psycho motor domain

Psycho motor objectives are those specific to discreet physical functions, reflex actions and interpretive movements. Traditionally, these types of objectives are concerned with the physically encoding of information, with movement and/or with activities where the gross and fine muscles are used for expressing or interpreting information or concepts. This area also refers to natural, autonomic responses or reflexes.

It is interesting to note that while the cognitive taxonomy was described in 1956, and the affective in 1964, the psycho motor domain were not fully described until the 1970s. And while I have chosen to use the work of Anita Harrow here, there are actually two other psycho motor\ taxonomies to choose from — one from E. J. Simpson (1972) and the other from R.H. Dave (1970). See full citations and hyperlink below.

As stated earlier, to avoid confusion, if the activity is simply something that is physical which supports another area — affective or cognitive — term the objective physical rather than psycho motor. Again, this goes to instructional intent. A primary example of something physical which supports specific cognitive development and skills might be looking through a microscope, and then identifying and drawing cells. Here the instructional intent of this common scientific activity is not to develop specific skilled proficiency in microscope viewing or in reproducing cells through drawing. Usually the key intent in this activity is that a physical action supports or is a vehicle for cognitive growth and furthering recognition skills. The learner is using the physical action to achieve the cognitive objectives — identify, recognize, and differentiate varied types of cells.

If you are using a physical activity to support a cognitive or affective function, simply label it as something physical (labeling the objective as kinesthetic, haptic, or tactile is also acceptable) and avoid the term psycho motor. Rather labeling something psycho motor means there is a very clear educational intention for growth to occur in the psycho motor/kinesthetic domain.

Certainly more complex learning objectives can be written so that they that meld 2 or 3 domains. For instance, students can gain appreciation (an affective objective) for the culture or country of origin through conducting investigations or listening to stories while learning the dances from other countries.  Learning dance steps would fall under “skilled movements” in the psycho motor domain.