Some Thoughts on the affective domain in Bloom's Taxonomy, learning styles, and mansplaining

One afternoon in my drab office yet again, Jasmin was somehow engaged and answering some questions but I was talking more than she.

I talk about writing “Learning Objectives” and how important it is in organizing community projects. I use a PowerPoint presentation so we both stare into the laptop.

I am probably "mansplaining" again. She is yawning, again.

Let me mansplain mansplaining to you: it's to explain something in a manner that is condescending or patronizing to the recipient. Get it? Simple right? Is that condescending enough for you?

All kidding aside, not only is mansplaining condescending, it is also boring.

Not only is mansplaining condescending,

it is also boring

At the end, though, Jasmin remarks that she wants to try writing objectives as I instruct. This points out to me that rather than merely reading and listening, she might be more of a learning-by-doing type of person.

So I decide to talk about something that she might find more relevant to her. I talk about her shyness, her symptoms, her manifestations of shyness, what induces it. She talked about this before and even wrote it in her “expectations” of the course. However now, she begins to open up more. She begins to talk more. Words begin to float inside my small office.

Words begin to float

inside my small office

She is explaining more. Her eyes are engaged. She is looking at me. Laughing at some of her examples. It would seem that she is more engaged in the affective side of conversations rather than the cognitive side. I shut down my laptop.

Although, I think that both the affective and the cognitive domain are important, the question is why is she engaged more in the shyness topic? How can I also produce more engagement in the "learning objectives" topic?

Maybe, it’s not the topic but the approach to teaching that’s the problem. Perhaps I could still teach about “learning objectives” using a more affective approach, for example, use methods like debate, commitment-setting, journaling, etc.

I give her an assignment with shyness. She will visit the, Mayor's office and write a journal about how she interacted with the institution.  How she coped with shyness. She seems excited and very willing to try it.

To tell you the truth, although this is in the curriculum, I am not sure about what I am doing. Who knows how this will turn out? Now I’m just waiting for either a caterpillar to grow into a butterfly or an upsurge from a timed bomb!

What do you think of the affective domain? What are the teaching techniques that focus on the affective domain?

What do you think of learning styles? How do we encourage students to learn even if they have different learning styles?

What can you say about mansplaining? As teachers, how do we know if we are doing it? How do we avoid it?

Click here to read about learning styles:

Click here to read about mansplaining.

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