Module 2 Notes
An
Overview: Instructional Goals and Objectives
Instructional goals and objectives
have as their purpose to: (1) guide teaching, (2) guide learning, (3) communicate
the intent of instruction to others, and (4) provide guidelines for assessment.
The instructional goal is the broad aim of the unit, chapter, or lesson.
The objective is a statement about what the student will be able to do
as a result of the instruction. So the goal may be "The student will be
able to purchase items." Objectives will include making correct change
from $1.00, comparing prices and amounts to determine the best buy, etc.
The main function of properly stated
instructional goals and objectives is to describe intended learning outcomes
in performance terms. This means stated in measurable, behavioral terms.
Therefore, before tests are selected or developed, intended learning outcomes
must be clearly specified: what do we want students to learn? In past years
the emphasis has been on the products of learning - not the process of
learning. This is changing some, but the emphasis still remains largely
on the product.
There have been two major theoretical
frameworks that have impacted assessment and instruction. One is behavioral
psychology which called for analyzing learning outcomes in small steps
and specific skills and ordering them sequentially in a hierarchical manner.
There exist skills where this framework is still useful. Think about where
sequence of skills is important: perhaps in math and in learning to play
some sports.
A second theoretical framework, cognitive
research, discredited the idea that lower level skills had to be mastered
before higher level skills could be learned. The emphasis was on the active
involvement of students in constructing meaning by thinking and reasoning.
This has been useful in forcing attention on the broader educational goals.
Think about where sequence of skills is less useful: perhaps in language
arts where some children have not mastered phonics or structural analysis,
but are able to comprehend a story using context to identify unknown words.
Intermediate frameworks have evolved
that allow the use of either behavioral psychology or cognitive research.
One intermediate framework has been proposed by the authors of your text.
Linn
& Gronlund
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Knowledge
-
Understanding
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Application
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Thinking Skills
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General Skills
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Attitudes
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Interests
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Appreciations
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Adjustments
Gagne
Gagne’s framework is especially useful
in special education where objectives must address attitudes as well as
academic achievement. It is also useful in the lower grades, in music,
art, and physical education where motor skills are evaluated. A summary
follows below:
Gagne's Five Types of Learning
1. Intellectual
-
discriminations
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concrete concepts
-
defined concepts
-
rules
-
principles
2. Verbal Information
3. Cognitive Strategies
4. Motor Skills
5. Attitudes
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Affective - "I
feel . . . "
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Behavioral ? "I act
. . . "
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Cognitive ? "When I
feel this way, I act this way. I can act differently."
Bloom
The most commonly used framework is
Bloom’s taxonomy. This taxonomy may have been introduced to you in other
classes. The lowest level is knowledge and involves simple recall of facts,
next is comprehension and involves understanding (putting information in
different words). The third lowest level is application and involves using
rules, principles, procedures to solve problems. The fourth lowest level
is analysis and involves separating a concept into smaller parts; the next
level is synthesis and involves taking smaller parts and putting them into
a whole. The highest level is evaluation and involves making judgments.
See Appendix E.1 on pages 534-535 in your text.
There are many sources for lists of
objectives. You may have learned how to create your own objectives, and
there will be times when you need to create your own. However, most school
districts have created or adopted objectives, and you will be required
to use those. In this class, you will need to come up with some objectives.
Here are a few sources:
1. Methods books or text book
for the course / subject
2. Publications of Educational
Organizations
3. Encyclopedia of Educational
Research
4. Curriculum frameworks and guides
? Lee County has its own and we have a complete copy in the library. Also,
you may want to use the Sunshine
State Standards; these are available on the Web.
5. Test manuals
6. Banks of objectives
7. Experts in the field (fellow
teachers)
Parts
of an Objective
There are two parts to an objective:
1. The condition ? describes what students
will be given as a stimulus to solicit the desired behavior and implies
the context in which students must demonstrate their knowledge or skill.
2. The behavior - describes not what
we intend to do as teachers, but rather listing what we expect from the
students as a result of our instruction.
How
to Write Effective Instructional Objectives
1. State them as measurable, behavioral
objectives
2. Create the condition. What will you
present to the student as a prompt?
3. Follow the condition with ONE verb
from Bloom’s Taxonomy (See list below). This ensures that one test item
can be written for each objective.
4. You do not need criteria for "pass"
at this time.
5. How many objectives is enough?
Ten objectives is the "rule of thumb", but it depends on your instructional
goal.
6. How specific should the objectives
be? It depends on the group of students. If students have a difficult time
learning, it is advisable to make objectives sequenced in very small steps.
For example, in kindergarten a common objective is that all students learn
the 26 letters of the alphabet in lower case. A special education kindergarten
classroom might state that students learn 5 letters of the alphabet in
lower case.
7. How should the objectives be listed?
Sequence them in some logical way. If some are prerequisite, these should
go first. If not, put simpler objectives ahead of more complex objectives.
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Bloom's Taxonomy -- how to use
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Evaluation -- judge, appraise, assess,
argue, critique, recommend, debate, why
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Synthesis -- combine, report on,
integrate, create, compose, reorganizes, explains
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Analysis -- subdivide, break down,
separate, categorize, sort
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Application -- deduce, predict, infer,
speculate, use, compare, solve, construct
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Comprehension -- understands, interprets,
translates, estimates
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Knowledge -- define, identify, label, list,
name, repeat, what, when, who
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