Chapter 5, The Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive Domains, provides an in depth analysis of the three domains and discusses the different types of learning in each. The affective domain focuses on attitudes and values, the psychomotor domain focuses on developing muscular strength and coordination, and the cognitive domain focuses on transmission of knowledge and strategies. Since the cognitive domain is the emphasized so much more in today�s schools than the affective or psychomotor domains, the authors discuss it much more detail, including additional analysis of the relationship between the different levels of the cognitive domain and critical thinking.
The affective domain focuses primarily on attitudes and values. Attitudes are the feelings one forms about something based on previous experience. For example, if a student has done poorly in math throughout his or her elementary and junior high years, then he or she will probably have a negative attitude towards math upon entering high school. Attitudes, whether they are positive or negative, are learned. This means that, as a teacher of biology, if I want my students to learn to enjoy science or at least gain an appreciation for the world around them, then I will need to portray a positive attitude towards biology and science in general, even if a particular topic being studied is not necessarily the most interesting one. Values are abstract ideas that are more global in nature than attitudes and deal with how one bases their lifestyle. For example, as a teacher, I hope to teach my students the value of �open-mindedness,� or the idea that one should be willing to listen to and respect others� views and opinions, even if they differ from one�s own views and opinions.
There are five levels of the affective domain: receiving, responding, valuing, organization, and characterization by a value or value complex. These levels are organized in terms of internalization, which each level up requiring more internalized thought by the student. For example, receiving is the lowest level of the internalization and is characterized by students simply showing that they are open-minded, while characterization by a value or value complex is the highest level and is described in the book as a level of internalization where �students have arrived at and exhibited a coherent group of attitudes and�have incorporated them on a consistent basis and reflected them as an integral part of their character (p. 121.)� Despite the various levels of internalization, teachers still need to be able to measure attitudes and values. One way this can be done is by having students fill out surveys. For attitudes, the survey might ask, �How do you feel about topic X?� and the students would choose a choice ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. For values, the survey might ask students to rank various values based on personal importance to the student (1 = not important; 5 = very important.)
The psychomotor domain focuses mainly on developing muscular strength and coordination. The psychomotor domain often plays a greater role in elementary schools, where students are learning skills such as writing, balance, and hand-eye coordination. However, at the high school level specific classes, such as physical education, any sports, and shop classes, also have goals relating to the psychomotor domain. There are six levels of the psychomotor domain. From lowest level to highest level, they are: reflex movements, fundamental movements, perceptual abilities, physical abilities, skilled movements, and nondiscursive communication. As a teacher of biology, I can include the psychomotor domain by having an objective such as, �Ninth grade biology students will demonstrate how to properly focus a microscope so that, when given a slide containing numerous stained bacterial cells, the student will be able to locate and focus in on individual cells using the high power objective lens. A focused view of the cells at high power without breaking the slide will be considered achievement of this objective.�
The cognitive domain focuses on the transmission of knowledge and strategies, which is a broad range of information in and of itself. Because of the local, state, and national goals (which are mainly cognitive in nature) and standardized testing, schools tend to focus on this domain more so than the other two. There are six levels of cognitive domain (from lowest to highest level): knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The book points out that the levels of the cognitive domain are �hierarchical, which means that successful performance at the higher levels is dependent on success at the lower levels (p. 128.)� This hierarchy allows teachers to:
1. Expand a student�s view of learning from simple rote memorization to the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills
2. Structure learning activities so that new skills learned are dependent on the understanding of previously learned, less difficult skills
3. Reflect on their teaching methods.
Additionally, objectives can be written so that they reflect the appropriate cognitive level task that the teacher wants his or her students to learn. Too often, many schools seem to focus on the lower levels of the cognitive domain, such as memorization of facts, instead of focusing on the higher levels that involve critical thinking and problem-solving skills. While there is some controversy regarding whether or not critical thinking skills can be successfully taught to students, teachers still need to provide students with learning opportunities, such as those found at the higher levels of the cognitive domain.
This chapter showed me that all three domains are important for total student development (socially, physically, and mentally). While knowledge does play a major role in determining acceptance into college, other factors, such as attitudes, values, and physical fitness are also important in determining a student�s ultimate success and overall well-being. In order for students to learn critical thinking and problem solving skills, teachers need to plan for activities that will utilize these higher cognitive levels. Writing objectives that focus on higher-level cognitive tasks will help students hone their skills in these areas.