TDP301 EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENTS AND EVALUATION lesson 2
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENTS
Role of Objectives in Educational Assessment
Definition of Educational Objectives:
Educational objectives describe the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values learners should achieve
by the end of a lesson or unit. They serve as benchmarks for both teaching and assessment.
Importance of Educational Objectives:
1. Guide for Teachers: Helps in planning lessons and selecting instructional materials.
2. Learning Focus: Provides students with clear expectations about what they should learn.
3. Assessment Guide: Aligns assessments with what has been taught, ensuring fairness and
relevance.
Types of Objectives
1. General Objectives: Broad statements describing overall goals, e.g., "Learners will develop
critical thinking skills."
2. Specific Objectives: More detailed, measurable statements, e.g., "Learners will be able to
solve simple algebraic equations."
▪ Objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound).
▪ They provide clarity on what to teach and what to assess.
▪ Clear objectives prevent mismatches between what is taught and what is tested.
❖ Poor Objective: "Students will understand photosynthesis."
❖ Improved Objective: "Students will be able to explain the process of photosynthesis and
identify its main components."
What are some CBC based Objectives ?
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
Bloom's Taxonomy categorizes learning objectives into three domains:
1. Cognitive (knowledge based): Focuses on intellectual skills and knowledge.
2. Affective (emotion based): Focuses on attitudes, values, and feelings.
3. Psychomotor (action based): Focuses on physical skills and movement.
Cognitive Domain Levels
▪ Remembering: Recall facts and basic concepts (e.g., define, list).
▪ Understanding: Explain ideas or concepts (e.g., summarize, describe).
▪ Applying: Use information in new situations (e.g., solve, use).
▪ Analyzing: Break information into parts and see how they relate (e.g., compare, contrast).
▪ Evaluating: Justify a decision or course of action (e.g., critique, judge).
▪ Creating: Produce new or original work (e.g., design, construct).
Importance in CBC:
Teachers should aim to develop competencies at all cognitive levels. Higher order thinking
(Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating) is key to building 21stcentury skills such as critical thinking and
problem solving.
Use action verbs from Bloom’s taxonomy to craft objectives.
Ensure a balance between lower order and higher order thinking skills.
Align classroom activities and assessments with the appropriate cognitive level.
Examples of Objectives at Different Levels:
Remembering: "List the main types of renewable energy."
Applying: "Use a pie chart to present data on energy consumption."
Creating: "Design an energy saving model for your community."
Instructional objectives
✓ Instructional objectives are clear, specific statements that describe what learners are
expected to know, do, or demonstrate by the end of a lesson or unit.
✓ These objectives guide the teaching process, ensuring that both the teacher and students
understand the expected outcomes of learning activities.
Key Characteristics of Instructional Objectives:(SMART)
❖ Specific: They focus on knowledge, skills, or attitudes that the learner will acquire.
❖ Measurable: They define observable actions or outcomes that can be assessed or evaluated.
❖ Achievable: The objectives must be realistic and attainable within the given time frame
and resources.
❖ Relevant: They align with the overall goals of the curriculum and meet the needs of the
learners.
❖ Time-bound: Instructional objectives specify when the learners should achieve the
expected outcomes.
Example:
• Poorly written objective: "Students will understand photosynthesis."
• Well-written objective: "By the end of the lesson, students will be able to explain the
process of photosynthesis and identify the role of sunlight in the process."
• Importance of Instructional Objectives:
• Guiding Instruction: They provide direction for lesson planning and teaching activities.
• Focusing Learning: They help learners know what is expected of them and focus their
learning efforts.
Assessing Achievement: Objectives serve as a basis for evaluating whether learners have met the
desired outcomes.
Formulation of Instructional Objectives
The focus is on how to write clear, specific, and measurable instructional objectives to guide
classroom teaching.
1. Characteristics of Good Instructional Objectives:
• Specific: Objectives should be precise about what students will learn.
• Measurable: Outcomes should be observable and measurable.
• Achievable: Objectives must be realistic within the time and resources available.
• Relevant: Objectives should be aligned with the course content and learner needs.
• Timebound: State when the objectives will be achieved.
2. Structure of Objectives:
A well written objective includes:
✓ Condition: Describes the context or conditions under which the learner will demonstrate
their ability (e.g., "Given a diagram of the water cycle...").
✓ Behavior: The observable action the learner will perform (e.g., "Explain the stages of the
water cycle...").
✓ Criteria: The standard or level of performance expected (e.g., "with 80% accuracy").
3. Appropriate Verbs for Writing Objectives:
For Remembering: Define, list, name, recall.
For Understanding: Explain, describe, summarize.
For Applying: Use, demonstrate, solve.
For Evaluating: Judge, critique, assess.
For Creating: Design, invent, formulate.
Key Points:
✓ Avoid vague verbs such as "understand" or "know." Instead, use observable verbs like "list"
or "analyze."
✓ Clearly articulate what students will be able to do after the lesson.
✓ Align objectives with CBC competencies (e.g., communication, collaboration, problem
solving).
Example of Well-Structured Objective:
Given a model of the solar system (condition), students will be able to identify and name
the planets (behavior) with 90% accuracy (criteria).
Construction of a Table of Specification (TOS)
A Table of Specification is a chart that aligns instructional objectives with the assessment items,
ensuring that all key areas of content and cognitive levels are covered.
Components of a TOS:
• Content Areas: Topics or skills being assessed (e.g., grammar, reading comprehension in
English).
• Cognitive Levels: Categories from Bloom’s taxonomy (e.g., remembering, applying,
evaluating).
• Weighting: The number or percentage of test items allocated to each objective.
3. Steps in Creating a TOS:
Step 1: List the topics to be covered in the assessment.
Step 2: Identify the corresponding objectives and their cognitive levels.
Step 3: Decide the number of questions or points to allocate to each topic and objective.
Step 4: Ensure balance—covering a range of content areas and cognitive levels.
4. Importance of TOS in CBC:
A TOS ensures that assessments:
Reflect the range of topics taught.
Cover both lower order and higherorder thinking skills.
Are fair and comprehensive.
Key Points:
❖ A TOS ensures a clear alignment between what was taught and what is tested.
❖ It prevents overemphasis on certain topics or cognitive levels.
❖ Teachers should ensure that assessments address both knowledge recall and skills like
critical thinking.
Content Remembering Understanding Applying Evaluating Total Marks
Area Questions
2 2 1 0 5
1 3 2 1 7
0 2 3 2 7
Total 70
