A taxonomy for behavioral objectives in a dental school

This paper describes a taxonomy proposed for use by dental school faculties as an aid in specifying their course objectives in behavioral terms. This taxonomy, developed and tried at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, is simpler than taxonomies previously proposed because it reduces the number of categories. In addition, the categories themselves are designed to communicate to and be interpreted by dental educators. The six categories are (1) knowledge of facts, concepts, and principles; (2) comprehension; (3) perceptual ability; (4) diagnosis and treatment planning skills; (5) motor skills; and (6) interactive skills. Each category is briefly defined and illustrated with two samples from operative dentistry.