Domains of learning refers to the three separate, yet interdependent components of learning

outcomes achievable by human learners. According to Bloom's Taxonomy, established in

1956, there are three learning domains. Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor, also referred
to as Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. When students are presented with new content,
educators should focus on learning taking place in all three of these domains. In order to test
knowledge retention, teachers should create assessments that measure learning in every area.
These domains--cognitive, affective, and psychomotor-represent various categories and levels
of learning complexity and are commonly referred to as educational taxonomies. The
cognitive domain refers to knowledge attainment and mental/intellectual processes. The
affective domain characterizes the emotional arena reflected by learners' beliefs, values and
interests. The psychomotor domain reflects learning behavior achieved through
neuromuscular motor activities. Educators use the domains to assist in determination of
learning objectives essential to planning, implementing and evaluating teaching-learning
processes and outcomes of human learners across the life span. This academic writing will
explain the importance of the three domains of learning to teachers of science, to give
examples of objective at a given level of complexity under each domain and discuss how
each of the objectives can be assessed. There after a conclusion will be drawn.

Domains of learning were developed by Benjamin Bloom, et al, in 1956 1. His research
described the major areas of learning and thinking and classified them into three large groups
called the domains of learning: Cognitive (thinking), Affective (feeling) and Psychomotor
(doing). The domains of learning are used in instructional design to write goals and
objectives for a curriculum. They are Commonly used in EMS educational products and they
serve as a means for instructors to decide about depth and breadth issues when developing
lesson plans. Domains of learning also serve as a means for instructors to develop test
questions. It is for these reasons that the domains of learning are of importance to a teacher of
science. Each domain of learning has its own levels of sophistication, each level is more
advanced than the preceding level. According to Bohlin (1998), teachers plan instruction that
focuses on the affective domain usually in the categories of motivation, attitudes, anxiety, and
values. Teacher immediacy in face-to-face classrooms has been shown across a number of
studies to be positively correlated with affective learning (Kelly & Gorham, 1988). Freitas et
al. (1998) further reported that teacher use of nonverbal and verbal immediacy behaviors
were strongly correlated with student affective learning and, through it, with students'
perceived cognitive learning. When a teacher has understood the attitudes, anxiety and

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emotions of the learner, the affective domain helps them to provide motivation to the learner
and to choose suitable modes of instruction. The affective domain also helps the teacher to
understand and realize the needs of learners, thereby providing the appropriate content to
teach. Addressing the frustrations experienced by online learners, instructors, and their
institutions, LaRose and Whitten (2000) noted the importance of connection in the learning
environment by arguing that many Web courses fail to address the leading concern of
learners’ lack of interaction with the instructor and fellow students. They further argue that
learner motivation may suffer in Web courses because of a lack of teacher immediacy
(LaRose& Whitten, 2000). Another importance for understanding the domains of learning is
to help the teacher to come up with various ways of assessing the performance of the
learners. This is so because one cannot use one method for testing Krathwohl et al (1964).
Domains of learning also help the teachers to distinguish the parts of a content area that are
subject to different instructional treatments. The other need for distinctive domains of the
learning process is that of relating the instructional procedures of one subject to those of
another

A learning objective is a statement of what the learner is expected to know, understand and/or
be able to do at the end of a period of learning. (Donnelly and Fitzmaurice, 2005). The
domains of learning can be used to make lesson objectives. Lesson objectives focus on what
the learner has achieved rather than the intentions of the teacher. They also focus on what the
learner can demonstrate at the end of a learning activity. However, the objectives for a
learning period can be written according to the domain and the level of complexity under
which they fall. This implies that each objective in the domain requires a certain level of
mental ability or that some objectives are higher level while others are low level. For
example, a teacher of physics could choose to write objectives under the selected domain and
explain the level of complexity for each objective. Suppose that, among the topics in the
physics syllabus, ‘forces’ is picked for the lesson. One way of categorizing objectives with
respect to the domain and level of complexity can be done as shown in the table below.

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Domain Objective
Cognitive domain -At the end of the lesson, the
pupils should be able to
define the force.
-At the end of the lesson,
pupils will be able to
differentiate between force
and mass.
Psychomotor domain -At the end of the
demonstration, pupils will
be able to measure the
weight of an object.
-At the end of the lab
session, pupils will be able
to calibrate the beam
balance for measuring mass.
Affective domain -At the end of the
discussion, pupils will be
able to participate in mass
measurements.
-At the end of the
experiment, pupils will
appreciate the effect of
gravity on objects.
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Level
Knowledge: Knowledge
may be defined as the ability
to recall or remember facts
without necessarily
understanding them. Some
of the action verbs used to
assess knowledge are as
follows:
Arrange, collect, define,
describe, duplicate,
enumerate, examine, find.
Comprehension:
Comprehension may be
defined as the ability to
understand and interpret
learned information. Some
of the action verbs used to
assess comprehension are as
follows:
Associate, change, clarify,
classify, construct, contrast,
convert, decode, defend,
describe, differentiate,
discriminate, discuss.
Guided response: At this
level, the learner follows
instruction or imitates
Mechanism: Here, the
learner acquires the ability to
perform a complex motor
skill.
Responding: The student
actively participates. The
pupil not only attends to the
stimulus but reacts in some
way.
Valuing: The worth a
student attaches to a
particular object,
phenomenon, or behavior.
The cognitive domain is easy to assess compared to the other two domains. Also, the
assessment of the cognitive domain will have an impact on other domains. The cognitive
learning domain concentrates on knowledge and recalling information. To assess learning
objectives in this domain, educators should focus on paper and pencil-type tests. These tests
can reside in the lower levels of the domain by asking true and false, multiple choice and fill-
in-the-blank questions. To test students' knowledge retention in the higher levels of this
domain, have them write short answers or essays to assess their analysis and evaluation of the
material.

There are two primary purposes of an affective evaluation system includes verifying
competence in the affective domain, and to serve as a method to change behavior. This
domain deals with how the students process the information internally and how it changes
their emotions and feelings toward something. An assessment method that would measure
learning in the affective domain is to give open-ended questions that require students to give
their opinions on a subject. There are no right or wrong answers here, only the ability of the
student to express their feelings on information or situations. An example of this would
include asking students to write a brief essay on how they feel about their country after
studying the 2001 terrorist attacks. Learning in the affective domain helps students to change
their minds about a situation or express emotions and feelings about it after studying it. Quiz
can be conducted based on the previous class lectures, by streaming course videos, lecture
notes and so on. Here, the assessment is based on interaction quiz from the video
presentation.

Psychomotor domain focuses on performing sequences of motor activities to a specified level

of accuracy, smoothness, rapidity, or force. Underlying the motor activity is cognitive
understanding. Assessment of objectives in the psychomotor domain is best done through a
face to-face situation. Since there is a cognitive component underlying motor skills, these can
be effectively observed through videos, demonstrations, online text descriptions, or with
pictures of each step in the sequence. Simulations can be used to help people to learn the
steps or practice variations of a motor sequence. However ultimately, the student should
perform the skill with an instructor or designee judging if the skill was performed to a set
standard. Sometimes, simulations are used for learning without “hands on” opportunities.
Students who are new to a content area will generally benefit more from “hands-on” learning

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than from mediated learning within the psychomotor domain. As students improve to expert,
videos and pictures can be used to teach the skill.

To a teacher of science, and or every other teacher, it is very important to learn and
understand the domains of learning for the process of teaching to be effective. Domains of
learning help the teachers to know the level of knowledge, attitudes and skills of the learners,
thereby helping them come up with the appropriate content to teach. Domains of learning
also gives reason for the teacher to sequence the learning objective from less complex more
complex. Assessment strategies also need to be different for different lesson objectives, hence
the need to understand the domains of learning.

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 REFERENCES

1) Bloom, B. S. (Ed.)., (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Handbook l:

Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay.
2) Bohlin, R. M. (1998). How do K-12 teachers apply the affective domain in their
classroom? Educational technology, 38(6), 44-47.
3) Donnelly, R and Fitzmaurice, M. (2005in). Designing Modules for Learn g. In:
Emerging Issues in the Practice of University Learning and Teaching, O’Neill, G et
al. Dublin: AISHE
4) Freitas, F. A., Myers, S. A., &Avtgis, T. A. (1998). Student perceptions of instructor
immediacy in conventional and distributed learning classrooms. Communication
Education, 47 (4), 366373.
5) Kelly, D. H., & Gorham, J. (1988). Effects of immediacy on recall of information.
Communication Education, 37(6), 198-207.
6) Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1964). Taxonomy of educational
objectives. Handbook II: Affective domain. New York: David McKay
7) LaRose, R., & Whitten, P. (2000). Re-thinking instructional immediacy for web
courses: A social cognitive exploration. Communication Education, 49 (4), 320-338.