Writing Learning Objectives
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Go to the Internet Resources at https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Pages/default.aspx and choose three standards in your content area. Develop for each standard learning objectives in each category: cognitive, affective and psychomotor using the examples:
Examples of Well-written Objectives
Below are some example objectives which include Audience (A), Behavior (B), Condition (C), and Degree of Mastery (D). Note that many objectives actually put the condition first.
Audience – Green
Behavior – Red
Condition – Blue
Degree – Pink
Psychomotor – “Given a standard balance beam raised to a standard height, the student (attired in standard balance beam usage attire) will be able to walk the entire length of the balance beam (from one end to the other) steadily, without falling off, and within a six-second time span.”
Cognitive (comprehension level) – “Given examples and non-examples of constructivist activities in a college classroom, the student will be able to accurately identify the constructivist examples and explain why each example is or isn’t a constructivist activity in 20 words or less.”
Cognitive (application level) – “Given a sentence written in the past or present tense, the student will be able to re-write the sentence in future tense with no errors in tense or tense contradiction (i.e., I will see her yesterday.).”
Cognitive (creation/synthesis level) – “Given two cartoon characters of the student’s choice, the student will be able to list five major personality traits of each of the two characters, combine these traits (either by melding traits together, multiplying together complimentary traits, or negating opposing traits) into a composite character, and develop a short (no more than 20 frames) storyboard for a cartoon that illustrates three to five of the major personality traits of the composite character.”
Affective – “Given the opportunity to work in a team with several people of different races, the student will demonstrate a positive increase in attitude towards non-discrimination of race, as measured by a checklist utilized/completed by non-team members.”
When reviewing example objectives above, you may notice a few things.
As you move up the “cognitive ladder,” it can be increasingly difficult to precisely specify the degree of mastery required.
Affective objectives are difficult for many instructors to write and assess. They deal almost exclusively with internal feelings and conditions that can be difficult to observe externally.
It’s important to choose the correct key verbs to express the desired behavior you want students to produce. See the pages on cognitive objectives, affective objectives, and psychomotor objectives to see examples of keywords for each level.
Samples of verbs used in writing learning objectives based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.
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