her two domains - Cognitive and Affective, and for the alternative Psychomotor Domains suggested by Harrow and Simpson below.)
alternative psychomotor domain taxonomy versions
Dave's Psychomotor Domain above is probably the most commonly referenced and used psychomotor domain interpretation. There are certainly two others; Simpson's, and Harrow's, (if you know any others please contact us).
It's worth exploring and understanding the differences between the three Psychomotor Domain interpretations. Certainly each is different and has a different use.
In my view the Dave model is adequate and appropriate for most adult training in the workplace.
For young children, or for adults learning entirely new and challenging physical skills (which may require some additional attention to awareness and perception, and mental preparation), or for anyone learning skills which involve expression of feeling and emotion, then the Simpson or Harrow models can be more useful because they more specifically address these issues.
Simpson's version is particularly useful if you are taking adults out of their comfort zones, because it addresses sensory, perception (and by implication attitudinal) and preparation issues. For example anything fearsome or threatening, like emergency routines, conflict situations, tough physical tasks or conditions.
Harrow's version is particularly useful if you are developing skills which are intended ultimately to express, convey and/or influence feelings, because its final level specifically addresses the translation of bodily activities (movement, communication, body language, etc) into conveying feelings and emotion, including the effect on others. For example, public speaking, training itself, and high-level presentation skills.
The Harrow and Simpson models are also appropriate for other types of adult development. For example, teaching adults to run a difficult meeting, or make a parachute jump, will almost certainly warrant attention on sensory perception and awareness, and on preparing oneself mentally, emotionally, and physically. In such cases therefore, Simpson's or Harrow's model would be more appropriate than Dave's.
simpson's psychomotor domain taxonomy
Elizabeth Simpson's interpretation of the Psychomotor domain differs from Dave's chiefly because it contains extra two levels prior to the initial imitation or copy stage. Arguably for certain situations, Simpson's first two levels, 'Perception' and 'Set' stage are assumed or incorporated within Dave's first 'Imitation' level, assuming that you are dealing with fit and healthy people (probably adults rather than young children), and that 'getting ready' or 'preparing oneself' is part of the routine to be taught, learned or measured. If not, then the more comprehensive Simpson version might help ensure that these two prerequisites for physical task development are checked and covered. As such, the Simpson model or the Harrow version is probably preferable than the Dave model for the development of young children.
|psychomotor domain (simpson)|
|level||category or 'level'||description||examples of activity or demonstration and evidence to be measured||'key words' (verbs which describe the activity to be trained or measured at each level)|
|1||Perception||awareness||use and/or selection of senses to absorb data for guiding movement||recognise, distinguish, notice, touch , hear, feel, etc|
|2||Set||readiness||mental, physical or emotional preparation before experience or task||arrange, prepare, get set|
|3||Guided Response||attempt||imitate or follow instruction, trial and error||imitate, copy, follow, try|
|4||Mechanism||basic proficiency||competently respond to stimulus for action||make, perform, shape, complete|
|5||Complex Overt Response||expert proficiency||execute a complex process with expertise||coordinate, fix, demonstrate|
|6||Adaptation||adaptable proficiency||alter response to reliably meet varying challenges||adjust, integrate, solve|
|7||Origination||creative proficiency||develop and execute new integrated responses and activities||design, 