Psychomotor learning is the practical application of cognitive knowledge through fine and gross motor skills. Bloom’s taxonomy categorizes cognitive and affective learning, but not psychomotor. Various taxonomies have been developed, including EJ Simpson’s model, which includes perception, mindset development, guided response, mechanism and complex overt response, and adaptation. Other taxonomies include A. Harrow’s and RH Dave’s models. Fine motor skills taught in school include coloring, cutting, and writing, while gross motor skills are needed in acting and PE classes.
Psychomotor learning is one of three domains of learning according to BS Bloom, who developed Bloom’s taxonomy for learning goals in the 1950s. It is the type of learning that puts cognitive knowledge into practice through fine and gross motor skills. Bloom did not subdivide psychomotor learning as he did cognitive and affective learning, but later educational theorists have devised various systems for assessing it.
Fine motor skills taught in school are one area of psychomotor learning. Tasks such as coloring, cutting and writing require the child to first understand what is involved in the task – cutting on the lines, drawing a circle – and then completing the necessary steps. Similarly, working at a computer involves both cognitive understanding and the skills to manipulate the keyboard and mouse.
Another type of psychomotor learning focuses on gross motor skills. Acting and PE classes are areas of education where these skills are likely to be needed. Athletic activities, such as playing basketball, combine the ability to quickly decide what action is needed and then respond accordingly. Acting courses require students to use affective learning as well, to understand the motivations of the characters they are portraying.
Bloom famously categorized cognitive and affective learning into six increasingly complex tasks. These start with a simple knowledge of facts and arrive at the analysis and evaluation of ideas. He didn’t do the same for psychomotor learning, so many competing taxonomies have developed.
EJ Simpson’s 1972 model of psychomotor development begins with perception, which involves understanding simple tasks and perceiving how they should be performed. Next, students must develop the appropriate mindset to complete the activity. In the guided response stage, a teacher or coach guides students through the steps in the process. In the mechanism and complex overt response stages, students perform the task with increasing speed, strength, agility, or confidence. Finally, students must be able to adapt their skills to new situations or to create new products based on their skills.
Both A. Harrow and RH Dave have proposed alternative taxonomies, which have not been as popular as Simpson’s. In Harrow’s taxonomy of psychomotor learning, infants begin with spontaneous rather than learned reflex movements. They then develop basic skills, such as walking, and eventually progress to dexterous movements. Dave’s five-step model includes imitating the movements of others at a low skill level, developing more precision in the movements, and finally working at such a high level that the process becomes automatic and natural.
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