Bloom's Taxonomy & Information Mapping

Bloom's Taxonomy

There is more than one type of learning. We have seen how Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues identified 3 domains of educational activity:

1. Attitude - growth in feelings or emotional areas (Affective)
2. Skills - manual or physical skills (Psychomotor)
3. Knowledge - mental skills (Cognitive)

This taxonomy of learning behaviours (ASK) can be thought of as the goals of the learning process.

We know that Bloom also divided these domains into subdivisions, starting from the simplest behaviour to the most complex. For example, the six major categories of the Cognitive domain are:

1. Knowledge - recall data or information
2. Comprehension - understand the meaning and problem
3. Application - apply what was learned
4. Analysis - distinguish between facts and inferences
5. Synthesis - create new meaning
6. Evaluation - make judgements

When we know the correct skill to be taught, we can define an appropriate learning objective (performance verbs: define, list, distinguish, apply, demonstrate, compare, relate, categorise, summarise, explain, recommend etc.) and from that design the appropriate treatment.

Information Mapping

Information Mapping is a method of information development called structured writing, developed by Robert E. Horn.

Horn and his colleagues identified dozens of common documentation types, then analysed them into structural components called information blocks. They identified over 200 common block types. These were assembled into information types using information maps.

The seven most common information types were:

1. Concept
2. Procedure - set of steps for a person
3. Process - set of steps for a system
4. Principle
5. Fact
6. Structure
7. Classification

Again, when we know the correct information type to be taught, we can define an appropriate learning objective and apply appropriate graphics to teach these content types.