Now, the purpose of Bloom's Taxonomy was to devise a classification system of educational goals or objectives. This is very much in the same way as a biologist might develop a taxonomy as a means of understanding the organization and interrelationships of the various parts of the animal and plant world. To quote bloom. The handbook was the result of a series of conferences held between 1949 and 1953. And the list of contributors is lengthy. The intent of the taxonomy was to be of a general help to all educators who do with curricular and evaluations problems.

It was to promote communication to define commonly used terms so that teachers could discuss their work with understanding. And finally, it was to help educators understand what intended behavior So students could be encouraged by setting a particular set of educational goals. The original plans developed three domains for educational activities or learning the three domains of the taxonomy of educational activities for learning, they are first of all the cognitive domain. And these are the mental skills or cognitive processes we use to gain new knowledge. And it is in fact the most common domain used. This domain explores our understanding of how knowledge develops in the human brain and thinking abilities if you will, it is important to understand that this is not about types of knowledge, which I will discuss in the next slide, but the cognitive processes that are being used to gain that knowledge.

Second domain is the affective domain and it describes the growth in feelings or emotional areas of the human brain. It is our understanding of the self The third one is the psychomotor domain, which describes our actions the menu of physical skills that we develop and use as we learn new ways of doing. However, only part one of the handbook was actually published in 1956, and it included only the cognitive domain. The other domains of the taxonomy were teased out with the help of other researchers over the ensuing years. In this course, I'm only focusing on the cognitive domain, though the other domains are just as relevant to learn, which is why they were developed. Obviously, if you wish to know more of these, my other course, classroom planning for inclusion explains these in detail, including a discussion of how they help to develop inclusive classrooms.