Bethlehem secondary school

A note on learning domains

By: Yazachew Atalay

OCT,, 2023

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Introduction

Learning is an integral part of every individual’s life. It is very key to growth and
development and hence requires the need for both students and teachers to be
committed to the process. It is further necessary to ensure that the delivery of
learning combines generally different facets which have been identified to be the
domains of learning. With the continually increasing need to ensure that students
are taught with varying strategies and techniques, it is important for teachers to
adopt a teaching strategy that combines various domains of learning to enable
teaching and learning to be considered as effective.

Initially developed between 1956 and 1972, the domains of learning have received
considerable contributions from researchers and experts in the field of education.
Studies by Benjamin Bloom (on cognitive domain), David Krathwohl (affective
domain) and Anita Harrow (Psychomotor domain) have been encompassed into the
three domains of teach (Sousa, 2016).

A holistic lesson developed by a teacher requires the inclusion of all the three
domains in constructing learning tasks for students. The diversity in such learning
tasks help creates a comparatively well – rounded learning experience that meets a
number of learning styles and learning modalities.

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 DOMAINS OF LEARNING

A. The cognitive domain aims to develop the mental skills and the
acquisition of knowledge of the individual. The cognitive domain encompasses
of six categories which include knowledge; comprehension; application;
analysis; synthesis; and evaluation.
1. Knowledge- Knowledge is defined as the remembering of previously learned
material. This may involve the recall of a wide range of material, from specific
facts to complete theories, but all that is required is the bringing to mind of
the appropriate information.
Knowledge represents the lowest level of learning outcomes in the cognitive
domain.

2. Comprehension- is defined as the ability to grasp the meaning of material. This

may be shown by translating material from one form to another (words or
numbers), by interpreting material (explaining or summarizing, and by estimating
future trends (predicting consequences or effects). These learning outcomes go
one step beyond simple remembering of material, and represent the lowest level of
understanding.

3. Application- refers to the ability to use learned material in new and concrete
situations. This may include the application of such things as rules, methods,
concepts, principles, laws, and theories. Learning outcomes in this area require a
higher level of understanding than those of comprehension.

4. Analysis- Analysis refers to the ability to break down material into its
component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. This may
include the identification of the parts, analysis of the relationship between parts,
and recognition of the organizational principles involved. Learning outcomes here
present a higher intellectual level than comprehension and application because they
require an understanding of both the content and structural form of the material.

5. Synthesis- refers to the ability to put parts together to form a new whole. This
may involve the production of a unique communication (theme or speech), a plan of
operations (research proposal), or a set of abstract relations (scheme for

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classifying information). Learning outcomes in this area stress creative behaviors,
with major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns and structures.

6. Evaluation- is concerned with the ability to juge the value of material

(statement, novel, poem, research report) for a given purpose. The judgments are
to be based on definite criteria. These may be internal criteria (organization) or
external criteria (relevance and purpose) and the student may determine the
criteria or be given them. Learning outcomes in this area are highest in the
cognitive hierarchy because they contain elements of all of the other categories,
plus value judgments based on clearly defined criteria.

VERBS THAT MAY BE USED IN STATING COGNITIVE OUTCOMES FOR

DIFFERENT LEVELS OF REASONING

1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order,

recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state, record, identifies,
matches, names, outlines
2. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify,
indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate.
3. Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate,
interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
4. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast,
criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment,
question, test.
5. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design,
develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
6. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend
estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate. And
unconcerned, rather than apologetic.

B. The affective domain includes the feelings, emotions and attitudes of

the individual. The categories of affective domain include receiving
phenomena; responding to phenomena; valuing; organization; and
characterization (Anderson et al, 2011).
1. The sub domain of receiving phenomena creates the awareness of feelings
and emotions as well as the ability to utilize selected attention. This can
include listening attentively to lessons in class.

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2. The next sub domain of responding to phenomena involves active
participation of the learner in class or during group discussion (Cannon and
Feinstein, 2005).
3. Valuing involves the ability to see the worth of something and express it.
This includes the ability of a learner to share their views and ideas about
various issues raised in class.
4. Organization. This can be assessed with the need to value one’s academic
work as against their social relationships.
5. The sub domain of characterization explains the ability to internalize values
and let them control the behavior of the individual. In view of this, a student
considers the academic work highly important as it plays an important role in
deciding the career path chosen rather than what may be available.
C. The psychomotor domain includes utilizing motor skills and the ability
to coordinate them. The sub domains of psychomotor include perception; set;
guided response; mechanism; complex overt response; adaptation; and
origination.
1. Perception involves the ability to apply sensory information to motor
activity. For instance, a student practices a series of exercises in a text
book with the aim of scoring higher marks during exams.
2. Set, as a sub domain, involves the readiness to act upon a series of
challenges to overcome them.
3. Guided responses, it includes the ability to imitate a displayed behavior or
utilize a trial and error method to resolve a situation (Sousa, 2016).
4. The sub domain of mechanism includes the ability to convert learned
responses into habitual actions with proficiency and confidence. Students
are able to solve exams questions after they have confidently been able to
answer some past questions.
5. Complex Overt responses explain the ability to skillfully perform complex
patterns of actions. A typical instance has to do with the ability of a student
to have an increased typing speed when using a computer.
6. Adaptability is an integral part of the domain which exhibits the ability to
modify learned skills to meet special events. An instance is when a student
who has learnt various underlying theories is able to invent or make a
working model using everyday materials.
7. Origination also involves creating new movement patterns for a specific
situation (Sincero, 2011).

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REFERENCES

 Anderson, L.W., Krathwohl, D.R., Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E.,
Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J., Wittrock, M.C. (2001). Taxonomy for Learning,
Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon
 Cannon, H. M. and Feinstein, A. H (2005). Bloom Beyond Bloom: Using the
Revised Taxonomy to Develop Experiential Learning Strategies,
Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Vol. 32, 2005
 Sincero, S. M (April 18, 2011). Domains of Learning. Accessed
from https://explorable.com/domains-of-learning Date accessed 8th
October 2018.
 Sousa, D. A (2016). How the Brain Works. Crowin Press. 2016.

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