Writing Instructional Goals and Objectives

What is a Goal?

Goals are broad, generalized statements about what is to be learned. Think of them as a target to be
reached, or "hit."
 

What is an Objective?
 Objectives are the foundation upon which you can build lessons
and assessments that you can prove meet your overall course or
lesson goals.
 Think of objectives as tools you use to make sure you reach your
goals. They are the arrows you shoot towards your target (goal).
 
 

Why Bother With Goals and Objectives?

 As you develop a learning object, course, a lesson or a learning activity, you
have to determine what you want the students to learn and how you will
know that they learned. Learning objectives, also called behavioral objectives
or instructional objectives, are a requirements for high-quality development
of instruction.
 The purpose of objectives is not to restrict spontaneity or constrain the vision
of education in the discipline; but to ensure that learning is focused clearly
enough that both students and teacher know what is going on, and so
learning can be objectively measured. Different archers have different styles,
so do different teachers. Thus, you can shoot your arrows (objectives) many
ways. The important thing is that they reach your target (goals) and score
that bullseye!
Thus, stating clear course objectives is important because:

 Objectives guide the content materials and the teaching methods.

 You can use objectives to make sure you reach your goals.
 Students will better understand expectations and the link between
expectations, teaching and grading.
 Assessment and grading should be based on the objectives.  

 Cognitive Objectives

Cognitive objectives are designed to increase an individual's knowledge. Cognitive objectives relate to
understandings, awareness, insights (e.g., "Given a description of a planet, the student will be able to
identify that planet, as demonstrated verbally or in writing." or "The student will be able to evaluate the
different theories of the origin of the solar system as demonstrated by his/her ability to compare and
discuss verbally or in writing the strengths and weaknesses of each theory."). This includes knowledge or
information recall, comprehension or conceptual understanding, the ability to apply knowledge, the
ability to analyze a situation, the ability to synthesize information from a given situation, the ability to
evaluate a given situation, and the ability to create something new.

Affective Objectives

Affective objectives are designed to change an individual's attitude. Affective objectives refer to
attitudes, appreciations, and relationships (e.g., "Given the opportunity to work in a team with several
people of different races, the student will demonstrate an positive increase in attitude towards non-
discrimination of race, as measured by a checklist utilized/completed by non-team members.").

Psychomotor Objectives

Psychomotor objectives are designed to build a physical skill (e.g., "The student will be able to ride a
two-wheel bicycle without assistance and without pause as demonstrated in gym class."); actions that
demonstrate the fine motor skills such as use of precision instruments or tools, or actions that evidence
gross motor skills such as the use of the body in dance or athletic performance.
Cognitive Objectives

Cognitive objectives are designed to increase an individual's knowledge. Many refer to Bloom's
taxonomy of cognitive objectives, originated by Benjamin Bloom and collaborators in the 1950's.

Examples:

 Given a description of a planet, the student will be able to identify that planet, as demonstrated
verbally or in writing.

 The student will be able to evaluate the different theories of the origin of the solar system as
demonstrated by his/her ability to compare and discuss verbally or in writing the strengths and
weaknesses of each theory.

Bloom describes several categories of cognitive learning.

Starting with basic factual knowledge, the categories progress through comprehension, application,
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

 Knowledge - Rembering or recalling information.

 Comprehension - The ability to obtain meaning from information.

 Application - The ability to use information.

 Anaylsis - The ability to break information into parts to understand it better.

 Synthesis - The ability to put materials together to create something new.

 Evaluation - The ability to check, judge, and critique materials.

In the 1990's, Lorin Anderson, a former student of Bloom, along with David Krathwohl, one of Boom's
original partners, worked to revise the original taxonomy. The Anderson and Krathwohl Taxonomy was
published in 2001 in the book "A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's
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Note that in the revised taxonomy, synthesis and evaluation are switched. Also, verbs are used in place
of nouns to imply the action one takes in each level.

 Remember - Using memory to recall facts and definitions.

 Understand - Constructing meaning from information.

 Apply - Using procedures to carry out a task.

 Analyze - Breaking materials into parts to determine structures and relationships.

 Evaluate - Making judgements based on checking against given criteria.

 Create - Putting materials together to form a unique product.

Whichever taxonomy you prefer, there are key verbs for each level you can use when writing cognitive
objectives.

Psychomotor domain

The psychomotor domain concerns things students might physically do. Although

no taxonomy of this domain was compiled by Bloom and his coworkers, several

competing taxonomies have been created over the years since Bloom’s original

books. The one summarised here is based on work by Harrow [Harrow, A.

(1972). A Taxonomy of the Psychomotor Domain: A Guide for Developing

Behavioral Objectives. New York: McKay], as summarised in Barry, K. and King,

L. (1993) Beginning Teaching. Wentworth Falls, NSW: Social Science Press.

The levels of this domain are categorised as:

• reflex: objectives not usually written at this ‘low’ level

• fundamental movements: applicable mostly to young children (crawl, run,

jump, reach, change direction)

• perceptual abilities: catch, write, balance, distinguish, manipulate

• physical abilities: stop, increase, move quickly, change, react

• skilled movements: play, hit, swim, dive, use

• non-discursive communication: express, create, mime, design, interpret

1. THE STUDENT OR AUDIENCE: Determine WHO you're talking about. Example: "The student will"
2. The BEHAVIOR you're looking for - evidence of student action (choose from the list of verbs in the
tips and aim for higher levels of comprehension). Example: “list"
3. Include the CONTENT you want the student to learn. Example: “the effects of alcohol on the body"
4. CONDITIONS, or how the student will accomplish the task. Example: "with textbooks open, after
seeing a film, using a model of the heart"
5. Have a STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE - criteria for acceptable performance. Example: “that
includes at least two danger signals."

LOW LEVEL COMPREHENSION- define, recall, describe, identify, list, match and recite, explain,
summarize, interpret, rewrite, estimate, confer, translate, paraphrase.

HIGH LEVEL COMPREHENSION- change, compute, demonstrate, operate, show, use, solve, outline,
subdivide, discriminate, diagram, categorize, distinguish, combine, compile, compose, create, design,
plan, produce, justify, appraise, criticize, compare, support, conclude, and contrast.

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