A DEAR-FOUR DOMAINS OF LEARNING
The acrostic stands for A Domain Embedded Achievement Response (A DEAR).
Cognitive
Affective
Conative
Intuitive
Cognitive (Knowledge, facts, information)
Understanding the breadth, depth and accuracy
of cross cultural literacy; self and others
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Conative (Action-Based)
Practice skills for building cross cultural literacy
Make positive choices to improve cross cultural literacy
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Affective (Emotion-Based)
Explore and understand feeling about:
Cross cultural literacy issues
Perceived similarities and differences
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Intuitive (Reflection-Based)
Imagine and dream about
Cross cultural literary issues
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The Domain Descriptors
It is important that school leaders and students understand how motivational factors
influence student behaviors when dealing with the challenge of school achievement. The ten
essential principles for African American student achievement stress the issue of personal
responsibility for moral action. When addressing African American achievement and the need
for moral action, there are at least four areas of focus in the process of development. These are
the cognitive, affective, conative and intuitive domains.
Merenbloom (1991) described the cognitive domain as "organized thought processes." It
is closely aligned to the knowledge and skills that humans possess. It is the commonly expressed
goal of public education. An effective character education process will aid the development of
students’ problem solving, critical, analytical, and creative thinking through enriched
opportunities and experiences in interdisciplinary learning. Character education goes beyond
just the academic skills. Huitt (1999) proposed that “cognition refers to the process of coming to
know and understand; the process of encoding, storing, processing, and retrieving information. It
is generally associated with the question of what (e.g., What happened; what is going on now;
what is the meaning of that information?).”
“Students at Promise” have difficulty activating their background knowledge and
coordinating it with new information. There are three kinds of cognition that learners utilize.
These are declarative knowledge or the “what” one needs to know; the procedural “how” one can
problem solve; and the conditional “when” does one put the others to use? Bloom (1974)
classified the process of cognition into levels starting with knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Favors and Favors (1994) shared the view of Taba’s Concept Formation.
It is a strategy to help students develop inductive thinking through using categories and teaching
students to categorize. This is higher level thinking.
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Thinking can be taught.
There is active interaction between data and individuals.
Processes of thought evolve in a correct sequence.
The affective domain according to George & Alexander (1993) is used to help students
“in the development of desirable attitudes, values, and moral judgments. It involves the
emotions and revolves around the feelings and motivations that govern the Conative behaviors.”
Students At Promise find it easier to learn in an environment which is warm and inviting. An
environment that taps into their need for emotional stability.
The affective domain according to Huitt (1999) “refers to the emotional interpretation of
perceptions, information, or knowledge. It is generally associated with one’s attachment (positive
or negative) to people, objects, ideas, etc. and asks the question, How do I feel about this
knowledge or information?” Goleman (1995) stated that it is a complex and critical area for
school success. The construct of emotional intelligence has several components including both
affective (e.g., empathy, optimism, managing emotions) and conative (e.g., setting goals, selfregulation) domains. Maslow's (1954) framework related the three earliest developmental needs
physiological, safety, belonging) within the affective domain.
The conative domain relates to behaviors and issues of human learning.
In Good’s Dictionary of Education, conation is defined as “striving or having the power to strive
or struggle toward a goal which may be conscious or unconscious; descriptive of one of the three
great divisions of the mind or soul (historically), namely, the will, as contrasted with terms
descriptive of the feeling (affective) or the power of knowing (cognitive).”
From the time we are born we have the desire to reach for the mobile in the crib. We
take one more baby step to go into the next room. The innate desire to learn is born in us, but
somewhere along the way it may be diminished. The conative domain aims at the behavior traits
that cause action and volition (Huitt 1999). The desire, will, and "hands-on" action of students
are the main thrust of this domain. After students are taught an academic skill, they may use the
conative domain to help reinforce learning by engaging in an experiment, service learning
project, or hands-on activity. There is a connection of knowledge and affect to behavior through
the conative (Huitt 1999).
It is associated with answering the question "why." Behavior skills are “necessary to accurately
process the information contained in social encounters, to engage in thoughtful social decision
making, and to be able to approach others in difficult situations without provoking anger or
annoyance.” (Elias et al.1997).
Kolbe (1990) offered a conative style, which might compare to temperament or
personality type (Keirsey 1998) as a preferred method of linking cognition and affect to actively
responding to the environment. Gholar (1991) examined the role of the conative domain in the
attainment of student achievement. The conative domain directs learner toward an allconsuming desire to achieve. It is propelled with doubt about a self-directed sense of purpose in
an atmosphere of challenge and cognitive disharmony.
Counselors and educational leaders need to understand the correlation between the will to
do and school performance. When learning is nurtured by the support of caring and responsive
professionals, the desire to achieve is heightened. Thus, the affective/cognitive connection is
buttressed to a level where students become empowered to reach beyond themselves. The power
of the affective/cognitive connection is unleashed when school counselors and other educational
professionals factor in the role of conation in the formula for school success.
Through understanding the role of the learners’ will, desire, and determination to achieve
in an academic setting, educators can more clearly understand the significance of using their
skills as change agents to activate student success. When viewed as an integral part of a sound
educational plan for developing competent and caring young people, students will emerge from
our educational institutions with a healthy sense of self, their abilities, and the world around
them.
Huitt (1999) suggested some of the conative issues one faces daily are:
What are my intentions and goals; what am I going to do; and what are my plans and
commitments?
Conation is necessary to explain how knowledge and emotion are translated into behavior
in human beings. One reason researchers in the areas of cognition and attitudes have not
demonstrated a strong ability to predict behavior is because the construct of conation has
been omitted. At the beginning of modern psychology, both emotion and conation were
considered central to its study; however, interest in these topics declined as overt
behavior and cognition received more attention.
The intuitive domain can be seen as similar to terms pertaining to internal attention,
"introspection,"and "internalization." Jung used two interesting literary elements to show the
word "intuition" (N). He said intuition, is "listening to the inner voice", heeding the prompts
from inside our minds. Intuition is, in actuality, internal attention. We give attention to what is
going on within ourselves using our mind's eye and our mind's ear, these prompts come as
thoughts and feelings. Intuition refers to the process of predicting, making inferences,
imagining, daydreaming, musing, or wondering; the introspection, or internalization about things
not in visible to the naked eye. It can be associated with the question of what if (e.g., What if ...
happened; What would happen if..?)”
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Together these domains influence how well the “Student At Promise” is able to take
advantage of the learning environment and how well he is able to meet the task of stemming
violence and negative behaviors. These interconnected domains can work in concert to provide
a positive individual learning atmosphere.
The Domains may be illustrated as the following:
Cognitive
Skills
Knowledge
Problem Solving
Critical Thinking
Creative Thinking
Analytical Thinking
Learning
Affective
Emotions
Attitudes
Beliefs
Motivations
Affiliations
Relationships
Values
Conative
Will
Desire
Effort
Experiences
Doing
Habits
Activities
Intuitive
Introspection
Reflection
Daydreaming
Musing
Wondering
Curiosity
Inner focus