operationalization of educational objectives

Bloom's most important initial work focused on what might be called 'the operationalization of educational objectives'. Bloom worked with Ralph W. Tyler at Chicago in the examiner's office and directed his attention to the development of specifications through which educational objectives could be organized according to their cognitive complexity. If such an organization or hierarchy could be developed, university examiners might have a more reliable procedure for assessing students and the outcomes of educational practice.

One of the consequences of the categories in this taxonomy is that they not only serve as means through which evaluation tasks can be formulated, but also provide a framework for the formulation of the objectives themselves. Bloom was interested in providing a useful practical tool that was congruent with what was understood at that time about the features of the higher mental processes.

Bloom's contributions to education extended well beyond the taxonomy. He was fundamentally interested in thinking and its development. His work with Broder (Bloom & Broder, 1958) on the study of the thought processes of college students was another innovative and significant effort to get into the heads of students through a process of stimulated recall and think-aloud techniques. What Bloom wanted to reveal was what students were thinking about when teachers were teaching, because he recognized that it was what students were experiencing that ultimately mattered. The use of think-aloud protocols provided an important basis for gaining insight into the black box.

In 1984 Bloom published "The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring" in the journal Educational Researcher. This paper reported on what has come to be known as Bloom's 2 Sigma Problem, which shows an astonishing positive effect for the average student in conditions of one-to-one tutoring using Mastery learning techniques. Bloom realized one-to-one tutoring is impossible for most societies, and thus encouraged educators to study combinations of other alterable variables in the learning process that may approach the 2 sigma results.[3]

He focused much of his research on the study of educational objectives and, ultimately, proposed that any given task favors one of three psychological domains: cognitive, affective, or psychomotor. The cognitive domain deals with a person's ability to process and utilize (as a measure) information in a meaningful way. The affective domain relates to the attitudes and feelings that result from the learning process. Lastly, the psychomotor domain involves manipulative or physical skills.

Benjamin Bloom headed a group of cognitive psychologists at the University of Chicago that developed a taxonomic hierarchy of cognitive-driven behavior deemed important to learning and to measurable capability. (For example, one can measure an objective that begins with the verb "describe", unlike one that begins with the verb "understand".)
 
 The Bloom's Wheel, according to Bloom's verbs and matching assessment types, and including only feasible and measurable verbs.

Bloom's classification of educational objectives, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain (Bloom et al., 1956), addresses the cognitive domain (as opposed to the psychomotor and affective domains) of knowledge. Bloom's taxonomy provides a structure in which to categorize instructional objectives and instructional assessment. He designed the taxonomy in order to help teachers and instructional designers to classify instructional objectives and goals. The taxonomy relies on the idea that not all learning objectives and outcomes have equal merit. In the absence of a classification system (a taxonomy), teachers and instructional designers may choose, for example, to emphasize memorization of facts (which makes for easier testing) rather than emphasizing other (and likely more important) learned capabilities.

Bloom's taxonomy in theory helps teachers better prepare objectives and, from there, derive appropriate measures of learned capability and higher order thinking skills. Curriculum-design, usually a state (governmental) practice, did not reflect the intent of such a taxonomy until the late 1990s. Note that Bloom, as an American academic, lacks universal approval of his constructs.[citation needed]

The curriculum of the Canadian Province of Ontario offers a good example of the application of a taxonomy of educational objectives: it provides for its teachers an integrated adaptation of Bloom's taxonomy. Ontario's Ministry of Education specifies as its taxonomic categories: Knowledge and Understanding; Thinking; Communication; Application. Teachers can classify every 'specific' learning objective, in any given course, according to the Ministry's taxonomy.Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956) et Stability and Change in Human Characteristics.

Bloom a surtout consacré son temps aux objectifs pédagogiques et affirmait que n'importe quelle tâche affecte l'un des trois domaines psychologiques : cognitif, affectif et psychomotricité. Le domaine cognitif se rapporte à la connaissance et à la compréhension des concepts et des idées. Le domaine affectif concerne les attitudes et les émotions générées par l'apprentissage. Le domaine psychomoteur se rapporte à la manipulation ou aux habiletés physiques.La Taxonomía de objetivos de la educación de Bloom se basa en la idea de que las operaciones mentales pueden clasificarse en seis niveles de complejidad creciente1 El desempeño en cada cada nivel depende del dominio del alumno en el nivel o los niveles precedentes. Por ejemplo, la capacidad de evaluar – el nivel más alto de la taxonomía cognitiva – se basa en el supuesto de que el estudiante, para ser capaz de evaluar, tiene que disponer de la información necesaria, comprender esa información, ser capaz de aplicarla, de analizarla, de sintetizarla y, finalmente, de evaluarla. La taxonomía de Bloom no es un mero esquema de clasificación, sino un intento de ordenar jerárquicamente los procesos cognitivos.

Bloom orientó un gran número de sus investigaciones al estudio de los objetivos educativos, para proponer la idea de que cualquier tarea favorece en mayor o menor medida uno de los tres dominios psicologicos principales: cognoscitivo, afectivo, o psicomotor. El dominio cognoscitivo se ocupa de nuestra capacidad de procesar y de utilizar la información de una manera significativa. El dominio afectivo se refiere a las actitudes y a las sensaciones que resultan el proceso de aprendizaje. El dominio psicomotor implica habilidades motoras o físicas.

Bloom, junto a su grupo de investigación de la Universidad de Chicago, desarrolló una Taxonomía Jerárquica de Capacidades Cognitivas que eran consideradas necesarias para el aprendizaje y que resultaban útiles para la medida y evaluación de las capacidades del individuo. Su taxonomía fue diseñada para ayudar a profesores y a diseñadores educacionales a clasificar objetivos y metas educacionales. Su teoría estaba basada en en la idea que no todos los objetivos educativos son igualmente deseables. Por ejemplo, la memorización de hechos, si bien una cualidad importante, no es comparable a la capacidad de analizar o de evaluar contenidos.

La taxonomía de Bloom la clasificación de los objetivos educativos más usada y conocida en entornos educativos. Bloom definía tres ámbitos en los que deben ubicarse los objetivos de la enseñanza:
Ámbito Cognitivo: Conocimiento, comprensión, aplicación, análisis, síntesis, evaluación
Ámbito Afectivo: Recibir (atender), responder, valorar, organización, Caracterización según valores
Ámbito Psicomotor, que es el ámbito menos desarrollado en las investigaciones de Bloom.

Los presupuestos teóricos de Bloom partían de las bases teóricas del Conductismo y del Cognitivismo.Sein besonderes Augenmerk galt der Erforschung und Beschreibung des Lernens und der damit verbundenen Lerntheorie.

1956 leitete Bloom an der University of Chicago eine Gruppe von Psychologen, die eine Taxonomie von Lernzielen erarbeitete. Er unterschied drei Hauptgebiete, die jedes Lernen stimulieren sollte: den kognitiven, den affektiven und den psychomotorischen. Weltweit bekannt wurde er durch die von ihm entwickelte 6-stufige Taxonomie der Lernziele im kognitiven Lernbereich (Wissen und intellektuelle Fähigkeiten), die später mit David Krathwohl und anderen auf alle Lernzieldimensionen erweitert wurde.Kognitive Ziele
Wissen
Verstehen
Anwenden
Analyse
Synthese
Evaluation   
Affektive Ziele
Aufmerksamwerden, Beachten
Reagieren
Werten
Strukturierter Aufbau eines Wertesystems
Erfüllt sein durch einen Wert oder eine Wertstruktur   
Psychomotorische Ziele
Imitation
Manipulation
Präzision
Handlungsgliederung
Naturalisierung