Bloom's taxonomy centers around three key learning domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. The cognitive domain focuses on the student's ability to retain information, understand it and apply it accurately in a given situation. The affective domain deals with the student's emotional and social attitudes towards the subject. The psychomotor domain focuses on the student's ability to physically interact with and manipulate tools involved in the subject. According to Bloom, the cognitive domain is the most essential as the other two areas cannot be accessed without cognitive knowledge of the subject.
For a sample lesson applying Bloom's taxonomy to biology, examine scientific taxonomy. To satisfy the cognitive domain, you would ask your class to name the order of taxonomy (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species). Also, ask them to name the genus and species of human beings to test specific knowledge. You could also give them a hypothetical creature and ask them how it would be classified to test their ability to apply knowledge. To satisfy the affective domain, have a discussion about the number of endangered species. For the psychomotor domain, create a game where your students have to physically match various animals with their particular taxonomic kingdoms.
To apply Bloom's taxonomy to chemistry, create a lesson about the elements. For the cognitive domain, ask students to say how many elements are on the periodic table and explain how those elements are arranged. Also, ask them to give the name and atomic mass of at least 10 elements. To test knowledge application, ask your students to create their own hypothetical element. For the affective domain, host a class debate about carbon and its effect on the atmosphere. For the psychomotor domain, have students conduct a simple, hands-on chemical experiment.
For a physics lesson using Bloom's taxonomy, teach your students about basic terms in physics. For the cognitive domain, ask students to define the terms mass, matter, weight, speed, velocity, acceleration and force. Also, ask them to give the mathematical equation for each of those terms. To test knowledge application, give your students several sample equations to solve using their knowledge of the terms. For the affective domain, have a class discussion about the physics of automobiles. For the psychomotor domain, have students conduct a physics experiment, such as a mini-rocket launch.