Psychomotor Domain Performance Gap Analysis

Introduction

The Bloom taxonomy is a concept that was initially introduced by Bloom and at the time, the logic behind it was the fact that one of the most effective ways of learning was through the student or learner copying actions being carried out by the instructor or someone else who was of influence. Bloom however failed to get into the details of this new phenomenon that had been highlighted in the learning process citing issues such as lack of adequate literature given the fact that it was a relatively new concept. Simpson however managed to refine the topic through the introduction of the psychomotor domain.

The term psychomotor is a compound word made up of the prefix ‘psycho’ and a suffix ‘motor.’ The first word psycho refers to anything of the mind while the second part refers to movement. This domain of learning proposed by Simpson looked at the different ways people learnt from scratch how to carry out a host of complex or specialist motor skills in the field of science, art and even sports. These included scientific experimentation, dancing and also playing various sports or musical instruments among many other activities. Simpson (1971) came up with a total of seven psychomotor categories that would enhance Bloom’s initial findings.

The seven psychomotor categories advanced by Simpson are Origination, Perception, Set, Guided Response, Mechanism, Complex Overt Response and Adaptation. These do not occur randomly but rather manifest themselves at different stages when one is acquiring a motor skill. The success of the learning process is eventually seen in the precision, technique, speed and magnitude of the learner’s performance. The parameter that is used to cover these is simply known as the skill level an individual possesses. The purpose of this task is to identify the gaps that are bound to exist in the seven steps of the psychomotor domain presented by Simpson (1971). To aid in the illustration of the gaps, specific actions will be highlighted.

Perception

The first step in the psychomotor domain according to Simpson (1971) is known as Perception and this is the ability to use the different sensory stimuli as guides for motor activity. These stimuli may be in the form of what one sees, hears, smells, feels or tastes. The action to be taken by the individual will depend on the manner which the individual perceives the information. An example can be a student in a culinary institute adjusting the heat output of the stove after smelling and tasting the ingredients being prepared. The gap that exists in the perception domain is the level of knowledge that the individual has regarding the subject matter at hand as well as the efficiency of his or her senses. Having a poor sense of smell will lead to an inappropriate action.

Set

The second step in this domain is known as Set and it refers to an individual’s readiness to act. There are three components to this set and they are the mental, the emotional and the physical sets. At times they are referred to as mindsets. An example of this set may be an acrobat’s knowledge of his or her capabilities as well as limitations. The gap that exists in this domain is the fact that an imbalance in any one of the domains is bound to skew the mindset of the individual. Emotions for instance have the capacity to make us have an exaggerated or diminished view of our abilities.

Guided Response

This is one of the early stages in the learning of a complicated skill and it mainly involves the imitation of actions that an expert is engaging in. the novice goes through a lot of trial and error in a bid to refine the newly acquired motor skills. The learner gains confidence and skill as this process continues. An example of how this is manifested is the act of a student following a formula used by the professor in the solution of a quadratic equation. At first he or she may get it wrong but with time he or she will get to know how to make use of the mathematical operators. The gap that exists in this psychomotor domain is the fact that some of the actions will only be successful in a controlled environment and not day to day situations.

Mechanism

This is simply defined as the ability an individual possesses to undertake a complex motor skill. It is another intermediate skill and by this stage it is likely that the motor skill has already become the individual’s habit. An example of this may be the act of an individual effortlessly executing a complex dance routine without referring to an external source. The gap that exist with respect to this domain is the fact that acquisition of skills may be dependent on variables outside of the learning environment such as talent, physical strength, mental capacity and access to the relevant resources.

Complex or Overt Response

This is yet another intermediate stage in the learning of a complex task that has a series of complicated movements in a manner that seems rather effortless. This stage is also marked by increased confidence as one engages in the action. An example of this may be the maneuvering of a vehicle into a tight parking spot without much struggle. The gap in this domain is the fact that the acquired ‘expertise’ makes it hardly possible for the person to advance in learning and this ironically makes the skill a limitation given that the learning process plateaus.

Adaptation

With adaptation, the individual’s skills have grown to such an extent that he or she can easily modify the learned movements for other purposes other than what they were intended. An example would be the use of one’s type-writing skills on a laptop in the processing of word documents. This could also be seen in the act of an individual use a machine for a task other than what it was intended for. The gap that exists with adaptation is that it has the potential of diminishing the usefulness of skills that an individual had acquired.

Origination

This is the process of coming up with new motor movement patterns in such a manner that makes them fit into new situations that present themselves. This is used on the solution of new problems related to the skill that one has acquired. This is the highest level of the psychomotor domain according to Simpson (1971). This may involve coming up with a new choreographic sequence from scratch. The gap that exists with origination is the fact that it is quite hard come up with something that is truly unique without drawing inspiration from somewhere.

Reference

Simpson, E. (1971). Educational objectives in the psychomotor domain. Behavioral objectives in curriculum development: selected readings and bibliography, 60.