updated for fall, 2005
Goals and objectives are essential for planning.
Learning goals and learning objectives are the intended outcomes of a learning activity.
The terms are often used interchangeably, but you may consider goals to be more general and objectives to be more specific.
Learning goals and objectives have two purposes:
(1) Guide the planning, development and evaluation of learning environments, activities and resources
(2) Orient students to the purposes of learning activities and assessments
Robert Mager advocated a three-part form for instructional objectives:
(1) Description of terminal performance
(2) Conditions of performance
(3) Criteria for performance
Example
After completing the lesson, the student will be able to:
(1) Say appropriate consonant sound for p, b, t, d, g, or k
(2) When presented with a printed letter on a card
(3) 11 correct out of 12 trials (presenting each letter twice)
The most important part is the verb that describes performance.
Mager's approach is appropriate for simple discrete skills, but is not workable for complex, higher order learning goals.
It is useful to think of goals and objectives as forming a hierarchy with the most general objectives at the top level and the most specific objectives at the bottom level.
In our education system, many players have a role in defining learning goals and objectives: Ministry of Education, school boards, teachers, students.
Programmatically sanctioned learning goals that are interpreted and presented by a teacher are not necessarily the same as the learning goals that students actually accept.
In more constructivist learning environments, the students’ role in identifying personal and collective learning goals is expanded.
Bloom and colleagues developed objectives for the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.
The cognitive process dimension is used to generate the key verb in the objective:
| Cognitive Process | Examples of Verbs |
| 1. Remember | recall, reproduce, describe, say |
| 2. Understand | translate, explain, summarize, discuss, give examples of, generalize |
| 3. Apply | use, solve, produce, predict, demonstrate, implement |
| 4. Analyze | distinguish, subdivide, relate, organize |
| 5. Evaluate | appraise, assess, criticize, defend |
| 6. Create | adapt, generate, plan, compose |
We often speak of lower level objectives (remember, understand) and higher level objectives (analyze, evaluate, create).
There is evidence of hierarchy at the lower levels. Generally, you must be able to remember before you can understand, and understand before you can apply. But there is little evidence that apply, analyze, evaluate and create have consistent prerequisite relationships.
The revised version of the cognitive taxonomy adds a new knowledge dimension. These are used to generate the key noun (or noun phrase) in the learning objective.
| Type of Knowledge | Examples of Noun Phrases |
| A. Factual Knowledge | sound of the letter p, names of scientists who discovered insulin, population of Vancouver |
| B. Conceptual Knowledge | definition of mammalia, dual coding theory |
| C. Procedural Knowledge | addition of two-digit numbers, how to set up a microscope |
| D. Metacognitive Knowledge | how to stay motivated, learning strategies |
Receiving (agreeing to go to a Japanese restaurant)
Responding (tasting sushi)
Valuing (ordering a sushi dish)
Organization (saying "Sushi is one of my favorite foods. Let's go to a Japanese Restaurant more often.")
Characterization by Value (visiting a Japanese Restaurant once a week to eat sushi.)
simple actions --> complex, coordination actions
Recitation is a teacher-led, whole class activity.
Three parts to recitation:
(1) Structure -- introduce activity by giving background and setting framework
(2) Solicitation -- ask questions
(3) Reaction -- give feedback, praise, correct, elaborate
* Adjust the question to the level of students and the learning goals
* Cover a range of knowledge types and process types (Bloom's taxonomy)
* Use divergent and convergent questions as appropriate. Divergent questions are needed to develop critical and creative thinking.
* Wait at least 3 to 5 seconds before asking a student to answer.
* For difficult questions, plan some brief activity to generate ideas (jot down pros and cons).
* Ask questions that identify misconceptions. Ask further questions to lead the student into contradiction. (Socratic method)
* Listen carefully. Parse the student's answer.
* Identify elements in the answer that are correct, and comment on them. "You are right that..."
* For incorrect elements, either immediately correct or ask further questions to reveal the error.
* Use your response to repeat the needed knowledge, regardless of correctness. Remember, the whole class is listening.
* Maintaining the cognitive activity of students is an important goal. Either direct or student-centred methods may be appropriate if the student is cognitively engaged.
* During a lecture, student attention tends to decrease after 15 minutes (Burns, 1985; Johnstone & Percival, 1976). Thus, limit presentations to mini-lectures less than 15 minutes. For example, introduce a collaborative activity with a 10-minute mini-lecture.
* Lengthy student presentations are at least as detrimental to engagement as lengthy teacher presentations. Thus, brief student presentations interspersed with other activities are more effective.
* When students are discussing a problem in a group, ask metacognitive questions: Have you got all the information? How certain are you of your hypothesis? Can you generalize that idea?
* Ensure that one or a few students are not dominating group discussions.
Teacher Knowledge
* Logically, teacher knowledge relates to student achievment.
Teacher Clarity and Organization
* Teacher clarity correlates with achievement.
Teacher Warmth and Enthusiasm
* Correlates with achievement and attitude
Teacher Social Presence
* Correlates with student attitude in online settings.
As discussed in the textbook, research suggests that reading programs should balance the whole language and phonics approaches.
Modeling -- for example, when a teacher or parent reads a book to a child.
Intrinsic Motivation -- for example, when a child is introduced to an exciting new story.
Interpretive Strategies -- for example, when a child learns to predict what will happen next in a story.
Phonemic Awareness -- for example when a child understands that "mother" has two vowel sounds.
Decoding -- for example, when a child recognizes a word by sounding it out.
One argument formerly used by whole language proponents, was that the context of a word is an effective means to learn to read the word. Context is a good way to learn vocabulary, but it is an inefficient method for learning to read.
High ability children are often able to learn to read without phonics instruction. However, many children strongly benefit from explicit instruction in decoding.
Burns, R. A. (1985, May). Information impact and factors affecting recall. Paper presented at Annual National Conference on Teaching Excellence and Conference of Administrators, Austin TX. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 258 639)
Johnstone, A. H., & Percival, F. (1976). Attention breaks in lectures. Education in Chemistry, 13, 49-50.