There are three common domains used to categorize and differentiate different types of learning. These are known as the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains (Airasian & Russell, 2008; Martin, 2001). The cognitive domain is focused primarily on content knowledge and intellectual skills. The affective domain deals with motivation, feelings, and attitudes. The psychomotor domain centers on physical movement and motor skills. The cognitive domain is the one most commonly addressed in schools. It is relatively easy to find video clips on sites like YouTube that can be mapped to cognitive domain learning objectives. First, a brief review of Bloom's Taxonomy is provided to highlight the types of knowledge and intellectual processes commonly associated with the cognitive domain. That is followed by examples of video clips that can be used for educational activities that most closely match to the cognitive domain.
Perhaps the most well-known organizational structure for cognitive domain learning objectives is called Bloom's Taxonomy. The original taxonomy was published in 1956 as a common framework that could be used to classify student learning outcomes. It organized knowledge into a hierarchy of intellectual knowledge and skills as shown in Table 1.
| Table 1. The Six Levels of the Original Bloom's Taxonomy | |
| Level | Verbs Associated with Each Level |
| Knowledge | Name, label, tell, list, repeat, point to, describe, cite, count, define, identify, indicate, recognize, repeat, select, pronounce |
| Comprehension | Summarize, infer, paraphrase, explain, interpret, locate, translate, substitute, convert |
| Application | Use, solve, adapt, relate, perform, apply, calculate, demonstrate, illustrate, predict, solve |
| Analysis | Classify, examine, test for, analyze, experiment, infer, diagram, discriminate, separate |
| Synthesis | Create, develop, generate, build, compile, design, rearrange, assemble, compose, integrate, plan, organize, generalize |
| Evaluation | Judge, reject, rate, rank, appraise, assess, critique, evaluate, recommend |
In 2001, a revised version of the taxonomy was published and split the original taxonomy into two dimensions for knowledge and cognitive processes (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Forehand, 2005). The new taxonomy is shown in Table 2. Descriptors for the new Bloom's Taxonomy can be found within Mary Forehand's article at: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
| Table 2. The Revised Version of Bloom's Taxonomy | ||||||
|
The Cognitive
Process Dimension
|
||||||
| The Knowledge Dimension | Remember | Understand | Apply | Analyze | Evaluate | Create |
| Factual Knowledge | ||||||
| Conceptual Knowledge | ||||||
| Procedural Knowledge | ||||||
| Meta-Cognitive Knowledge | ||||||
There are many videos that fit within the cognitive domain. Examples of the types of video clips that are suitable include those featuring news, historical events, travel, how things work, scientific animation, explanation of algorithms, lectures, demonstrations, factual documentaries, software tutorials, and visualizations. The presence of facts, concepts and ideas are characteristic of videos that match the cognitive domain fairly well. To illustrate this more effectively, consider the video examples shown in Table 3, which contains the categories from the original Bloom's Taxonomy described above in Table 1. This version is somewhat simpler for illustration.
| Table 3. YouTube Videos Mapped to the Original Bloom's Taxonomy | ||
| Level | Link to YouTube Video | Related Activity |
| Knowledge |
NOVA Free the Fossils: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNeGHfvZFTE |
List the steps used to free fossils from rocks. |
| Comprehension |
Bill Nye Quicksand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU7t5bVfY4E |
Explain what would happen if you fell into quicksand. |
| Application |
CBS News-Students Hurt by Gas Prices: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQmEvqlDWKE |
Calculate how much you could save by riding a bicycle to school instead of driving. |
| Analysis |
The Internet Crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvpuT3aoypE |
Analyze all of the events in this video. Is it possible for the Internet to crash due to these events? |
| Synthesis |
Playlist of Rube Goldberg Devices: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0AD5FC2E3BD60373 |
Create your own Rube Goldberg device that has at least 20 events. |
| Evaluation |
NOVA Amazing Atoms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqNSQ3OQMGI |
Assess the most common models for the atom and explain why they are right or wrong. |
Airasian, P. W., & Russell, M. K. (2008). Classroom assessment: Concepts and applications (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.
Forehand, M. (2005). Bloom's taxonomy: Original and revised.. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved August 30, 2008, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Martin, J. (2001). Bloom's learning domains. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved August 30, 2008, from http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/BloomsLD/start.htm
©2008, Chareen Snelson, Ed.D.