Blooms Taxonomy

In 1948 Benjamin Bloom spearheaded a group of educators whose intent was to develop a method of classification for thinking behaviours. This intention grew into a taxonomy of three domains: The Cognitive – mental skills or Knowledge based domain consisting of six levels; The Affective – growth in feelings or emotions, the Attitudinal based domain consisting of five levels; and The Psychomotor – manual or physical Skills based domain consisting of six levels. These domains are often referred to as KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Attitude). The different levels of learning associated with each domain are designed give a structure for educators to achieve higher levels of learning and mastery of subject matter. The levels form a hierarchy from a less complex behaviour to a more complex behaviour. Bloom wanted educators of focus on all three domains so that students would experienced a shift in knowledge, skills and attitude in every lesson, giving a more holistic approach to education. In 1956 Bloom completed his work on the Cognitive Domain which is now commonly referred to as Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain (Bloom et al., 1956). This was Bloom’s major work, others developed the different levels for the Affective and Psychomotor domains.

Click on this link below to see a detailed table of the three domains and levels of thinking behaviour.

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html