MODULE TWO

Curriculum Aims, Goals and Objectives

 Learning units
By the end of this module you should be able to:
1.Describe the hierarchy of Educational Goals
2.Explain Instructional Objectives
3.Analyse Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
4.Interpret the Syllabus and Developing Schemes of Work, and
Lesson Plans
 Elements of curriculum (an overview)

• Aims goals and objectives

• Subject matter/content
• Learning experience
• Evaluation approaches
NOTE: Aims, goals, and objectives can be thought of as
hierarchically ordered educational purposes
 AIMS
These are broad and general statements of purposes of
education for a given country. They provide general direction of
educational system throughout the country. Aims may serve as
organizing principles of educational direction for more than one
level of education.
• Curriculum developers consider aims into three levels:
National, School/college and Individual aims
Main features
• aims reflect interest in the welfare of both individual students
and the society to which schools are responsible
• they reflect the values of the society served by the schools,
• are designed to establish and maintain the society’s ideals.
• It takes time to achieve educational aims
• they are not easily measured hence little use in day-to-day
learning situations in the class or schools.
• Aims become goals when they are more specific and refer to a
particular school or school system and to a specific subject
area of the curriculum
 GOALS
Goals are statements of purpose of education stated without
criteria of achievement and with some outcome in mind. They
are desired outcomes for students as a result of experiencing
the curriculum and can address certain characteristics of the
learner who attains the goals
Educational goals are categorised in two levels
1. curriculum level
2. instructional level
1. Curriculum goals are purposes or ends stated in general
terms without criteria of achievement. Curriculum planners
wish learners to achieve them after being exposed to or taking a
section or all the programme of study, e.g. statements in the
preamble of the syllabi.
Characteristics of curriculum goals
• Curriculum goals are related to educational aims and
philosophy.
• They are programmes not specific items of the subject content
• Are stated in general terms that provide directions for
curriculum development
• Goals describe broad learning outcomes and concepts (what
you want students to learn) expressed in general terms
• Goalsshouldprovideaframeworkfordeterminingthemorespecific
educationalobjectives.
2. Instructional goals
• These goals can be derived in different ways during
instructional process, through three steps ( Wheeler, 1983).;
1.State Ultimate goals
2.Derive Mediate goals
3.Set up Proximate goals so that specific objectives can be
planned at classroom level
1. Ultimate goals are expected end products of an education
carried out overtime. They are the kinds of behaviour that the
education hopes students will exhibit as a result of education
they have received, this includes; acts, feelings, attitudes and
knowledge integrated in the pattern and exhibited in
appropriate situations.
2. Mediate goals are the pattern of expected behaviour at a
given stages over the education period, i.e. are statements of
intended behaviours in classes of situations at a given
educational stages/levels
3. Proximate goals are the most specific statements of intended
behavioural outcomes. They are not discrete but linked in the
same way as other kinds of goals.
 Individual Reflective activity
• With reference to the teaching and learning process state the
difference between ultimate, mediate and proximate goals.
• Read Posner, G. ( 1992 ). Analysing the curriculum. 2ndEd.
New York. McGraw-Hill, Inc. Chapter 4.
• Wheeler, D.K. (1983): Curriculum Process. London. Hodder
and Stoughton. Chapter 4.
 Curriculum objectives
These are more specific statements of the outcomes of the
curriculum or programme being considered.
• They enable curriculum decision makers to identify the
particular intent of specific action
• Provide the curriculum with philosophical grounds.
• Guide decision about the selection of content and learning
experiences and provide criteria of what to teach and how to
teach
 Instructional objectives
• Instructional objectives (also known as behavioural objectives
or learning objectives) are basically statements which clearly
describe an anticipated learning outcome, i.e.
• Statement of performance to be demonstrated by each learner
in the class during T/L process.
Characteristics
• They serve as a guide for T/L process
• They provide direction for instructional process (by clarifying
the learning outcomes)
• Convey an instructions intent to others, e.g. students, parents
etc.
• provide basis for evaluating students by describing the
performance to be measured.
• Provide basis for evaluating learners achievement
• Suggest T/L strategies and materials/resources
• Instructional Objectives describe in detail the behaviours that
students will be able to perform at the conclusion of a unit of
instruction such as a class, and the conditions and criteria
which determine the acceptable level of performance.
 Types of educational objectives
1. Behavioural (specific)
2. Non behavioural (general) (Taba, 1962)
General objectives- those objectives that describe school wide
learning outcomes
Specific objectives: these are precise statements of outcomes in
terms of observable behaviour expected of students by the end
instruction
Components of Instructional objectives

1. A- Audience: the learner, participants etc.

2. B- Behaviour: what exactly students are
expected to do after the learning experience
3. C – Condition: important condition under which

the performance is to occur

4. D – Degree of achievement, i.e. to what extent/
how well the learner will perform
 Characteristic of specific objectives
They should be :
1.Specific
2.Measurable
3. Attainable
4. Realistic/ Relevant
5. Time bound
 Characteristics of specific objectives
1. Specific - Use the ABCDs to create a clear and concise
objective.
2. Measurable - Write the objective so that anyone can
observe the learner performing desired action and
objectively assess the performance.
3. Attainable - Make sure the learner can do what is
required.
4. Relevant/Realistic - Demonstrate value to the learner.
Don't teach material that won't be used or on which you
will not assess.
5. Time Bound - Ensure the performance will be used soon,
not a year from now.
 Reflective individual activity

1. Give the similarities and differences between educational

objectives and goals.
2. What is the difference between learning outcomes and
objectives?.
What are the differences between Goals and Objectives?
Both goals and objectives use the language of outcomes; the
characteristic which distinguishes goals from objectives is the
level of specificity. Goals express intended outcomes in
general terms and objectives express them in specific terms.
•Learning Outcomes: these are statements that describe
significant and essential learning that learners have achieved,
and can reliably demonstrate by the end of a course or
program. Learning Outcomes identify what the learner will
know and be able to do by the end of a course or program,
i.e. the essential and enduring knowledge, abilities (skills) and
attitudes (values, dispositions) that constitute the integrated
learning needed by a graduate of a course or program.
What are the differences between Objectives and
Outcomes?

Objectives are intended results or consequences of

instruction, curricula, programs, or activities.
Outcomes are achieved results or consequences of
what was learned; i.e., evidence that learning took
place. .
Objectives are focused on specific types of performances that
students are expected to demonstrate at the end of instruction.
Objectives are often written more in terms of teaching intentions
and typically indicate the subject content that the teacher(s)
intends to cover.
Learning outcomes, on the other hand, are more student-
centered and describe what it is that the learner should learn
• Learning objectives are more specifically targeted to the
educational outcomes of a lesson or a course. They are
typically written using Bloom’s Taxonomy for educational
objectives and are tailored for the specific lesson.
• When collected together, the learning objectives of a course
support the competencies.
A competence: A combination of skills, knowledge and attitude
that enables an individual to perform a task to the standards
required for successful job performance. Its emphasis is on
performing an actual activity and not gaining knowledge or skills
for their own sake. Competencies are more general and specific
relate to skills, behaviors and knowledge that should be gained
through a course or series of courses.
 Bloom’s taxonomy
This is a classification system used to define and
distinguish different levels of human cognition—
i.e., thinking, learning, and understanding. the
founder was Benjamin Bloom (1913–1999) in
the year 1956. The original taxonomy was
organized into three domains: Cognitive,
Affective, and Psychomotor under the title
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
 The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
This is a scheme for classifying educational goals, objectives, and,
most recently, standards.
It provides an organizational structure that gives a commonly
understood meaning to objectives classified in one of its
categories, thereby enhancing communication.
 Why is Bloom’s Taxonomy Important?
1. All learning involves prior elements and stages; e.g.
– Before we can understand a concept, we have to
remember it
– Before we can apply the concept, we must understand it,
etc.
2. Important in analyzing prior knowledge
3. Focus on outcome, not materials/tools
 Taxonomic levels of Instructional objectives
1. Cognitive Domain (thinking/knowledge),

2. Affective Domain (growth in emotion/feeling),

3. Psychomotor Domain ( manual or physical/kinesthetic).

Sometimes the six hierarchies or levels listed above are grouped
into three categories:
Level 1. Recall – Knowledge and
Comprehension
Level 2. Interpretation – Application and
Analysis
Level 3. Problem-Solving – Synthesis and
Evaluation
 Revised Blooms taxonomy
• In 2001, another team of scholars—led by Lorin Anderson, and
David Krathwohl released a revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy
called A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A
Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives called
“Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy,” was intentionally designed to be
more useful to educators and to reflect the common ways in
which it had come to be used in schools.
• Three categories were renamed and all the categories were
expressed as verbs rather than nouns.
Knowledge was changed to Remembering, Comprehension
became Understanding, and Synthesis was renamed Creating. In
addition, Creating became the highest level in the classification
system, switching places with Evaluating. The revised version is
presented in the following figure.
Facts
Concepts
Procedures
Principles
Process
 Example of Writing Objectives
Knowledge: List six levels of taxonomy
Comprehension: Explain the importance of Bloom’s
taxonomy
Application: Write an objective for each level of the cognitive
taxonomy
Analysis: Compare and contrast original and revised
version of the taxonomy
Synthesis: Design a classification system for
responding to a specific business need
Evaluation: Discuss the effectiveness of writing
objectives using the taxonomy
 Affective domain
• The Affective domain includes feelings, values, appreciation,
enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes.
• Affective objectives can also be divided into a hierarchy
(according to Krathwohl). This area is concerned with feelings
or emotions. Again, the taxonomy is arranged from simpler
feelings to those that are more complex.
1. Receiving- This refers to the learner’s sensitivity to the
existence of stimuli, awareness
2. Responding- This refers to the learners’ active attention
to stimuli and his/her motivation to learn
3. Valuing- This refers to the learner’s beliefs and attitudes
of worth – acceptance, preference,
4. Organisation -This refers to the learner’s internalization
of values and beliefs according to priority
5. Characterisation This refers to the learner’s highest of
internalization the learner is capable of practicing and
acting on their values or beliefs.
 Psychomotor Domain
This includes physical movement, coordination, and use of the
motor-skill areas. Development of these skills requires practice
and is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance,
procedures, or techniques in execution

The 5major categories are listed from the simplest behaviour to

the most complex
5. Naturalization- Completes one or more skills
with ease and becomes automatic
4. Articulation- – Combines more than one skill in
sequence with harmony and consistency
3. Precision – Reproduces a skill with accuracy,
proportion and exactness. Usually performed
independent of original source
2. Manipulation – Performs skill according to
instructor rather than observation
1. Imitation – Observes skill and attempts to repeat
it.
 Paired/individual practices
1. Read on Bloom taxonomy
2. Be able to differentiate the taxonomic levels of Bloom
Taxonomy
3. Write learning objectives for each of taxonomic level
 Group assignment 2
To be released from 30th April 2018