GROUP 2 – Understanding Outcomes and Indicators

PREPARED BY: ADENIKE MARTINS AND KIRAN THIND

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. In Canada, we have diverse classrooms. We have students from different family
backgrounds, cultures, and with different learning abilities. Give your opinion on
whether outcomes should be rigid or flexible for students with different abilities to
achieve easily? Also discuss, What types of evidence might demonstrate that
students have achieved a particular outcome?
2. Select one or more outcomes of your choice. What type of knowledge is required by
each outcome (i.e., factual, conceptual, procedural, metacognitive, or a
combination)? How do the verbs in the outcomes and indicators inform planning
and assessment?
Understanding Learning Outcomes and the Big Ideas
The big ideas are intended to endure beyond a single grade and contribute to deeper
understanding of the subject area. It is vital that teachers and students learn within meaningful
context. So, the students will be able to relate their learning with the outside world. Big ideas
facilitate inquiry questions for deeper understanding (Saskatchewan Ministry of Education,
2010). Teachers can build learning outcomes on the bases of these inquiry questions.
Learning outcomes describes specific knowledge, skills, or ability, that a student is
expected to know and be able to do at the end of the grade or secondary level course
(Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2010). The learner should be able to show evidence of
certain abilities or understanding that can be evaluated. These are measurable achievements
(Andreev, 2023). The learning outcomes provide clarification for students, teachers, and parents
specific expectations of knowledge, and activity they will be able to do, as a result of their
learning experiences after each grade (Creating learning outcomes, n.d.).
Outcomes works as a destination for teachers and students to reach. The outcome
framework provides reference point for teachers to developed their instructional practice and
course design as they monitor students’ progress (Creating learning outcomes, n.d.). Learning
outcomes can also help students and teachers to adjust their learning and develop effective study
tactics (Creating learning outcomes, n.d.).
A good learning outcome will emphasize the practical use of the acquired knowledge by
the learner in a realistic situation, instead of the learner’s ability to repeat information. Learning
outcomes also guide the assessment and evaluation process, clarifying the expected knowledge
level of the learner at the end of the learning activity (Andreev, 2023).
Saskatchewan’s outcomes require that students develop a combination of factual,
conceptual procedural, and metacognitive knowledge (Saskatchewan Ministry of Education,
2010).
What is Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different outcomes and skills that educators set
for their students (learning outcomes). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom,
an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. The terminology has been recently
updated to include the following six levels of learning (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). These 6
levels can be used to structure the learning outcomes, lessons, and assessments of your course:
1. Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long‐term
memory (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Shabatura, 2022).
2. Understanding: at this level student will be able to translate the known facts into their
own words. Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through
interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and
explaining (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Shabatura, 2022).
3. Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure for executing, or implementing.
4. Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to
one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and
attributing (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Shabatura, 2022).
5. Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and
critiquing (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Shabatura, 2022).
6. Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing
elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing
(Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Shabatura, 2022).
Like other taxonomies, Bloom’s is hierarchical, meaning that learning at the higher levels is
dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels. One level serves
the foundation for acquiring the higher-level thinking. Once the lower levels are achieved,
students can jump to the higher domain. Each level required more cognitive skills to complete
than the previous level (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). Theoretically, student must be able to
remember, understand, apply, analyze and evaluate in order to properly use intellectual skills to
create (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001).
How Bloom’s works with learning outcomes
Fortunately, there are “verb tables” to help identify which action verbs align with
each level in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Bloom’s
Level Key Verbs (keywords) Example Learning Outcome

By the end of this lesson, the student will be

design, formulate, build, invent, able to design an original homework problem
create, compose, generate, dealing with the principle of conservation of
Create derive, modify, develop. energy.

choose, support, relate, By the end of this lesson, the student will be
determine, defend, judge, grade, able to determine whether using conservation
compare, contrast, argue, justify, of energy or conservation of momentum
support, convince, select, would be more appropriate for solving a
Evaluate evaluate. dynamics problem.
 classify, break down, categorize, By the end of this lesson, the student will be
analyze, diagram, illustrate, able to differentiate between potential and
Analyze criticize, simplify, associate. kinetic energy.

calculate, predict, apply, solve,

illustrate, use, demonstrate, By the end of this lesson, the student will be
determine, model, perform, able to calculate the kinetic energy of a
Apply present. projectile.

describe, explain, paraphrase,

restate, give original examples By the end of this lesson, the student will be
of, summarize, contrast, able to describe Newton’s three laws of
Understand interpret, discuss. motion to in her/his own words

list, recite, outline, define, name,

match, quote, recall, identify, By the end of this lesson, the student will be
Remember label, recognize. able to recite Newton’s three laws of motion.

Learning outcome examples adapted from, Nelson Baker at Georgia Tech:

[email protected]

Steps towards writing effective learning outcomes:

1. Learning outcomes needs to be student centric rather than teacher centric.
2. Teacher needs to be able to visualize the desired results to develop a deep understanding
of the outcome. It will help them to identify the type of knowledge required by the
outcome (Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2010).
3. There should be at least one measurable verb in each objective to determine the cognitive
process dimension. It is important to have only one verb in one outcome. If an outcome
has two verbs (say, define and apply), what happens if a student can define, but not
apply? Are they demonstrating mastery (Shabatura, 2022)?
4. Ensure that the verbs in the course level outcome are at least at the highest Bloom’s
Taxonomy as the highest lesson level outcomes that support it (Shabatura, 2022).
(Because we can’t verify, they can evaluate if our lessons only taught them (and
assessed) to define.)
5. Strive to keep all your learning outcomes measurable, clear, concise, distinct, attainable
and related to their interest (Andreev, 2023; Shabatura, 2022).
Indicators
Indicators show how students can prove that they have met an outcome. They are samples of
the kind of proof that teachers would look for to measure how well students have learned what
they should. The curriculum gives a list of indicators for each outcome:
1. Provides the intent (depth and breadth) of the outcome.
2. Tells the story, or creates a picture, of the outcome.
 3. Is not a checklist or prioritized list of instructional activities or prescribed assessment
item.
4. Indicators provides evidence for teachers to know the extent to which student have
achieved learning objectives (Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2010).
Indicators are tools that lets us see how well capacities are developing. It provides a simple
and reliable way to measure accomplishments, show changes related to an action or help judge
outcomes. Indicators are statements that describe signs, hints, actions, behaviors and noticeable
and assessable marks of children’s performance. They let us see from the outside what is going
on inside the child. And they are references that help us evaluate how students are doing,
describing the mastery of skills and attitudes at different levels (Saskatchewan Ministry of
Education, 2010).
In conclusion, effective outcomes provide direction for program, unit and lesson
planning. When teachers plan how to teach, they need to know the list of indicators to grasp the
scope and level of the outcome. From this knowledge of the outcome, teachers can create their
own indicators that suit their students’ curiosity, experiences, and previous learning. These
indicators made by teachers must keep the purpose of the outcome (Saskatchewan Ministry of
Education, 2010).

References

Anderson, L. W. & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and
assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York:
Longman.
Andreev, I. (2023). Learning outcomes. Valamis. Retrieved from
https://www.valamis.com/hub/learning-outcomes
Creating learning outcomes. (n.d.). Stanford teaching commons. Retrieved from
creating Learning Outcomes | Teaching Commons (stanford.edu)
Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2010). Renewed curricula: understanding outcomes.
https://www.edonline.sk.ca/bbcswebdav/library/curricula/English/
RenewedCurriculum.pdf
Shabatura, J. (2022). Using Bloom’s taxonomy to write effective learning outcomes.
University of Arkansas. Retrieved from
https://tips.uark.edu/using-blooms-taxonomy/