Benjamin Bloom

Benjamin Samuel Bloom
Born	February 21, 1913(1913-02-21) Lansford, Pennsylvania
Died	September 13, 1999(1999-09-13) (aged 86)
Nationality	American
Education	Ph.D. in Education
Alma mater	Pennsylvania State University, University of Chicago
Occupation	Educational psychologist
Employer	American Educational Research Association

Benjamin Samuel Bloom (February 21, 1913 – September 13, 1999) was an American educational psychologist who made contributions to the classification of educational objectives and to the theory of mastery-learning. He also directed a research team which conducted a major investigation into the development of exceptional talent whose results are relevant to the question of eminence, exceptional achievement, and greatness.^[1]

Biography

Benjamin Samuel Bloom^[2] was born on February 21, 1913, in Lansford, Pennsylvania. From the Pennsylvania State University, he gained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1935. Later, in March 1942, he received his education Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Bloom died on September 13, 1999.

Bloom's theories

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.

See also

• Bloom's Taxonomy
• David Krathwohl
• Higher-order thinking

References

1. ^ Bloom, B. S. (ed). (1985). Developing Talent in Young People. New York: Ballentine Books.
2. ^ Honan, William H. (15 September 1999). "Obituary: Benjamin Bloom, 86, a Leader In the Creation of Head Start". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E4DB163CF936A2575AC0A96F958260. Retrieved 18 April 2011. 
3. ^ Bloom, B. (1984). "The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring", Educational Researcher, 13:6(4-16).

Further reading

• Bloom, Benjamin S. (1980). All Our Children Learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956). Published by Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA. Copyright (c) 1984 by Pearson Education.
• Bloom, B. S. (ed). (1985). Developing Talent in Young People. New York: Ballentine Books.
• Eisner, Eliot W. "Benjamin Bloom: 1913-1999." Prospects, the quarterly review of comparative education (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education), vol. XXX, no. 3, September 2000. Retrieved from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/bloome.pdf on April 10, 2009.

Educational offices
Preceded by Lee Cronbach	President of the American Educational Research Association 1965-1966	Succeeded by Julian Stanley

Persondata
Name	Bloom, Benjamin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 21, 1913
Place of birth	Lansford, Pennsylvania
Date of death	September 13, 1999
Place of death