·           Characterization

Psychomotor Domain

The psychomotor objectives are concerned with the training of the pupil’s physical activities and the development of the skill. Education is managed by psychomotor objectives so that the psychomotor domain of the pupils may get developed.

The main levels of psychomotor domain are - (i) Impulsive, (ii) Manipulation, (iii) Control, (iv) Coordination, (v) Naturalization and (vi) Habit formulation.

Like Prof. Bloom, E.J.Simpson has divided the objectives of psychomotor domain in the following five levels :

1.  Perception

2.  Set

3.  Guided Response

4.  Mechanism

5.  Complex Overt Response

1. Perception - It is the process which gets alerted on the basis of interest and motivation regarding the external objects by sense organs. It is a mental process which includes a chain of tasks and which can be termed as a real experience. Perception has following levels—(i) Descriptive, Condition of Transition Period and (iii) Interpretive Level.

2. Set - It means that initial adjustment which occurs for some specific activities and experiences. Set has three aspects - (i) Mental, Physical, and (iii) Emotional.

3. Guided Response - It is the initial stage of developing a practical skill. It is the external behaviour of a person under the guidance of another person. In the guided response, abilities with more complex skills are stressed.

4. Mechanism - It is that level at which self-confidence and skill for doing some task gets developed in the pupils. Hence, mechanism is that condition which helps the pupils for responding properly.

5. Complex Overt Response - It is the highest level of psychomotor domain. The pupil acquires so much efficiency and skill that can accomplish the most complex task with minimum energy and time.

 

Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and its Limitations

Objectives	Ability	Associated Verbs
1. Knowledge	Recall Recognize	Define, state, list, name, write, recall recognize label, underline, select, reproduce, measure
2. Comprehension	Sees relationship cites examples Discriminate Verify Generalize	Identify, justify, select, illustrate, formulate, explain, classify, judge, justify
3. Application	Give reason, Formulate Hypothesis, Establish relation, Give inference	Predict assess, choose, demonstrate, construct, show, compute
4. Analysis	Analyze	Identify, conclude, differentiate, separate, compare, contrast, break down, resolve, criticize
5. Synthesis	Synthesize	Combine, summarize, organize, derive, relate, conclude, generalize
6. Evaluation	Evaluate	Determine define, criticize, evaluate