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Tools for organizing training, part 2

Lab Animal volume 45, pages 301–302 (2016)Cite this article

Traditionally, the process of instruction or teaching has been carried out using rote learning. A typical example of this is the teacher who stands before the class and gives a lecture. Students take notes, memorize facts and, for assessment, take a test, which often includes multiple-choice questions. Trainers in lab animal science should ask themselves when and where this model of learning is appropriate. It can indeed work well for material like that of the AALAS certification examination, but does it suffice for processes like surgery and cage washing? We intentionally use these contrasting examples to illustrate two different kinds of learning: what we know and how we do something. These are equivalent to the concepts of knowledge and skill, respectively. In some instances, learning also conveys ability—the proficiency to take action at critical times—and these concepts are often considered collectively as knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). This is the case in applications for jobs with the federal government, which specifically evaluate KSAs to determine what an applicant has learned1. Often these three aspects of learning are related, and a learner must amass facts (knowledge) to know how to apply information (skills) and when to do so (abilities). For example, in the case of different types and classifications of medications, only once students know a lot about pharmaceuticals can they begin to learn how and when to use them in medical applications. To be sure, learning facts about drugs entails learning about how to administer them correctly. In this case and many others, KSAs are often taught together. Similarly, the 'ABCs of learning' is an initialism for the terms 'affective learning and attitude', 'behavior and skills', and 'cognitive learning and knowledge'2. For a trainer, these two initialisms, KSA and ABC, should come to mind as potential tools when thinking about designing a curriculum.

Bloom's taxonomy for learning incorporates these and other concepts under three learning domains (Table 1; ref. 3). In practice, most educators focus on the cognitive domain of learning, which we will explore more in the third part of this series. But trainers should appreciate the psychomotor and affective domains too, since they take part in skill sets and business goals.

Table 1 Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Levels of engagement in learning are grouped within their domains, listed in descending order from most to least complex.
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References

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The importance of KSA's (knowledge, skills and abilities) in the federal application process. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Human Resource Management Office http://www.cdc.gov/hrmo/ksahowto.htm (accessed 1 June 2016).

  2. Kennedy, B.W. Management of education and training programs. in Management of Laboratory Animal Care and Use Programs. (eds. Suckow, M.A., Douglas, F.A. & Weichbrod, R.H.) (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2002).

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  3. Bloom, B.S. (ed.) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Book 1: The Cognitive Domain. (Longman, New York, 1956).

  4. Aungst, G. Using Webb's Depth of Knowledge to increase rigor. Edutopia http://www.edutopia.org/blog/webbs-depth-knowledge-increase-rigor-gerald-aungst (2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kennedy is a Lecturer and Compliance Associate at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA,,

    Bruce W. Kennedy (Column Coordinator)

  2. Huber is a Training Coordinator at MFA Incorporated, Columbia, MO, and,

    Christal Huber

  3. Waldis is a Technical Trainer at Charles River Laboratories, Frederick, MD.,

    Heather Waldis

Authors
  1. Bruce W. Kennedy
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  2. Christal Huber
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  3. Heather Waldis
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Kennedy, B., Huber, C. & Waldis, H. Tools for organizing training, part 2. Lab Anim 45, 301–302 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.1069

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