Behavioural Objectives

Dr. Belal M. Hijji, RN, PhD

May 1 & 8, 2012
 Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this lecture, students will be

able to:
• Identify the difference between goals and objectives
• Recognise the opposing viewpoints regarding the use of
behavioural objectives in education
• Describe the right format of writing behavioural objectives
using the right components
• Distinguish between the three domains of learning and explain
the methods appropriate for teaching in each

2
 Characteristics of Goals And Objectives

Definitions
• Educational or instructional objectives: Identify the intended
outcomes of the educational process, whether in reference to
an aspect of a programme or a total programme of study
• Behavioural or learning objectives: These make use of the
modifier behavioural or learning to denote that they are action
oriented rather than content-oriented and learner-centred rather
than teacher-centred. Behavioral objectives describe what the
learner will be able to do after a learning situation

3
• A goal is the final outcome of what is achieved at the end of a
teaching-learning process. Goals are global and broad; they
serve as long-term targets for the learner and the teacher.
• An objective is a specific, single, unidimensional behaviour.
Objectives are short-term in nature and should be achievable
at the conclusion of one teaching session or within a few days
following teaching sessions.
• An objective describes a performance that learners should be
able to exhibit before becoming competent.
• A behavioural objective is the intended result of instruction,
not the process or means of instruction.

4
• Objectives must be observable, measurable and achieved
before the goal can be reached.
• For example, learning self-management of diabetes is a goal.
Specific objectives must be outlined to address changes in
behaviour such as the need to learn diet therapy, insulin
administration, exercise regimen, stress management, and
glucose monitoring.
• Successful achievement of predetermined objectives is, in
part, the result of appropriate instruction.
• Successful learning-teaching process is dependent on mutual
setting of goals and objectives.

5
 The Debate About Using Behavioural Objectives
• Educators have made strong arguments for and against the use
of behavioural objectives for teaching and learning.
• There is a need to realise that behavioural objectives are not a
panacea for all problems encountered in the educational
process.
• Some of the arguments against using behavioural objectives
are that they:
– Are superfluous.
– Are reductionist – a format that reduces behavioural processes
into equivalents that do not reflect the sum total of the parts.
– Take a lot of time to write.
– Force the teacher and student to attend only to specific areas,
which stifles [‫ ]ي==عيق‬creativity and interfere with the freedom to
learn and teach.

6
• However, the rationale for using behavioural objectives
outweighs the arguments for not using them. Those who
support their use believe that they:
– Help to keep educators’ thinking on target and learner-centred.
– Communicate what is planned for teaching and learning.
– Help students understand what is expected of them so that they
can keep track of their progress
– Tailor teaching to the learner’s particular circumstances and
needs.
– Focus attention on what the learner will, eventually, come up
with.

7
 Writing Behavioural Objectives

• A well-written behavioural objectives give learners very clear

statements about what is expected of them and enable teachers
to measure learner progress toward achieving the outcomes of
learning
• A concise and useful behavioural objectives format has the
following characteristics:
– Performance
– Condition
– Criterion

8
• An example of well-written objective is:
– Following a teaching session of behavioural objectives
(condition), students will be able to list (performance) the
arguments for and against using them (criterion)
• An example of poorly-written objective is:
– To demonstrate crutch walking postoperatively to the
patient (teacher-centred)

9
 Taxonomy of Objectives According to Learning
Domains

• A taxonomy ‫]ت===صنيف‬
[ is a mechanism used to categorise things
according to their relationships to one another.
• In education, a taxonomy refers to a system for defining and
ordering levels of behaviour according to their type and
complexity.
• Of relevance, Bloom et al (1956) developed the Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives as a tool for systematically classifying
behavioural objectives.
• The taxonomy is composed of three broad domains: cognitive,
affective, and psychomotor.
• These domains are interdependent and can be experienced
simultaneously.
10
• The objectives in each domain are ordered in a taxonomic
form of hierarchy, and are classified into low, medium, and
high levels.
• Simple behaviours are listed first (designated by numbers 1.0
or 2.0) and the more complex behaviours listed last
(designated by numbers 5.0 or 6.0).

11
 The Cognitive Domain

• Known as the thinking domain where learning involves the

acquisition of information and refers to the learner’s
intellectual and mental abilities and thinking processes.
• Objectives in this domain are divided into six levels, each
specifying cognitive processes ranging from the simple
(knowledge) to the complex (evaluation).
– Knowledge: ability of the student to memorise, define,
recognise, recall, or identify specific information.
– Comprehension: ability of student to demonstrate an
understanding of what is being communicated.
– Application: ability of the student to use ideas, principles, or
theories in particular and concrete situations.

12
– Analysis: ability of the student to recognise and structure
information by breaking it into its constituent parts and
specifying the relationship between parts. An example is: “After
attending a lecture on medication calculation, the student will be
able to calculate the correct number of milligrams of a drug to be
taken by a patient over a week”.
– Synthesis: ability of the student to put together parts and
elements into a unified whole by creating a unique product that
is written, oral, and pictorial. An example is: “Given a sample
list of foods, the patient will prepare a menu to include foods
from the four food groups (dairy, meat, vegetables & fruits, and
grains) in the recommended amounts for daily intake.

13
 Teaching in the Cognitive Domain

• The methods used to stimulate learning in this domain include

lectures, one-to-one instruction, and computer-assisted
instruction. An example of this latter method is accessing the
website [http://www.learnbloodtransfusion.org.uk/elearning.htm] to
learn about blood transfusion.
• Verbal, written, and visual tools are also successful in teaching
cognitive content.
• Cognitive domain learning is the traditional focus of most
teaching. Less attention is given to the development of
psychomotor skills and learning of affective behaviour.

14
 The Affective Domain

• This is known as the “feeling” domain where learning involves

increasing internalisation or commitment to feelings expressed
as emotions, interests, attitudes, values, and appreciations.
• This domain is divided into categories that specify the degree
of a person’s depth of emotional responses to tasks.
• Learners and students should be aware of the difficulties in
writing and measuring specific objectives in the affective
domain.

15
 Levels of the Affective Behaviour

• Receiving: ability of student to show awareness of an idea or

fact or a consciousness of a situation or event in the
environment. An example is: “During a lecture, the student
will express feeling of fears he may have about understanding
complex terminology”.
• Responding: ability of the student to respond to an experience,
at first obediently and later willingly and with satisfaction. An
example is: “At the end of a lecture, students will verbalise
feelings of confidence about writing behavioural objectives”.

16
• Valuing: ability of the student to regard or accept the worth of
a theory, idea, or event.
• Organisation: ability of the student to organise, classify, and
prioritise values by integrating a new value into a general set
of values. An example is: “Care, help, support, cause no
harm”.
• Characterisation: ability of the student to integrate values into
a total philosophy or world views, showing firm commitment
and consistency of responses to the values by generalising
certain experiences into a value system. An example is:
“Following a series of training sessions on blood transfusion
practice, nurses will show consistent interest in carrying out
the patient identification procedure precisely to prevent
incorrect transfusions.
17
 Teaching in the Affective Domain
• A variety of reliable teaching methods are available to support
learners acquire elements of the affective domain. These
include:
– Questioning.
– Case study.
– Role-playing.
– Simulation gaming.
– Group discussion.

18
 The Psychomotor Domain

• It is known as the “skills” domain where learning involves

acquiring fine and gross motor abilities with increasing
complexity of neuromuscular coordination to carry out
physical movement such as walking, handwriting,
manipulation of equipment, or carrying out a procedure.
• Objectives in this domain are divided into seven levels as
listed and described next.

19
 Levels of Psychomotor Behaviour

• Perception: ability of the student to show sensory awareness

of objects or cues associated with some task to be performed.
This level involves reading directions or observing a process
with attention to steps or techniques inherent in a process.
• Set: ability of the student to show readiness to take a particular
kind of action, such as following directions, through
expressions of willingness, sensory attending, or body
language.
• Guided response: ability of the student to exert effort via overt
actions under the guidance of an instructor to imitate an
observed behaviour.

20
• Mechanism: ability of the student to repeatedly perform steps
of a desired skill with certain degree of confidence, indicating
mastery to the extent that some or all aspects of the process
become habitual (CPR).
• Complex overt response: ability of the student to automatically
perform a complex motor act with independence and a high
degree of skill, without hesitation and with minimum
expenditure of time and energy.
• Adaptation: ability of the student to modify or adapt a motor
process to suit the individual or various situations, indicating
mastery of highly developed movements that can be suited to a
variety of conditions. (CPR for infant versus adult).

21
• Origination: ability of the student to create new motor acts ,
such as novel ways of manipulating objects or materials, as a
result of understanding of a skill and developed ability to
perform skills.

22
 Teaching in the Psychomotor Domain

• When teaching psychomotor skills, an educator needs to keep

skill instruction separate from a discussion of principles
underlying the skill (cognitive component), or a discussion of
how the student feels about performing the skill (affective
component).
• Nurse educators need to realise that posing knowledge
questions (cognitive) while the student is trying to focus on the
performance (psychomotor) will interfere with the
psychomotor learning of a skill. In such circumstances, the
educator is asking the student to demonstrate at least two
different behaviours at the same time, and this is
inappropriate, frustrating, confusing, and would result in
failure to achieve any behaviours successfully.
23
• The amount of practice required to learn a new skill depends
on the following factors:
– Readiness to learn.
– Past experience: Is the student familiar with equipment or
techniques similar to those needed to learn the new skill?
– Health status: Illness, physical or emotional impairment.
– Environmental stimuli: Distraction in the immediate
surroundings may interfere with skill acquisition.
– Anxiety level: High levels of anxiety represent an interference.
– Developmental stage.
– Practice session length: Initially these should be short and
carefully planned to help increase rate and success of learning.

24