UNIT 6: SETTING LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Key Unit competence: Formulate SMART instructional objectives for lessons in different subjects.
6.1. Importance of learning objectives
Definition of learning objective
Learning objectives are statements that define the expected goal of a curriculum, course, lesson or activity in terms of demonstrable skills or knowledge that will be acquired by a student as a result of instruction. Learning objectives are also testable or verifiable statements that describe what you intend your students to learn.
Importance of learning objectives
Teachers should set learning objectives as the foundation when planning for a lesson because if someone doesn’t know where he/she is going, he/she is unlikely to get there. The same is true with teaching. If a teacher doesn’t know what s/he wants learners to achieve by the end of the lesson/term/ year, then s/he can’t design instruction that will get them there. Learning objectives are very important in teaching and learning in the following ways:
• They provide the teacher with guidelines for developing instructional materials and teaching methods (lesson planning).
• They give direction to the learners and assist them to make better efforts to attain their goals (motivation).
• They state specifically what a student should be able to do.
• They tell students what is important: without learning objectives, it is difficult for students to know what they are supposed to be learning.
• They enable the teacher to design assessment for learning (formative assessment).
• They are also use in assessment of learning (summative assessment) in case the curriculum is objective-based.
• They ensure good assessment tools: the teachers should go through the learning objectives and make sure they assess what is prescribed in the learning objectives.
• Learning objectives encourage self-evaluation for teacher: Teachers do self-evaluation by reflecting on the degree at which the learning objectives have been achieved.
6.2. Types of learning objectives
There are three different kinds of learning objectives:
general, specific, instructional or operational objectives.
6.2.1. General objectives
General objectives
General objectives are overall objectives which indicate what to be achieved through out the curriculum or a course (long term goals). They show the right direction, but they do not explain how or when you have arrived there. They may be teacher- centred rather than student-centered.
Characteristics of general objectives
– Use of verbs that expresses a complex, vague and an abstract action which cannot be seen directly.
– Content lacking precision, without limits or vast.
– These objectives focus on course or teacher rather than the students’ point of view
Example of general objectives
– To acquire basic mathematics concepts required to solve everyday life problems;
– Model good values and professional ethics in the teaching profession
Application activity 6.2.1
Think of a topic to teacher at any level, you design general learning objectives and specify their characteristics.
Characteristics of general objectives
– Use of verbs that expresses a complex, vague and an abstract action which cannot be seen directly.
– Content lacking precision, without limits or vast.
– These objectives focus on course or teacher rather than the students’ point of view Example of general objectives
– To acquire basic mathematics concepts required to solve everyday life problems;
– Model good values and professional ethics in the teaching profession
Application activity 6.2.1
Think of a topic to teacher at any level, you design general learning objectives and specify their characteristics.
6.2.2. Specific objectives
Specific objectives
Specific objectives are intermediate learning objectives which, as they are achieved, contribute gradually to the attainment of a general objective ( NZABALIRWA.W , 2004). They have the following characteristics:
– A verb which expresses simple, precise, visible action or observable behaviour
– Precise, limited or unlimited content on which action is exerted.
– The objective is learner-centered:
Examples of specific objectives
A student teacher will be able to:
– Set relevant tasks for formative assessment
– Use assessment results to improve learner’s performances
– Select appropriate active techniques to teach a mathematic lesson in lower primary strategies
6.2.3 Operational/instructional objectives
Characteristics of quality operational / learning objectives
An operational learning objective also called instructional objective is a short-term learning objective obtained from the breakdown of general objective into smaller learning objectives. It is set by a teacher for a specific lesson, to be taught to a specific class within a well-defined context.
The operational learning objective is well defined by the following five characteristics:
– It is expressed in terms of student/ learner: it determines who you’re talking about
– Teachers have to avoid concentrating on what he/she teaches, but on changes he/she wishes to bring about in his students.
– It must be formulated in terms of behaviour/action/competence: expressed by an action verb, it shows the desired behavior from the learners.
– It has to precise the content to be taught or to be learnt
– It describes the conditions or circumstances under which the expected behaviour must be manifested.
These are working conditions and means to be used by the learners during assessment time when they are asked to accomplish the task (with or without a specific material, timing, with or without support,..)
– It defines the criterion for assessing the performance: this is the standard of performance. Criteria for acceptable performance can be qualitative when they describe various qualities that should make performance satisfactory; or quantitative where they are translated into score (marks/).
Robert MAGER tried to sum up the above characteristics of operational learning objective using ABCD model of writing objectives. In ABCD model a good objective answers the following questions:
– Audience: who will be performing the behaviour? It must be addressed to the learner.
– Behaviour: What behaviour should the learner be able to show? It must specify what learners will do.
– Condition: Under what conditions do you want the learner to be able to do it? It must specify what they will use: equipment or tools that may (or may not) be utilized in completion of the behaviour,
– Degree: States the standard for acceptable performance (time, accuracy, proportion, quality, etc) An adaptation of Robert MAGER models is ABCCD (Audience-Behavior-Content (what learners will do)- Conditions-Degree) to include the content.
In general, an operational objective must be “SMART” (Bartle, 2007)
– S: Specific: clearly and precisely expressing what students are expected to do after the lesson. –
- M: Measurable: expressed in behavioural and verifiable terms
– A: Achievable/agreed/acceptable: expressed in a predictable term – R: Realistic: expressing what is possible within the given time and means available.
– T: Time bound: specifying when the achievement or target can be realized.
Example:
When setting an operational objective it is better to respect the order in which the components are listed in the example below:
– Given a sheet of paper, a pencil, a pair of compasses and a protractor (condition/situation), the learner should be able to (learn) construct (action) a right- angle triangle (content/subject matter) accurately (standard of performance) in 10 minutes.
– Using charts illustrating the method of purification, water from river, required materials for each method and small containers P5 learners will be able to correctly practice the methods of purification in 20 minutes. – “Having their rulers and pencils, learners will be able to draw a straight line correctly” in 5 minutes.
6.3. Learning domains and their levels of taxonomies
6.3.1 Levels of cognitive domain (Bloom)
The cognitive domain refers to knowledge and mental skills: an individual idea, thoughts, knowledge interpretation and understanding about himself and his environments.
While there are many different ways of understanding how learning occurs, and there have been critiques of Bloom over the years, Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive domain is still widely used and adapted by educators at all levels to create measurable learning objectives for students.
According to Bloom, cognitive development can be organized into different levels, and “lower-order” (or less complex) thinking skills form the foundation for “higher-order” (or more complex) thinking skills. The relationships between these different levels of skills and knowledge often are represented in this diagram below.
Adaptation of Bloom’s Taxonomy In the decades since Bloom first introduced his taxonomies, his work has been the source of both inspiration and criticism. In 2000, Anderson and Krathwohl offered a revision of the original taxonomy.
They made the following changes:
– By removing the word, knowledge: since all of the cognitive processes listed are versions of knowledge (increasingly sophisticated or expert versions of knowledge we might even say), the revised version seems more accurate.
– By converting the levels to verbs, which underscores that these levels involve actions, cognitive skills to be demonstrated, rather than states of being.
– Culminating in creating, moving evaluating down a level. This strikes many disciplinary experts as appropriate. After all, until one can evaluate gaps in existing research, for example, it is difficult to create new knowledge for the field.
The pyramid of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy by Anderson is here below:
This new taxonomy reflects a more active form of thinking and more accurate. The new version of revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, with examples and verbs is shown.
6.3.2 Levels of affective domain (Krathwhol)
Affective domain
It includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, attitudes, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations and attitudes. It has five levels as described in the table below:
Psychomotor domain: The psychomotor domain refers to the use of physical motor skills, coordination and physical movement. The psychomotor domain has been revised over the years by Dave (1970), Harrow (1972), and Simpson (1972). Dave is the probably the most commonly referenced and used psychomotor domain interpretation. However, each has its uses and advantages. The following is Dave’s model (1975)
Learning domains and learning objectives
One of the characteristics of a specific or instructional objective is the “behavior” which refers to the knowledge or skills that the learner should demonstrate in any of the domains of learning: cognitive, psychomotor or affective. Thus, depending on the domain of learning there are three types of learning objectives:
– Cognitive learning objectives: having to do with knowledge and mental skills
Example: The students will be able to solve four out of five linear equations, without the aid of outside materials, in one hour.
– Psychomotor learning objectives: having to do with physical motor skills
Example: The students will demonstrate their ability to serve a volleyball with accuracy by completing eight out of ten overhand serves within the standard court lines.
– Affective learning objectives: having to do with feelings and attitudes.
Example: The students will demonstrate their acceptance of the rule “quiet while others speak” by not talking during any of the two minute speeches.
Conclusion: Learning domains are broad categories. Each one can be broken down into different levels of skills and knowledge, some simpler and some more complex as shown in the previous details above. Therefore, the teachers should set objectives that target to develop students’ abilities in all domains, as they are interrelated.
6.4. Learning objectives and competences in CBC
The Competence Based curriculum also called Curriculum for Sustainable Development aims to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary for Rwandans to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Competences in different subject syllabi are at different levels and were designed based on the leaver’s profile. These competences are at different levels as shown by the chart presented above.
Learner’s profile
This is a description of learner’s competences (in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values) by the end of a learning cycle such as pre-primary, primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary.
Broad Competences
These competences are built throughout the learning cycle period. Assessment of achievement of these competences is done through National Exams at the conclusion of Primary 6, Secondary 3, and Secondary 6.
Key competences
at the end of each grade level These competences are built during one grade level within a learning cycle. The end-year assessment is designed based on these competences to ensure learners have achieved the necessary competences and qualify for advancement or need further remediation.
Key unit competences
Key unit competences are stated throughout each subject syllabus. Syllabi are divided into units of study to organize learning and encourage teachers to focus on specific content related to learners’ daily life and the cross cutting issues. Each unit aims to develop specific competences which are evaluated through end unit assessment using integration situations. Teachers should design an integration situation to evaluate learners’ ability to combine the acquired knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required to solve problems in academic, professional, and daily life situations. Learners with poor performance in integration situations should be directed toward remediation activities, as appropriate, before moving to the next unit.
Learning objectives
Learning objectives target specific knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that learners should gain within lessons to progressively build the key unit competences. For each lessons teachers set appropriate instructional/ operational objectives based on learning objectives found in the syllabus. Teachers use appropriate discovery activities and active techniques to help learners acquire generic competences, knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. At the end of the lesson, assessment tasks inform teachers on the achievement level of instruction objectives.
1. Define learning objectives.
2. What will happen if a teacher starts teaching without having learning objectives?
3. Describe the types of learning objectives. 4. Distinguish different learning domains.
5. Create a well formulated and SMART operational objective and indicate its main parts.
6. From the list of objectives provided below, make 3 groups:
General objectives, specific objectives, operational/instructional objectives. Present your answer using the table below:
List of objectives
a. To develop clear, logical and coherent thought.
b. Given a sheet of paper, pencil, a pair of compasses and a protractor the learner should be able to construct a right-angle triangle accurately in 10 minutes.
c. To communicate orally in English
d. To differentiate formal, information, and formal education
e. Given a ruler, a paper, a pencil and protractor, learners should be able to draw a square with 90 degrees of angles accurately
f. To master the basic concepts of math and use them correctly to solve problems encountered in everyday life g. To explain the main parts of a lesson plan h. To solve first degree reducible equations and inequalities
i. To identify features of relief. j. By using computer, learners will be able to make a clear and attractive power point presentation with animations.
k. To help learners to understand and recognize the importance of mathematics in everyday life.
l. To use correctly ‘although’ in the sentence