Paul Larson, INMED Faculty and family medicine instructor at the University of Pittsburgh, notes how in 1956 Benjamin Bloom and collaborators developed a framework for classifying educational objectives. This image describes categories of behavioral learning of increasing cognitive complexity. In its most primitive form, learning is confined to recitation. With increasing maturity, learning expands toward application of what is learned, analysis of the validity of that information, and even to creation of new information.
This model of understanding has lead to tremendous shifts in healthcare education; moving the field from knowledge-orientation toward competency-accomplishment. Associated with this transformation has been the role of the teacher. She or he is no longer simply a source of information, but rather one who facilitates learning through creation of effective learning opportunities. Hence, the Bloom’s Taxonomy impacts both the Learner and the Teacher.