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A Psychomotor Skills Extension to Bloom's Taxonomy of Education Objectives for Engineering Education

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Abstract

Bloom's taxonomy of education objectives has been an important source for investigations of curriculum since its development. In the original taxonomy the authors addressed the issues of cognitive and affective objectives in education, and provided a hierarchy of kinds of capability in each of these domains that could be used as evidence of achievement. In addition, the hierarchy of capabilities provides a framework for correlating educational attainment with evidence of qualities that relate to abilities relevant to the performance of professional, or in the case of lower elements of the hierarchy, sub-professional work roles. The authors of the original taxonomy indicated that they believed that there are three domains relevant to educational outcomes. These are the cognitive, knowledge of and ability to work with information and ideas; the affective, ability to organise, articulate, and live and work by a coherent value system relevant to the capabilities achieved through education; and the psychomotor skills, ability to do acts relevant to the field of study. In engineering it is necessary for the student to develop skills working with the tangible stuff related to the discipline because the role of an engineer is to do either or both of development work of products and systems and to direct other people in the development and manufacture of products and systems. In roles where the engineer must personally perform work related to developmental experimentation, prototyping or contributions to maintenance and construction it is necessary for the engineer to have appropriately developed psychomotor skills to be able recognise and handle both test and developmental components and the equipment used to manipulate, work upon, or test those work pieces. In cases where the engineer's role is to direct the work of others it is important for the engineer to have appreciation of the tasks that the engineer calls upon those others to do and to have sufficient experience to understand the potential difficulties and dangers associated with the performance of the tasks. This appreciation will also provide a significant influence to the design activities of the engineer, as the engineer considers the usefulness and usability of the intended product. The paper will present a hierarchical taxonomy of psychomotor skills and discuss these skills specifically from the viewpoint of the needs of engineers.
Exploring Innovation in Education and Research ©iCEER-2005
Tainan, Taiwan, 1-5 March 2005
A PSYCHOMOTOR SKILLS EXTENSION TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF
EDUCATION OBJECTIVES FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Timothy L.J. Ferris1 and S.M. Aziz2
1timothy.ferris@unisa.edu.au, 2mahfuz.aziz@unisa.edu.au
1Systems Engineering and Evaluation Centre, University of South Australia,
Mawson Lakes, 5095, Australia
2School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of South Australia,
Mawson Lakes, 5095, Australia
Abstract
!
Bloom’s taxonomy of education objectives has been an important source for investigations of curriculum since its
development. In the original taxonomy the authors addressed the issues of cognitive and affective objectives in education, and
provided a hierarchy of kinds of capability in each of these domains that could be used as evidence of achievement. In addition, the
hierarchy of capabilities provides a framework for correlating educational attainment with evidence of qualities that relate to
abilities relevant to the performance of professional, or in the case of lower elements of the hierarchy, sub-professional work roles.
The authors of the original taxonomy indicated that they believed that there are three domains relevant to educational outcomes.
These are the cognitive, knowledge of and ability to work with information and ideas; the affective, ability to organise, articulate,
and live and work by a coherent value system relevant to the capabilities achieved through education; and the psychomotor skills,
ability to do acts relevant to the field of study. In engineering it is necessary for the student to develop skills working with the
tangible stuff related to the discipline because the role of an engineer is to do either or both of development work of products and
systems and to direct other people in the development and manufacture of products and systems. In roles where the engineer must
personally perform work related to developmental experimentation, prototyping or contributions to maintenance and construction it
is necessary for the engineer to have appropriately developed psychomotor skills to be able recognise and handle both test and
developmental components and the equipment used to manipulate, work upon, or test those work pieces. In cases where the
engineer’s role is to direct the work of others it is important for the engineer to have appreciation of the tasks that the engineer calls
upon those others to do and to have sufficient experience to understand the potential difficulties and dangers associated with the
performance of the tasks. This appreciation will also provide a significant influence to the design activities of the engineer, as the
engineer considers the usefulness and usability of the intended product. The paper will present a hierarchical taxonomy of
psychomotor skills and discuss these skills specifically from the viewpoint of the needs of engineers.
INTRODUCTION
The authors have been engineering educators for considerable
periods of time. Prior to teaching the first author had worked in
the design of bore water pumping machinery and the design of
power lines. The second author has worked in the design and
development of microprocessor based control systems for a
variety of applications. These work activities provided the
authors with a combination of experiences demanding both
analytical skills related to analysis of engineering problems and
design, and practical skills associated with the fabrication of
prototype products.
In teaching engineering the authors have been involved in
the supervision of practical classes in electronics,
communications, digital systems and microprocessors. In the
laboratory classes the authors made many observations of
student competence related to the execution of the set
laboratory tasks. The laboratory tasks required students to
perform a mixture of assembling electronic circuits, principally
by patching together systems using pre-assembled circuit
boards that provided a structure that could be multiply
configured by choice of particular patching and required the
connection of measurement instruments to the circuits in order
to make measurements appropriate to the kind of system.
In other practical classes students were required to
assemble and measure arrangements of radio frequency
equipment. In these practicals the equipment, both the circuit
elements and the instrumentation, was unfamiliar to students,
comprising special purpose instruments and circuit elements
such as waveguides and slotted lines.
The authors observed that student competence in the
laboratory was not correlated with performance in standard
paper tests and assignment work, nor to any other obvious
factor. The obvious question is “why is this so?Why should
students who perform well in examinations exhibit
uncorrelated performance in laboratory skills? The ethnicity
issue may be a consequence of different emphases of the
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education systems experienced by different ethnic groups in
their ‘home’ environments.
In addition, the general budgetary condition of Australian
universities has resulted in a need to carefully consider costs
associated with the various educational activities provided for
students. Since laboratory work is expensive it is a target for
cost cutting. It is appropriate to develop a clear, substantial
educational justification of the activities students are required
to perform in laboratory classes in order to justify the amount
of laboratory work offered to students as part of their education
and the consequent resources expended on this aspect of their
education.
These issues coalesce leading to questioning of what
laboratory work is expected of students and what the students
should learn through the laboratory work. Where one has a
clear understanding of what should be learned through a
particular teaching and learning activity it becomes possible to
design the activity in order to best target the learning of that
particular outcome or combination of outcomes.
Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives has been a
popular tool for analysing and thinking about the goals of
particular educational activities and whole programs of
educational activity provided for students. However, Bloom’s
taxonomy as published [1, 2] has addressed two domains, the
cognitive and the affective, but has omitted discussion of the
third, psychomotor skills domain. The issues that the authors
have noticed in teaching laboratory classes are closely linked to
the psychomotor domain, and so this paper concerns the
development of a framework of objectives in a hierarchical
form related to the psychomotor domain.
BLOOMS TAXONOMY
The original concern of the developers of Bloom’s
taxonomy was to provide a taxonomy suitable for the analysis
of university level education [3]. This makes the use of the
taxonomy in the analysis of engineering education appropriate
to the intention of the developers of the tool. The developers
were concerned that the majority of teaching at the time was
concerned with the development of ‘knowledge’ and concluded
that there are three domains of outcomes, the cognitive,
affective and psychomotor domains.
Rote learning by students has been recognized as a
problem for a very long time, with Montaigne commenting on
the problem and its association with a content heavy
curriculum in 1580 [4]. This problem was addressed by the
development of Bloom’s taxonomy [5], which provided a
different approach to the determination of educational
objectives based on the behaviourist perspective of identifying
what the student is able to do as a result of the education [6].
The competence of the student to do things is dependant on the
educational process developing certain capabilities, not only
providing knowledge about things.
The dependence of Bloom’s taxonomy on the
psychological analysis of behaviourism makes the taxonomy
open for criticism now, with the principal approach to
psychological analysis being shifted to the cognitivist analysis.
The behaviourist background of Bloom’s taxonomy led to the
structuring of the taxonomy as a hierarchy which assumes a
hierarchical and cumulative nature of learning. A hierarchical
and cumulative concept of the nature of learning assumes that
student advancement to the next level of learning is dependant
on success in the lower level. The cognitivist approach is not so
simplistic.
The fact that the taxonomy concerns the behaviourist
interest in the observable behaviour of the student implies a
philosophy of education [7]. The implied philosophy is that
education ultimately concerns the modification of the student
action to be able to do certain things, those things being the
outcome of the education. Therefore the taxonomy is called a
taxonomy of educational outcomes when it is more obviously a
taxonomy of cognitive abilities of the graduate rather than a
taxonomy of educational objectives. This criticism takes the
perspective that a taxonomy or description of educational
objectives should consider the change in the person of the
student brought about by the educational process rather than
only the changes in the ability to perform classes of action
brought to effect by the educational process.
The concern about the implied philosophy of education of
the taxonomy, and its behaviourist background may be a result
of the taxonomy filling a void, there being nothing else like it
at any level of education, and it being applied to all education
levels and kinds in many places, although not much in the US
[8, 9]. In addressing the issue of rote learning, and in providing
a mechanism and legitimation of discussion of educational
objectives reflecting multiple kinds of resulting competences,
the taxonomy gained the interest and attention of educators at
all levels because they had no other tool enabling the broader
discussion of education [10]. The more recent criticisms of the
taxonomy related to the psychological theory underlying it may
result from the application of the taxonomy beyond its original
target field to other levels of education, which can be
characterised as applying the taxonomy blindly [11]. One may
reasonably believe that primary and secondary education
concern development of the students in different ways than
higher education, and that a different purpose of the levels of
education should be present. In particular, the school levels of
education deal with students at a much earlier stage of
personality development and so educational objectives should
reflect a different set of personal development objectives than
higher education, in which young adults, generally, are
educated to practice in a particular field of endeavour. In the
case of higher education the primary concern relates to the
need for the student to develop knowledge, attitudes and skills
pertaining to the practice of work in the field. Although the
taxonomy can be criticised in various ways, most authors have
regarded it as very good, largely because those authors come
primarily from the user community, and so approach the
taxonomy as pragmatists, seeking means to assist their
educational work [12].
Krathwohl, one of the original contributors to the
taxonomy, presented a hierarchical taxonomy of the
psychomotor domain as follows:
0 Basic movements
0.1 Nonlocomotor movements
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0.2 Manipulative movements
0.3 Locomotor movements
1 Readiness
1.1 Cue sensitivity
1.2 Cue and behaviour selection
1.3 Set
1.3.1 Mental set
1.3.2 Emotional set
1.3.3 Physical set
2 Movement skill development
2.1 Translation of mental images into kinaesthetic
sensations
2.2 Production of correct behaviour
3 Movement pattern development (integrating movement and
perfecting outcome)
3.1 Production of movement pattern
3.2 Perfection of movement pattern
4 Adapting and originating movement patterns
4.1 Adapting movement patterns
4.2 Selecting and adapting movement patterns
Dawson has sought to develop psychomotor domain and
cognitive domain extensions to Bloom’s taxonomy, based on
the view that the three domains identified in the original
publication were the domains that had been recognised by
educators at the time [13]. Dawson provided hierarchies for
several domains:
Psychomotor Domain
1. Observation
2. Trial
3. Repetition
4. Refinement
5. Consolidation
6. Mastery
Cognitive Domain
1. Knowledge
2. Comprehension
3. Application
4. Analysis
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation
7. Decision Making
8. Implementation
These psychomotor domain extensions reflect significantly
that the taxonomy has been extended in coverage to the lower
levels of education in which children are at an age of needing
to learn basic physical skills and coordination. The purpose of
this paper is to develop a description of the psychomotor
domain that is useful for laboratory work in higher education,
and engineering education in particular.
The motivation for the present work is specifically the
higher education issue of the development of competence in
the practical skills required to perform work related to the
discipline. The authors’ interest in the area was prompted by
several matters, all of which relate to the authors’ background
both in the practice of engineering and in education, both as a
student and instructor.
First, the authors observed a significant difference in
student ability to perform basic tasks in electronics practicals
such as the tracing of wires in the patch-up of circuits. The
question of whether there is a relationship of basic task
competence to factors associated with the tradition of the
student’s academic background would seem from in laboratory
observations of the authors to be worthy of further research.
Second, the question of whether electronics practicals
should be conducted using preassembled circuit structures
requiring students to use patching cables with standardized
connectors, such as banana plugs, or basic components to be
assembled on an SK-10 board. The SK-10 board is a
prototyping board presenting insertion points for component
leads in a matrix of connection rails with multiple connection
points, enabling quick assembly of components into circuits
with easy modification permitted.
Third, the need for graduate engineers to have skills to
construct experimental test beds and development and
prototyping models of proposed designs. This skill need
demands that the graduate have a broad range of capabilities
that enable the graduate to personally do a wide range of
hands-on technical tasks to a sufficient level of competence,
and satisfying all necessary safety and health requirements so
that the graduate can effectively contribute to the construction
of test and prototype equipment. In addition the graduate
should have close knowledge of additional manual processes
associated with the technology so that the graduate can specify
work for others to do with an appreciation of the task that has
really been requested and the difficulty of that task.
Fourth, the question of what learning students can make
using internet based control of real instruments in a network
based laboratory system. Such systems are attractive to some
educators at present because they provide cost efficient means
for external students to perform the same activities as internal
students, neither of whom actually attend the laboratory and
perform experimental work by direct manipulation of the
instruments and test pieces. Network based laboratories also
provide means to give practical experience at any time without
the high labour cost of provision of laboratory supervision staff.
This question has diverse aspects, including the nature of the
student learning achieved through such systems and the
motivation and satisfaction with the teaching and learning
experience produced through the use of these media, and the
issues associated with the provision of guidance and
explanation of observations often provided by laboratory
teaching staff.
COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE DOMAIN TAXONOMY
The original publication of Bloom’s taxonomy divided
educational objectives into three domains, the cognitive, the
affective and the psycho-motor domains [1, 2]. The original
publication omitted the psycho-motor domain from the detailed
development that was provided of the other two domains. Since
the time of the original publication the team led by Bloom
never published such a psycho-motor domain hierarchical
taxonomy. The published hierarchies for the cognitive and
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affective domains are outlined below, with detailed explanation
available in the original publication.
The Cognitive Domain is divided:
1. Knowledge
Knowledge of Specifics
Knowledge of the Ways of Dealing with Specifics
Knowledge of the Universals and Abstractions in a Field
2. Comprehension
Translation
Interpretation
Extrapolation
3. Application
4. Analysis
Analysis of Elements
Analysis of Relationships
Analysis of Organizational Principles
5. Synthesis
Production of a Unique Communication
Production of a Plan, or Proposed Set of Operations
Derivation of a Set of Abstract Relations
6. Evaluation
Judgements in Terms of Internal Evidence
Judgements in terms of External Criteria
The Affective Domain is divided:
1. Receiving
Awareness
Willingness to Receive
Controlled or Selected Attention
2. Responding
Acquiescence in Responding
Willingness to Respond
Satisfaction in Response
3. Valuing
Acceptance of a Value
Preference for a Value
Commitment
4. Organization
Conceptualization of a Value
Organization of a Value System
5. Characterization by a Value Complex
Generalized Set
Characterization
The hierarchy here is useful illustration of the manner in
which the categories have been proposed as a hierarchy in
which the attainment of levels is normally progressive because
each level involves a higher and more complex use of the
capability developed in the attainment of the levels below it.
This characteristic has been discussed in some of the criticism
of Bloom’s taxonomy as described above.
PROPOSED PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN TAXONOMY
A proposed hierarchy of student learning outcomes in the
psychomotor domain is presented below. The motives for
development of this hierarchy have been described above.
The proposed Psychomotor Domain hierarchy is shown
below:
1. Recognition of tools and materials
2. Handling of tools and materials
3. Basic operation of tools
4. Competent operation of tools
5. Expert operation of tools
6. Planning of work operations
7. Evaluation of outputs and planning means for improvement
This hierarchy leads from the recognition of the tools and
materials which are the subject matter of the manual skills of
the occupation through several levels of the skill in handling
and using the tools and materials to effect desirable work
outcomes and the ability to plan a set of work operations that
will result in achievement of the desirable result to the highest
level of attainment which involves evaluation of the outcomes
and the planning of means for improvement of the outcomes
achieved.
DISCUSSION
The psychomotor domain hierarchy, as proposed, requires
elaboration to enable meaningful interpretation of the author’s
intent.
1. Recognition of tools and materials
The most basic level of practical skill competence involves
the ability to recognize the tools of the trade and the
materials. This level of skill requires that one learn what the
tools are so that when presented with a sample of a
particular tool one has the ability to recognize it as such.
In technical work there is a need to use certain materials to
be worked upon as the subject matter of all practical work
in the field.
Recognition of both tools and materials is important for
both effectiveness in work and safety. Recognition is
necessary as the first step towards being able to make
effective use of the tools or materials. Safety depends on
recognition because once the tools and materials are
recognized it is possible to associate the tools and materials
with particular health and safety related information
associated with them.
2. Handling of tools and materials
Tools and materials are appropriately handled in certain
ways. Thus particular processes for picking up, moving and
setting down tools and materials must be learned. The
processes are required in order that the objects can be
handled without damage to either the object or other objects
in its environment or hazard to any person, either the person
moving the object or someone else nearby.
Where necessary, such as in the linking of semiconductor
devices and the pin-out diagrams, the student will be able to
appropriately correlate information concerning parts with
documentation describing those parts.
This criterion of learning is necessary for handling of the
objects with awareness of the potential problems of
handling, so that the risks associated with handling of the
objects can be recognized and pre-empted.
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3. Basic operation of tools
The basic operation of tools concerns the ability of the
student to hold the tool appropriately for use, to set the tool
in action and to perform elementary tasks that abstract tasks
of work into their most basic, unitary form. The tasks that
can be performed at this level are the specific detail tasks
which, when assembled into a sequence, result in the
completion of a piece of significant work. This level of
competence concerns learning how to operate the tools and
how to attend to matters of safety associated with the
fundamental operational characteristics of the tools.
4. Competent operation of tools
At this level the student becomes able to fluently use the
tools for performing a range of tasks of the kind for which
the tool was designed. This level is distinguished from the
preceding by the student being able to assemble a
significant sequence of tasks which when brought together
enable the completion of designated work associated with
the use of the tool. The work produced will be of a sound
standard, being work that could be delivered as part of a
finished product. Examples of such work in electronics
would include the ability to drill holes in a circuit board
consistently located correctly within the boundary of the
solder mounting pads, or the ability to consistently solder
all the mounts on the circuit board with mechanically and
electrically sound joints with consistent solder quantity in
each joint.
Competent tool use includes being able to use the tools to
achieve consistent, effective work outcomes in a manner
that is consistently safe.
5. Expert operation of tools
The ability to use tools with ease to rapidly, efficiently,
effectively and safely perform work tasks on a regular basis.
The expert user of the tool is able to produce the right
outcome with attention being placed on the broader context
of the work that is being done rather than the narrow
context of the tasks being performed to do the work.
6. Planning of work operations
At this level of competence the student is able to take a
specification of a work output required and perform the
necessary transformation of the description of the finished
outcome into a sequence of tasks that need to be performed
on the material in order to achieve the desired outcome and
bring to fruition the finished product intended.
The process of planning work operations requires an
intimate understanding of the particular work operation in
the required repertoire and the ability to discern matters
such as the order of operations to efficiently and effectively
produce the desired output product.
7. Evaluation of outputs and planning means for improvement
At this level of competence the practitioner is able to look
at a finished output product and review that product for
quality of manufacture, with the ability to identify
particular deficiencies and the actions which could be taken
to either correct the faults or to prevent the faults through
appropriate planning of the manufacturing operations.
This level of competence parallels the ‘Evaluation’ and
‘Characterization by a value complex’ levels at the highest
achievement in each of the other two domains. Again, the
domain is capped by a level of achievement involving the
critical review of actions that have been taken.
CONCLUSION
Despite criticism, Bloom’s taxonomy of educational outcomes
has been a significant influence in educational development
since its first publication. The use of the taxonomy in the
cognitive and affective domains has been important, both in the
target field of higher education, but probably more so in
primary and secondary education, where much of the
curriculum development is performed by people with a
significant theoretical background in education. This contrasts
with higher education, in which most educators have little
formal training in the concepts that underlie thinking about the
educational process.
This paper has reviewed some work done in the field of
the absent domain, the psychomotor domain. This work was
seen to be formulated in terminology that derives from the
development of elementary psychomotor skills, and seems to
be largely targeted towards dealing with the issues resulting
from the needs of the primary and secondary educational levels,
in which the students have a significant need to develop the
elements of psychomotor skills.
The present work has returned to the primary target of the
taxonomy, the higher education field, and has interpreted the
concept of the psychomotor domain differently, referring to the
development of the manual skills associated with the
performance of the professional responsibilities for which the
higher education process is taken. Consequently the emphasis
of the psychomotor skills described in this paper is on the
practical aspects of the performance of the profession, rather
than on the development of detailed physical skills as may be
the case in lower age level education, where the student need is
to develop physical motor function as distinct from competence
in professional activities.
The present work is intended to be further discussed in the
engineering education community and also to be applied to the
development of practical work components of engineering
programs. It is important for the practical work component of
engineering programs to be designed using some kind of
taxonomy of intended outcomes such as is proposed in order
that the activities presented to students provide a coherent set
of educational activities leading to the planned outcomes.
Several outcomes should result for the education system.
Engineering programs will develop graduate engineers with a
coherent set of practical skills related to their discipline of
study thus supporting their work as graduates. Engineering
program practical work will be designed in a coherent way to
provide experiences that lead to target levels of competence in
particular kinds of practical skills. Coherent design of practical
work will enable the more efficient use of equipment and
instructor resources in the practical aspect of engineering
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programs because the kind and amount of experience provided
will be targeted to gain the maximum effect for the input
required. The result will be some improvement of efficiency,
gaining a higher graduate competence per unit of resources
input.
A further benefit of planning the practical component of
the engineering program around some set of objectives such as
suggested in this paper will be the possibility of designing
assessment of the practical skills developed by students in a
manner that reasonably assesses the capability of the students
to perform tasks that matter in the practice of the profession.
REFERENCES
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... Kim and Lee (2016) and Kassim et al, (2014), divide psychomotor skills into soft skills and hard skills. Moreover, Ferris and Aziz (2005) describe hard skills for engineering students, consisting of recognition, selection, tool operation, machine planning, product, and modification of materials and tools. Aside from that, soft skill parameters include critical thinking and problem-solving (Kaixiang et al., 2021), team collaboration and working together (Kuo et al., 2014), and long-life learning skills (Kim & Lee, 2016). ...
... In this research, hard skills are focused on the study. While the parameters are recognition, selection, tool operation, machine planning, product, and modification of materials and tools as in the study of Ferris and Aziz (2005), Salim et al. (2012) and Teng et al. (2020). Meanwhile, the real results of the skills are completion, Accuracy, and beauty of the product (Kuo et al., 2014;Teng et al., 2020). ...
... The reason is to form student consistency in thinking, acting as an effort to produce a project. Furthermore, the student's consistent attitude in preparing plans and realizing it in a sustainable manner will help increase goal-directed memory retrieving (Ferris & Aziz, 2005;Paulin, et al., 2020), (Kaixiang et al., 2021). An example of the project they produced is shown in Figure 2. The final product example is shown in Figure 3. ...
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In enhancing students' creative thinking, high-level skills, and positive perceptions in the learning process, it is essential for lecturers to implement effective teaching strategies. This study aims to describe the impact of implementing Project-Based Learning (PjBL) with an industrial Teaching Factory concept on the development of a Combined Brake System (CBS) simulator, focusing on heightening students' creative thinking, technical skills, and perceptions. The research involved 64 students over a period of 6 weeks, ensuring alignment with the expected learning outcomes of the courses. Creative thinking was measured using indicators of fluency, flexibility, and novelty. Skill indicators included completion, accuracy, and aesthetics. Perceptions were assessed based on readiness in learning, student interest, and teacher guidance. The results indicate that the application of PjBL within an industrial Teaching Factory framework significantly enhances students' creative thinking, technical skills, and perceptions of learning. Further analysis using SMART PLS revealed that creative thinking had a stronger influence on technical skills (9.425) compared to perceptions (2.824). This demonstrates the pivotal role that creative thinking plays in the development of technical abilities. The high correlation between creative thinking and skill improvement underscores the importance of fostering creativity in educational settings. Additionally, the positive student perceptions of readiness (84.20%), interest in learning (90.67%), and teacher guidance (87.75%) further confirm the effectiveness of this PjBL approach in bridging the gap between academic theory and industrial practice, providing students with a realistic and engaging learning experience.
... The earliest taxonomy is that of Bloom et al. (1956). This taxonomy distinguishes three domains relevant to educational outcomes (Ferris & Aziz, 2005): cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills. It has served as inspiration and been adapted by several subsequent taxonomies, including, but not limited to, Ferris and Aziz (2005), Krathwohl (2002), and Anderson and Krathwohl et al. (2001). ...
... This taxonomy distinguishes three domains relevant to educational outcomes (Ferris & Aziz, 2005): cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills. It has served as inspiration and been adapted by several subsequent taxonomies, including, but not limited to, Ferris and Aziz (2005), Krathwohl (2002), and Anderson and Krathwohl et al. (2001). Other widely used taxonomies include Collis and Biggs' SOLO-taxonomy (structure of observed learning outcome) (Biggs & Collis, 1982, 1989) and Fink's taxonomy (2003Fink's taxonomy ( , 2013. ...
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There is a long-standing debate within academia and practice on how specific educational programmes and educational systems, in general, prepare students for the labour market after graduation. This article contributes to this debate by exploring to what extend Bloom’s revised taxonomy (BRT) can be used to investigate the degree of alignment between the demand of the Danish labour market and the supply of competences. We present a generic method for evaluating labour market–educational programme fit that can be used across educational programmes. This method is developed and tested in a case study in which BRT is used to investigate the alignment between the curriculum and labour market demand for skills, knowledge, and compe-tences. We compare the curriculum of the multimedia design programme with relevant job advertisements. This comparison involves a qualitative analysis of both the programme’s learning goals and the advertisements’ content based on qualitative and abductive coding. We identify areas of misalignment and discuss how the educational programme can use the information to align the supply with the demand for competences.
... Psychomotor [60,61] and embodied learning [62] effects were the least studied in immersive learning technologies because the sensorimotor contingencies such as immersion, spatial and virtual presence, spatial location, identity have not been strongly related with the traditional cognitive and metacognitive, affective and psychomotor learning effects that are currently mainly considered as more important learning outcomes. There are not enough studies about how multisensory inputs and information processing takes place. ...
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In this comparative literature study we collected a sample of recent (from the period of 2020–2022) empirical and meta-studies of immersive technologies in practice based learning. The study explored empirical and meta-studies of the virtual learning environments, extended and augmented reality environments regarding which learning outcomes were measured in cognitive, metacognitive, affective and psychomotor, behavioural and embodied learning domains. It was found that although there are plenty of experiments with immersive technologies, there is not sufficient clarity on what way these technologies may support practice-based learning. We found that the learning experiments with immersive technologies lack the collaborative coworking dimensions, and the learning process results are conceptualised at individual learner level. Research in empirical studies is focusing only on limited types of learning outcomes. The data analysis focused on learning effects and obstacles in practice-based learning with immersive technologies and synthesised the design principles that could support immersive learning.
... According to Nworgu (2016), psychomotor skills, otherwise physical skills, entail actions which involve the use of the body in the performance of activities such as coordination, manipulation, fluency, strength, and speed among others. Conforming to Ferris and Aziz (2005), such skills cover actions which demonstrate recognition; handling; basic, competent and expert use of instruments, tools and materials; planning of work operations; and expert evaluations of outputs and improvement. These skills are necessary for the development of psychomotor skills of students in Physics. ...
... The goals of the psychomotor domain are to help students master necessary skills and actions, enabling them to apply them proficiently in practical situations. This classification method gained widespread promotion and application in the United States, exerting a profound global impact not only on education but also on other fields such as psychology, training, and human resources development [4,5]. The purpose of this study was to integrate Bloom's educational goal theory into psychiatric nursing education and explore how to cultivate nursing students into psychiatric nurses who meet clinical needs in the areas of knowledge, emotion, and motor skills. ...
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Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objective (BTEO), as a classic method for categorizing educational objectives, provides a clear and specific framework for formulating teaching goals in the global education field. Psychiatric nursing, as a highly specialized discipline, demands high requirements for students in both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. However, traditional teaching methods often focus excessively on knowledge impartation, neglecting the cultivation of students’ practical abilities and emotional attitudes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to Improve the existing psychiatric nursing curriculum by combining Bloom's educational goals theory, which emphasizes the comprehensive development of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills, providing new perspectives and methods for psychiatric nursing education. By applying BTEO, specific teaching goals at different levels can be defined more clearly, and corresponding teaching strategies and methods can be employed to achieve these goals. Furthermore, the application of BTEO requires effective interaction between teachers and students. Teachers need to monitor students’ learning progress, adjust teaching strategies promptly, and ensure that students comprehensively grasp knowledge and skills. Thus, the application of this teaching strategy contributes to improving the quality of psychiatric nursing education and cultivating outstanding psychiatric nursing professionals. We hope to cultivate students' theoretical knowledge and practical skills in mental care by helping them develop their overall skills.
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Background and Aim: Smart Classrooms, as a form of rich-media learning environments, were increasingly being implemented and utilized. This study aimed to investigate the impact of Smart Classrooms on learning outcomes by examining 133 first-year vocational students from a vocational college in Yunnan Province, China. The research focused on an applied writing course and compared Cognitive, Behavioral, and Affective learning outcomes between the SEEWO Smart Classroom and traditional classrooms. Materials and Methods: In this study, 133 current vocational students participated. The participants were divided into two groups: a control group and a treatment group. The control group was taught in a traditional classroom while the treatment group was taught in a Seewo Smart Classroom. After a 10-week applied writing course, the course was evaluated using the course evaluation scale that had been used in the college for many years. This evaluation explored cognitive learning outcomes, behavioral learning outcomes, and affective learning outcomes in terms of final grades, classroom behavioral performance, and student course scoring. Results: Students in Smart Classrooms showed significant improvement in final exam scores, enhancing Cognitive learning outcomes. Behavioral outcomes, including participation and attendance, also increased. Student feedback favored Smart Classrooms over traditional settings, with no significant impacts from gender, age, or admission methods observed. Conclusion: Smart Classrooms notably enhanced Cognitive and Behavioral learning outcomes, indicating improved student performance and engagement. Positive student feedback underscores their potential to enhance educational experiences and outcomes compared to traditional classrooms.
Chapter
This chapter presents the conceptual foundations of the relationship between learning and assessment, which underpins decisions about what to assess. The main characteristics of learning progression taxonomies are developed, how them help to develop assessment indicators and some practical examples of how taxonomies are visualized in different subjects. The three domains of Bloom’s taxonomy are reviewed, the cognitive domain reviewed by Anderson et al. (2001), the affective domain oh Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masias’s Taxonomy (1964) and Psychomotor Domain of Simpson’s Taxonomy (1972). Also, the Structure of observed learning outcomes (S.O.L.O.) taxonomy proposed by Biggs and Collins (1982) is presented due to its relevance in the progression of competences. Finally, the most common problems in the formulation of objectives and learning outcomes are analysed, along with suggestions to avoid them.
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