Module 7

Republic of the Philippines

MALLIG PLAINS COLLEGES INC.
Casili, Mallig, Isabela

FACILITATING LEARNER – CENTERED TEACHING

MODULE 7

Articulating the Learning Objectives in the Classroom

A lesson plan is a blueprint for teaching. It is a detailed description of what students will
do in order to learn. A daily lesson plan is made up by the teacher to guide students for
instructional process. An effective lesson plan manifests students needs and interests. One of the
most important responsibilities of a teacher in lesson planning is the formulation of learning
objectives.

Anatomy of Learning Objectives

Learning objectives involve parts or elements. They are as follows:
 Specificity of student behaviors
 Description of a specific performance that students will exhibit
 Description of the specific result of instruction
 Written in language that students can understand
 Written for students to remain focused
 Used by students and teacher throughout the lesson to monitor progress toward
learning
 Relevant to students not to teachers
 Statements that serve as a road map for the students to know where they are
headed
 Written in single statement
 Make use of verbs from Bloom’s taxonomy
 Focus exclusively on student activities and performance not on teachers’ behavior
 Emphasize student learning outcomes
 Help teachers and students begin the lesson with the end in mind
 More of an art rather than a science: develop overtime and help us review what
has been done for the overall impact of student learning; require ongoing review
and brainstorming with colleagues and students

Purposes of Learning Objectives

Learning objectives give directions to what students should achieve after instruction such
as the following:
 Guide students in instructional planning, delivery, and evaluation of student
performance

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 Help students develop focus as they set their learning priorities

 Provide opportunities for analysis relative to teaching and learning
 Make teaching more focused and organized
 Guide and direct behavior
 Identify the purpose and rationale of the lesson before requiring students for
active engagement
 Provide clarity including challenges and standards
 Help improve performance and increase students’ motivation level
 Provide models for writing achievable objectives so that students too can set their
achievable objectives, developing lifelong learning objectives
 Determine where a certain learning experience is best situated within a larger
curriculum
 Help select the appropriate learning experience and evaluation strategies

Components of Lesson Objectives

Teachers are responsible to determine first the point of the lesson. Next, they have to
identify what the students need to learn. Then they have to formulate objectives with the ABCD
components: audience, behavior, condition and degree of performance.
Audience. The audience is usually the students. In writing our lesson objectives, we
consider the learning styles that will work best for them and their specific needs that need
to be addressed.
Behavior. These refers to actions that describe an observable student behavior. This is
the competency to be learned in performance terms. Frequently used terms as know,
appreciate, grasp, understand, have faith in, and internalize do not meet this requirement.
They should be avoided because they have confusing interpretations. The type or level of
learning must be identified. In short, each behavior should be SMARTER:
 Specific
 Measurable
 Attainable/Action – oriented
 Result-oriented/Realistic
 Time-bound
 Essential
 Research – oriented
Condition. Conditions are used to give students limitations. To understand a behavior,
students must also understand the contexts in which the behavior is to be performed.
Example statement of such conditions include:
 “Given a set of rules…”
 “Using the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost…”
Degree of performance or criterion level. This describes how well the behavior must be
performed to satisfy the intent of the behavioral verb. It also states the level of acceptable
performance by which students will be assessed.

Before we decide on the content to be covered in our lesson, we make sure that it is anchored
on a strong internal structure conducive to student learning. That is, we consider the alignment
among the three main lesson components. Alignment is achieved when:
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 objectives articulate the knowledge and skills we want our students to acquire by
the end of the lesson;
 assessment procedures allow us to check the degree to which students meet the
desired learning objectives; and
 instructional strategies are properly chosen to facilitate student learning.

ALIGNING OBJECTIVES, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT:

To ensure alignment, we must do the following:

 Introduce the learning objective before the lesson begins. Specify each learning domain
to students-cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Clarify the specific behavior,
condition and desired outcome. Tell exactly what the students are going to learn it, and
how they will be assessed to see if they have succeeded to learning it.
 Ask them to read the objectives in chorus. this may remind them of what they will
accomplish after the instruction.
 Provide students with a copy of the learning objectives to refer to as the lesson
progresses.
 From time to time, check students’ understanding of the key points and ideas as the
lesson progresses.
 Make sure that each objective meets all the four criteria for a good learning objective:
audience, observable behavior, condition under which the student will perform, and
degree to be used for an assessment of student’s performance.
 Learning tasks should foster alignment with objectives and assessment strategies.
 At the end of the lesson, review the learning, objectives and see whether each is achieved.

The dynamics of every educational enterprise is founded on the interactions among these
three elements: learning objectives, learning activities, and assessment strategies. Below is a
figure that illustrates such interaction followed by the table of domains and levels of learning
objectives.

Learning Objectives

Learning Activities Assessment Strategies

and Strategies

The Magic Triangle

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Domains and Levels of Learning Objectives

Domains Levels
Knowledge Application Problem Solving
define, list, describe, apply, interpret, analyze, evaluate,
Cognitive
identify simulate, demonstrate decide, measure
Affective respond, receive value, respect Consider, resolve
Create, design,
Psychomotor observe, point out perform, operate
defend, create

The Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

The original Bloom’s taxonomy was conceptualized in 1956 with Dr. Benjamin Bloom as
the leader. For him, there are three types of learning domains: cognitive affective, and
psychomotor. Domains are also known as categories of learning. In 2001, Bloom’s former
student, Lorin Anderson, reviewed the domains and made some modifications in the cognitive
domain. Below is the modified taxonomy for the cognitive domain.

Skills Demonstrated with Various Learning Domains

Domains Levels Skills Demonstrated

define, duplicate, list memorize, recall, repeat,
Remembering
reproduce, state
classify, infer, compare, describe, discuss, explain,
Understanding identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate,
paraphrase
Cognitive choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate,
Applying
interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write
appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate,
Analyzing
discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question
appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value,
Evaluating
evaluate
assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate,
Creating
write, compose, listen, produce
ask, listen, choose, describe, follow, give, hold, identify,
Receiving
locate, name, point to, select, reply
answer, assist, aid, comply, conform, discuss, greet, help,
Responding label, perform, practice, present, read, recite, report,
select, tell
Affective Valuing complete, demonstrate, differentiate, explain, follow,
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form, initiate, invite, join, justify, propose, read, recite,

report, select, share
adhere, alter, arrange, combine, compare, complete,
Organization explain, formulate, generalize, identify, integrate,
modify, order, organize, prepare, relate, synthesize
act, discriminate, display, influence, modify, perform,
Internalizing practice, propose, qualify, question, revise, serve, solve,
verify
choose, describe, detect, differentiate, distinguish,
Perception
identify, isolate, relate, select
begin, display, explain, move, proceed, react, show,
Set
state, volunteer
Psychomotor Guided response copy, trace, follow, react, reproduce, respond
(develop by assemble, construct, dismantle, display, fasten, fix, heat,
Simpson) Mechanism
manipulate, measure, mend, mix, organize, sketch
Skills demonstrated are the same with mechanism.
Complex overt response However, adjectives must be added to indicate better,
quicker, and more accurate performance.
Adaptation alter, change, rearrange, recognize, revise, very, modify
Arrange, build, combine, compose, construct, create,
Origination
design, initiate, make, originate

In the revised taxonomy, knowledge become the foundation of these six cognitive processes:
remembering, understanding applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. However, certain
authors created separate taxonomy of the types of knowledge used in cognition. They are as
follows:
 Knowledge of facts
 Knowledge of basic terms
 Knowledge of specific information including its details and elements
 Knowledge of concepts
 Knowledge of restrictions for classifying objects
 Knowledge of principles and generalizations
 Knowledge of theories, models, and structures
 Knowledge of procedures
 Knowledge of subject-specific skills and conceptual domains
 Knowledge of subject-specific techniques and methods
 Knowledge of criteria for determining when to use appropriate procedures
 Knowledge of metacognition
 Knowledge of certain strategies
 Knowledge about function of cognition, including specific contextual and
conditional knowledge
 Knowledge of self and regulating self

Other Versions of Psychomotor Domains

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R.H. Dave’s version:

 Imitation – observation of behavior after the performance of a model
 Manipulation – performance of certain actions through practice
 Precision - refining movements and later becoming more exact few errors
committed
 Articulation – organizing a series of actions in order to achieve harmony and
internal consistency
 Naturalization – with natural movement without inhibition

A.J. Harrow’s version:

 Involuntary movement – initial reaction to stimuli
 Fundamental movements – basic movements
 Perception – response to stimuli
 Physical ability – willingness to the task

E.J. Simpson’s version:

 Perception – the use of senses
 Set – getting ready for the actions
 Guided response – with the support and assistance of the teacher
 Mechanism – explanation of how something works
 Complex over response – performance of desired behavior with precision
 Adaptation – changing some actions to fit the needs in the environment
 Origination - development of some new models or systems

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