Bloom’s Cognitive and Affective Taxonomies Cognitive and Affective Taxonomies

Three Types of Learning  Cognitive: mental skills or knowledge  Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas such as attitude  Psychomotor: manual or physical skills

Cognitive  Involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills.  Includes the recall or recognition of specific facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills.  The six major categories can be thought of as degrees of difficulty with a need for the first one to be mastered before mastery of the next one can occur.

Affective  Includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes.

Psychomotor  Includes physical movement, coordination, and use of the motor-skill areas.  Development of these skills requires practice and is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance, procedures, or technique in execution.

Six Levels of Cognitive  Knowledge: Remembering previously learned material.  Comprehension: The ability to grasp the meaning of material.  Application: The ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations.  Analysis: The ability to break down material into its component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood.  Synthesis: The ability to put parts together to form a new whole.  Evaluation: The ability to judge the value of material for a given purpose.

Five Levels of Affective  Receiving: Awareness, willingness to hear, selected attention.  Responding: Active participation, attends and reacts to phenomenon, has a willingness or satisfaction to respond.  Valuing: worth or value a person attaches to an object, phenomenon or behavior.  Organization: Organizes values into priorities by contrasting different values, resolving conflicts between them, and creating a unique value system. Emphasis is on comparing, relating, and synthesizing values.  Characterization of Values: Has a value system that controls their behavior. The behavior is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and most importantly, characteristic of the learner.

Receiving: Affective  Student has an attitude of interest, openness, curiosity, preparedness, attentiveness, and/or willingness to engage in a learning process.  Teacher provides an effective learning environment with a process that will engage the students interest, is interested in each student and gives each the respect they deserve by their presence.  Student is attentive and interested in the learning process and those involved.

Knowledge/Remembering: Cognitive  Students reads, listens, watches or observes, takes notes, and is able to recall information, ask and respond to questions. Practices self-help.  Teacher introduces, shows, presents information, and provides resources.  Student can define by stating who, what, where, why, and how.

Responding: Affective  Student is thinking about the info/skills being shared, and is realizing how it connects w/ other info/skills while interacting during the learning experience. Practices self-help.  Teacher provides opportunities to participate, encourages participation by using questions, active listening, clarification, and activities.  Student interacts w/ others, desiring to learn and to accomplish tasks. Begins to realize the connections between new learning and what is already known.

Comprehension/Understanding: Cognitive  Student understands the info or skill and can recognize it in other forms. Can explain it to others and make us of it.  Teacher observes, listens, questions, evaluates, guides, and responds to student.  Student can give personal or original examples related to new information.

Valuing: Affective  Students recognizes learning process and new info/skills, its ability to be used separately or w/ existing info/skills to accomplish desired results. Desires others to be involved in the learning process.  Teacher provides the process for student to make connections between existing and new info/skills. Provides application and interaction opportunities.  Student appreciates new info/skills and desires to use them and encourages others to use new info/skills.

Application/Problem Solving: Cognitive  Student can apply prior knowledge and understanding to new situations. Practices self-help.  Teacher observes, coaches, facilitates, and questions work being done.  Student can solve problems on own.

Organization by Values: Affective  Student understands what can be accomplished with info/skills, realizes the importance for self and others now, and for possible future use.  Teacher observes, probes, guides, asks critical questions, and acts in a manner to assist students and provide opportunities to use info/skills in a team environment.  Student works in a learning environment with the new info/skills with an understanding of the importance as compared to existing info/skills. Values how to best use the info/skills effectively.

Analysis/Logical Ordering: Cognitive  Student examines process, breaks down info into component parts and can explain individual parts, knows how and when to put the parts back together so that the organization of the whole becomes clearer. Practices self-help.  Teacher observes, probes, guides, asks critical questions, and acts as a guide.  Student can teach the knowledge or skill effectively to another person and act as a resource for others. Can compare/contrast the information or skill with other knowledge or skills.

Synthesis/Creating: Cognitive  Student uses all knowledge, understanding, and skills to develop new tools, plan effectively, and create alternatives. Practices self-help.  Teacher supports, guides, stimulates, and facilitates assessment.  Student combines, develops and creates.

Characterization by Values: Affective  Student realizes that the info/skills have become a part of self understanding, and a new way to view the world. Behavior has changed because of new info/skills.  Teacher supports, guides, stimulates, actively listens, discusses, challenges, and accepts.  Student acts responsibly toward team/class members, with behavior characterizing the values held in a consistent manner.

Evaluation: Cognitive  Student is open to and appreciative of the values of ideas, procedures, and methods and can make well-supported judgments, backed up by knowledge, understanding, and skills. Practices self-help.  Teacher listens, discusses, challenges, and accepts.  Student formulates and presents well-supported judgments, displays consideration of others, examines personal options, and can make wise choices.

Practice  Differentiate between the various types of testing/assessment that teachers give.  Write a sample question for each cognitive category.  Identify situations where the affective domains would be used.