The Skill of Writing Instructional Objectives in Behavioural Terms

In this post, you will be able to learn everything about the skill of writing instructional objectives in behavioural terms. This is one of the major skills of Micro-Teaching. Here you will be able to learn the objectives, meaning, and application of these skills briefly. This will help you make a micro lesson plan for the skill of writing instructional objectives for any subject.

How to Write Instructional Objectives in Behavioural Term in Micro-Teaching Lesson Plan

Before you start making your lesson plan for the skill of writing instructional objectives in behavioral terms for any subject, you should have a brief knowledge of this skill. This is a note and explanation for this skill of micro-teaching. This is the first skill of micro-teaching. So, you need to start right from this.

Classification of Objectives:

The most commonly used system for classifying objectives is the taxonomy developed by Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill & krawthwohl (1956) and krathwhol, Bloom,& Masai (1964).

 This system is divided into three major categories or domains of learning:

• The Cognitive Domain
• The Affective Domain
• The Psychomotor Domain

Level of Cognitive Domain:

• Learning intent in the cognitive domain ranges from simple recall of facts to complex synthesis of information and the creation of new ideas.
•  Dr. Bloom has divided the cognitive domain into six categorization proceeds from simple to complex acts i.e. knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. However, Bloom’s two highest levels, synthesis, and evaluation have been combined into a single “creative” level.
  • 1. Knowledge:
    • Knowledge learning refers to the simple recall of previously learned materials.
    • This may involve the recall of terminology, basic principles, generalizations, and specific facts. Knowledge level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as – identify, define, list, match, write, describe, and state.
  • 2. Comprehension:
    • Comprehension is the lowest level of understanding and may involve changing the form of previously learned material or making simple interpretations
    • Comprehension level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: translate, convert, paraphrase, rewrite summarize, explain and differentiate.
  • 3. Application:
    • Analysis entails breaking down material into its component parts so that it can be better understood
    • It may involve the identification of components, analysis of relationships between parts, and recognition of organizational principles and structures. Analysis level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: select, separate, subdivide, identify and break down
  • 4. Creation:
    • Creation entails combining components to form a new whole or to produce an evaluation based on specified criteria.
    • Creation level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: design, plan, compose compare, conclude, explain and interpret.

Levels of Affective Learning:

• Objectives in the affective domain are concerned with emotional development. Thus the affective domain deals with attitudes, feelings, and emotions and they vary according to the degree of internalization sought.
• The affective domain presented here has been adapted from the work of Krathwohl et al. (1964), and it too combines the two highest levels, organization and characterization, into a single labeled “commitment.”
  • 1. Receiving:
    • Receiving involves being aware of and being willing to freely attend to a stimulus (listen and look).
    • Receiving level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: follow, select, rely, choose, ask, hold, give and locate.
  • 2. Responding:
    • Responding involves active participation.
    • It involves not only freely attending to a stimulus but also voluntarily reacting to it in some way.
    • It requires physical, active behavior. Responding level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: read, help, answer, practice, report, greet, tell and perform.
  • 3. Valuing:
    • Valuing refers to voluntarily giving worth to an object, phenomenon, or stimulus.
    • Behaviors at this level reflect a belief, appreciation, or attitude.
    • Valuing level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: initiate, ask, invite, share, join, follow, read, study and work.
  • 4. Commitment:
    • Commitment involves building an internally consistent value system and freely living by it.
    • A set of criteria is established and applied in choice making.
    • Commitment level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: alter, integrate, relate, synthesize, act, listen, use and verify.

Levels of Psychomotor Learning:

• Objectives in the psychomotor domain relate to the development of muscular and motor skills and range from beginning to expert performances.
• In this text, three levels of learning are included in the psychomotor taxonomy.
  • 1. Intimation:
    • Imitation refers to the ability to carry out the basic essentials of skill when given directions and under supervision.
    • At this level the total act is not performed with skill, nor is timing and coordination refined.
    • Imitation level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: construct, dismantle, drill, change, clean, follow and use.
  • 2. Manipulation:
    • Manipulation refers to the ability to perform a skill independently.
    • The entire skill can be performed in sequence.
    • Conscious effort is no longer needed to perform the skill, but complete accuracy has not been achieved.
    • Manipulation level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: connect, create, fasten, weigh and sketch.
  • 3. Precision:
    • Precision refers to the ability to perform an act accurately, efficiently, and harmoniously. Complete coordination of the skill has been acquired.
    • The skill has been internalized to such an extent that it can be performed unconsciously.
    • Precision level objectives can be expressed with such verbs as: adjust, align, focus, calibrate, construct, manipulate and build.

Instructional Objectives in Behavioural Terms

Objectives:

• An objective is not a statement of what you plan to put into the lesson (content) but instead a statement of what your students should get out of the lesson.
• An objective can be defined as a clear and unambiguous description of your instructional intent.

Value of Objectives:

• The teaching approach can be ordered to a large extent by objective.
• It makes the whole teaching-learning process define, specific, and goal-directed. (Rashid. M 2003).
• Objectives set the framework for evaluation. (Kenneth D. Moore, 5th ed, 2001).

Meaning of Instructional Objectives:

• Instructional objectives are that desirable behaviour which is to be developed in the student through the learning experience.
• The intention or purpose of instructional objectives is to desirable change in behavior of the learner.
• These are those set of objectives in behavioural terms to reflect the students learning outcome in the teaching-learning process.
• The objectives set by the teacher before going to teach in the class on a particular lesson or topic.
• The objectives of teaching a particular topic.
• Instructional objectives are expected learning outcomes in the form of statements.
• These indicate the end product of instruction in terms of observable performance.

Criteria of Good Instructional Objectives:

• Instructional objectives should be written in terms of student’s behavior, not in terms of learning activities or the purpose of the teacher.
• Instructional objectives should begin with an action verb that indicates the behavior that a student can show in dealing with content.
• Instructional objectives should be written in terms of student’s behavior i.e., observable.
• Instructional objectives should be unitary, each statement should relate to only one process.
• Instructional objectives should represent the intended direct outcomes of a planned series of learning experiences.
• Instructional objectives should be realistic in terms of the time available.
• Instructional objectives should be written in the future tense.

Meaning of the Skill of Writing Instructional Objectives in Behavioural Terms:

The skill of writing instructional objectives involves writing objectives that are:

• Well-stated instructional objectives.
  • Specification of the learner
  • Specification of the learner performance in observable behavioural terms
  • Specification of the conditions in which the learner performance occurs
  • Specification of the minimum expected level of performance of the learner
• Adequacy of the instructional objectives with respect to learning outcomes.
• Instructional objectives should be relevant to the content.
• Adequacy of instructional objectives with respect to the content outline.

Well Stated Instructional Objectives:

• A well-stated instructional objective is one that clearly communicates what you want to achieve through instruction, without any ambiguity and scope for misinterpretation.
• The criteria for well stated instructional objectives are:
  • Specification of the learner
  • Specification of the learner performance in observable behavioural terms
  • Specification of the conditions in which the learner performance occurs
  • Specification of the minimum expected level of performance of the learner

Specification of the learner:

        Must specify ‘who‘ is to demonstrate the outcome and that ‘who’ should be the learner.

Examples:

1. To describe to students the process of transpiration in plants.

2. The students will be able to describe the process of transpiration in plants.

In the first objectives, it is implied that the teacher is to describe what tells us something about the process of instruction and not what the learners are going to do at the end of instruction as evidence of learning. In the other words, the emphasis here is on the instructional process and the teacher.

In the second objective, the students are going to describe at the end of instruction. Hence, the emphasis here is on the learners and the learning outcome. Learning outcome means the results or the end product of instruction, in the form of learning by learners or students. Here learning is a change of behavior.

By achieving the first objectives we will not know whether the pupils have learned or not, at the end of instruction. If the second objective is achieved, it gives us evidence about the result of instruction. Hence, the second objective is better stated. Thus, the first important criteria for well-stated instructional objectives are that it must specify ‘who’ is to demonstrate the outcome and that ‘who’ should be the learner.

Sometimes, the emphasis on learner is implied in the objectives. For example,

1. To identify proper fractions.
2. To describe the causes of World War I.

NOTE:

• In the 1^st objective, the learner and his performance are implied.
• In the 2nd objective, the performance of both the learner and the teacher is equally implied.

         To avoid any ambiguity of intention, it is desirable to mention specifically, the learner/the student/the pupils/the class, etc., as the subject of the objective. The second objective above can be rewritten as, “The learner will describe the causes of World War I.”

Specification of the learner performance in observable behavioural terms:

Learner Performance: what the learner (may be pupil, pupils, class, bright pupils, etc) is going to do or perform at the end of instruction.

Behaviour: Any performance, action or operation.

Observable Behaviour: All behaviors that can’t observe directly, for example, thinking, knowing, understanding, etc are not observed directly. Although, they can be observed by indirect means. Certain of the behaviors can be observed directly like naming, classifying, describing, etc. Hence, the term ‘observable behaviour’ implies the behavior that can be observed directly.

Specifying learner performance in observable behavioural terms involves using such verbs in the instructional objectives that indicate behaviors that are observed directly.

Example:

 1. The students will understand the three laws of reflection.

 2. The students will tell an example of their own for each of the three laws of reflection.

In objective (1); the verb ‘understand’ does not indicate behavior that can be observed directly. It does not indicate any specific behavior. It does not tell specifically what they do when they understand. Are they going to describe the laws?  Are they going to give examples of their own where these laws are applied? Are they going to identify which law is applied in which situation, given some situation? Nothing is specified. Such verbs lead to many interpretations.

In contrast to this, in objectives (2), the verb ‘tell’ indicates a behavior that is observable directly. It is more specific and does not lead to many interpretations like the verb ‘understand’. But the verb ‘understand’ can further be explained and clarified by listing under that some specific behaviors like, tell, identify, describe, differentiate, give own examples,  etc. In other words, the verb ‘understand’ is more general and the verb ‘tell’ is more specific as compared to the other. The verb that is an instructional objective should be specific enough to indicate a directly observable behavior.

Let us take an another example,

Example:

1. The pupil will know the working of a steam engine.

2. The pupils will be able to describe in about ten to fifteen sentences the working of the steam engine as discussed in the class.

In the above example that one cannot see another’s mind to determine what he knows, but it can only be determined by observing some aspect of his behavior that corresponds to his knowledge. Hence, an objective should indicate the kind of performance which will be accepted as evidence that, it has been achieved. When you put a question to yourself about what the learner would be demonstrating at the end of instruction, the answer should have some observable performance.

Thus the second criteria for well-stated instructional objectives are the Specification of the learner performance in observable behavioral terms.

Specification of the conditions in which the learner performance occurs:

Specifying the learner and the learner’s performance in observable behavioral terms is not sufficient to make the communication clear. Let us study the following example,

Example:

“The learner will be able to describe the structure of a cell.”

In the above objectives, although it is specified what the learner will be doing when the objective is achieved, it is not clear under what conditions the behavior will be occurring i.e.; Is the learner provided with a chart? Is he provided with any reference materials? Is he given the names of the parts of a cell? etc. These are not specified. Such specifications are important for the selection of content.

 Here, Conditions are nothing but behavior descriptions in which learner behavior occurs. For e.g., solving a problem given mathematical tables is a different kind of behavior as compared to solving without mathematical tables. Thus, Specifying conditions involves specifying only those factors which alter the situation in which the learner behavior occurs and hence affect the performance of the learner. Such factors can be either some allowances and aids which the learner uses or some restrictions which the learner will have.

Example:

1. The learner will name the planets corresponding to a list of satellites that is provided.
2. From a list of planets, the learner will be able to locate the five nearest to the sun.
3. The class will be able to write an essay satisfying four criteria given an outline of the essay.

Specification of the minimum expected level of performance of the learner:

Any instructional objective even if it specifies the learner performance in observable behavioral terms and the conditions in which the performance occurs, still for it to be clearly stated, should specify the minimum level of performance expected. The term ‘minimum’ is used because you will not expect all pupils to achieve the same level as there are individual differences.

Some pupils may go beyond the level or standard of performance expected. Hence, you will specify the minimum standard expected of them which they at least should achieve as specified in the objective. Such standards may be in terms of quality or quantity or in terms of time (where speed is the criterion).

The minimum level in terms of the degree of accuracy to be attained in learner’s performance, a number of correct responses, that would be accepted for the objective to be achieved, the quality expected in the learner’s performance, time taken for the learner’s performance, etc.

Examples:

1. The pupils will be able to solve correctly at least ten simple equations out of twenty-five.
2. The students will be able to describe the three causes of World War II as discussed in the class.
3. The class will be able to identify correctly, all the parts of the hibiscus flower.

Adequacy of Instructional Objectives with Respect to Learning Outcomes:

1. Learning outcome: It is the end product or the result of instruction in the form of learning by pupils.
2. Learning is a change in behavior. This change in behavior may be in any of the domains, namely: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor.
3. It is difficult to write instructional objectives having learner’s performance in behavioral terms in affective and psychomotor domains, as compared to the cognitive domain.
4. In order to provide for a variety of instructional objectives, you will learn to write instructional objectives at different levels of learning.
5. Hence, the scope of this component of the skill is restricted to the cognitive domain only.
6. Hence, the adequacy of instructional objectives with respect to learning outcomes in different domains is now restricted to the cognitive domain.

Instructional Objectives should be Relevant to the Content:

• The term ‘relevant’ refers to the term ‘related’.
• Every instructional objective stated for a content/unit should be directly related to it.

Adequacy of Instructional Objectives with respect to Content Outline:

• For a content outline, if a list of objectives is written, then the list should cover the whole content, i.e., it should be adequate.

Overview of The Skill of Writing Instructional Objectives in Behavioural Terms:

• Each objective should be well stated-specify learner, learner performance in observable behavioural terms, conditions in which learner performance occurs, and the minimum level of performance expected.
• They should cover different levels of learning outcomes that can be achieved by teaching that particular lesson. Mostly concentrating on the cognitive domain having both higher level and lower level objectives.
• They should be relevant to the learner.
• Objectives listed for a given content outline should be adequate with respect to the content.