Bloom's Taxonomy refers to a classification of the different objectives that educators set for students (learning objectives). The taxonomy was first presented in 1956 through the publication "The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain," by Benjamin Bloom (editor), M. D. Englehart, E. J.

Furst, W. H. Hill, and David Krathwohl. It is considered to be a foundational and essential element within the education community as evidenced in the 1981 survey "Significant writings that have influenced the curriculum: 1906-1981", by H. G.

Shane and the 1994 yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. A great mythology has grown around the taxonomy, possibly due to many people learning about the taxonomy through second hand information. Bloom himself considered the Handbook, "one of the most widely cited yet least read books in American education." Key to understanding the taxonomy and its revisions, variations, and addenda over the years is an understanding that the original Handbook was intended only to focus on one of the three domains (as indicated in the domain specification in title), but there was expectation that additional material would be generated for the other domains (as indicated in the numbering of the handbook in the title).

Bloom also considered the initial effort to be a starting point, as evidenced in a memorandum from 1971 in which he said, "Ideally each major field should have its own taxonomy in its own language - more detailed, closer to the special language and thinking of its experts, reflecting its own appropriate sub-divisions and levels of education, with possible new categories, combinations of categories and omitting categories as appropriate." Bloom's Taxonomy divides educational objectives into three "domains:" Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. Within the taxonomy learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels (Orlich, et al. 2004).

A goal of Bloom's Taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education. Skills in the affective domain describe the way people react emotionally and their ability to feel another living thing's pain or joy. Affective objectives typically target the awareness and growth in attitudes, emotion, and feelings.

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