EDUC 204 Midterm Handouts

Lesson 1: Constructive Alignment

Constructive Alignment is a teaching principle that combines constructivism, the idea

that learners construct or create meaning out of learning activities and what they learn,
and alignment, a curriculum design concept that emphasizes the importance of defining and
achieving intended learning outcomes.

The goal of Constructive Alignment then, is to support students in developing as much

meaning and learning as possible from a well-designed, coherent, and aligned course. Courses
are congruent and cohere in an explicit way when there is good fit and flow between a course’s
intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessments of student
learning.

As developed and defined by John Biggs (2014), Constructive Alignment involves:

 Thoughtfully determining intentions for what students should learn and how they will
demonstrate their achievement of these intended learning outcomes, and clearly
communicating these to students;
 Designing teaching and learning activities so that students are optimally engaged in
achieving these learning outcomes; and
 Creating assessments that will allow students to demonstrate their attainment of the
learning outcomes and allow instructors to discern how well these outcomes have
been achieved.

Outcomes based teaching and

learning is based on meeting set
standards of teaching and learning to
ensure students meet the requirements
for a degree. Assessment is marked
against criteria referenced to the
outcomes (Spady, 1994). In constructive
alignment, assessment is aligned to the
intended learning outcomes and students
construct knowledge through teaching
and learning experiences. Students show
evidence of how they meet the outcomes
through assessment where they show construction of knowledge and skills. Teaching provides
the opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning.
 The focus in constructive alignment is on what and how students learn, rather than on
the topic the teacher teaches. The action verb in a learning outcome describes to students what
they should perform to achieve the intended learning outcome (for example, “apply procedures”
or “compare theories”). Learning activities are what the student undertakes to meet these
learning outcomes and students construct knowledge and skills based on the learning activities.
Assessment shows how well they have learned from the activities. Student-centered, active
learning activities provide opportunities for students to construct new knowledge.

Lesson 2: K-12 Assessment Guidelines

Here are assessment practices lifted from DepEd Order 8, s. 2015 for the guidance of all
teachers:
1. Teachers should employ assessment methods that are consistent with
standards. This means that assessment as a process must be based on
standards and competencies that are stated in the K to 12 Curriculum Guide.
Assessment must be based NOT on content but on standards and
competencies. Therefore, there must be alignment between assessment tools or
tasks and standards and competencies.
2. Teachers must employ both formative and summative assessment both
individually and collaboratively. Assessment is done primarily to ensure learning,
thus teachers are expected to assess learning in every stage of lesson
development - beginning, middle and at the end.
3. Grades are a function of written work, performance tasks and quarterly test. This
means that grades come from multiple sources with emphasis on performance
tasks from Grades 1 to 12. Grade does not come from only one source rather
from multiple sources.
4. The cognitive process dimensions given by Krathwohl and Anderson (2001) -
from remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating
governs formulation of assessment tasks.

In the DepEd Order 31. S. 2012,

The levels are defined as follows:

1. “Knowledge” refers to the substantive content of the curriculum, the facts and
information that the student acquires.
2. “Process” refers to cognitive operations that the student performs on facts and
information for the purpose of constructing meanings and understandings. This
level is assessed through activities or tests of analytical ability.
3. “Understandings” refer to enduring big ideas, principles and generalizations
inherent to the discipline, which may be assessed using the facets of
understanding. Assessment at this level, should require ability to synthesize,
generalize and judge accordingly.
4. “Products/Performances” refer to real-life application of understanding as
evidenced by the student’s performance of authentic tasks. At this level students
are expected to be able to apply what has been learned in contrived or real
situations.

In DepEd Order 8. 2015,

As stipulated in the DepEd order 21 s. 2019,

Lesson 3: Characteristics of Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes are statements describing what students know, understand, and can
do with their knowledge, as well as what they feel and believe, as a result of their learning
experiences.
1. They use verbs that indicate how the student work can be observed.
2. They focus on what the student should do, not what the instructor teaches.
3. They reflect what students should be able to do after a course ends, not simply
what they do during the course.
4. It can be assessed in more than one way.
5. They can be understood by someone outside the discipline.
Example of Good Learning Outcome:
Broad: Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history, literature and function of the
theatre, including works from various periods and cultures.
More specific: Students will be able to explain the theoretical bases of various
dramatic genres and illustrate them with examples from plays of different eras.

Lesson 4: Learning Domains and Taxonomies

 Believing that there were more than one (1) type of learning, Benjamin Bloom and a
committee of colleagues in 1956, identified three domains of educational activities: the
cognitive, referring to mental skills; affective referring to growth in feeling or emotion, and
psychomotor, referring to manual or physical skills. These terms were regarded as too technical
by practicing teachers and so the domains were translated to simpler terms commonly used by
teachers: knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA).
These domains are organized into categories or levels and arranged in hierarchical
order from the simplest behavior to the most complex behavior. To ensure that the learning
outcomes are measurable, demonstrable and verifiable, the outcomes should be stated as
concrete and active verbs. In mid-nineties, a former student of Bloom, Lorin Anderson, reviewed
the cognitive domain objectives and effected some changes. The two most prominent of these
are (a) changing the names in the six subdivisions from noun to verb and (b) re-arranging the
order of the last two-synthesis and evaluation.
The three domains of learning are summarized below:

Below is the comparison of Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy of Objectives in Cognitive

Domains and the new version of Anderson and Krathwohl (2001).
 Below is Krathwol, David and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Objectives in the affective domain.

Kendall’s and Marzano’s New Taxonomy

Instead of categorizing learning activities
which Bloom and Anderson did, Kendall and
Marzano reframed the three domains of
knowledge (information, mental procedures and
psychomotor procedures) by describing six
levels of processing knowledge. The first four
levels of processing are cognitive, beginning with
the lowest (retrieval) then moving upward with
increasing cognitive complexity --
comprehension, analysis and knowledge
utilization. The fifth level of processing, the
metacognitive system, involves the learner's
specification of learning goals, monitoring of the
learner's own learning process, clarity and
accuracy of the learner's learning.
The highest level of knowledge
processing self-system, involves the learner's examination of the importance of the learning task
and his/her self-efficacy. It also involves the learner's examining his/her emotional response and
his/her motivation of learning.

In the early seventies, E Simpson, Dave and A.S. Harrow recommended

categories for the Psychomotor Domain which included physical coordination,
movement and use of the motor skills body parts. Development of these skills requires
constant practice in accuracy and speed. Simpson contributed 7 categories, Dave 5
categories and Harrow 6 categories,
Simpson’s Taxonomy

Category Example and Key Words (verbs)

Perception (awareness): The ability to
use sensory cues to guide motor
activity. This ranges from sensory
stimulation, through cue selection, to
translation.
Examples: Detects non-verbal
communication cues. Estimate where a
ball will land after it is thrown and then
moving to the correct location to catch the
ball. Adjusts heat of stove to correct

Set: Readiness to act. It includes
mental, physical, and emotional sets.
These three sets are dispositions that
predetermine a person's response to
different situations (sometimes called
mindsets).
Guided Response: The early stages in
learning a complex skill that includes
imitation and trial and error. Adequacy
of performance is achieved by
practicing.
Mechanism (basic proficiency): This
is the intermediate stage in learning a
complex skill. Learned responses have
become habitual and the movements
can be performed with some confidence
and proficiency.
Complex Overt Response (Expert):
The skillful performance of motor acts
temperature by smell and taste of food.
Adjusts the height of the forks on a forklift
by comparing where the forks are in
relation to the pallet.
Key Words: chooses, describes, detects,
differentiates, distinguishes, identifies,
isolates, relates, selects.
Examples: Knows and acts upon a
sequence of steps in a manufacturing
process. Recognize one's abilities and
limitations. Shows desire to learn a new
process (motivation). NOTE: This
subdivision of Psychomotor is closely
related with the “Responding to
phenomena” subdivision of the Affective
domain.
Key Words: begins, displays, explains,
moves, proceeds, reacts, shows, states,
volunteers.
Examples: Performs a mathematical
equation as demonstrated. Follows
instructions to build a model. Responds
hand-signals of instructor while learning to
operate a forklift.
Key Words: copies, traces, follows, react,
reproduce, responds
Examples: Use a personal
computer. Repair a leaking faucet. Drive a
car.
Key Words: assembles, calibrates,
constructs, dismantles, displays, fastens,
fixes, grinds, heats, manipulates,
measures, mends, mixes, organizes,
sketches.
Examples: Maneuvers a car into a tight
parallel parking spot. Operates a
that involve complex movement
patterns. Proficiency is indicated by a
quick, accurate, and highly coordinated
performance, requiring a minimum of
energy. This category includes
performing without hesitation, and
automatic performance. For example,
players are often utter sounds of
satisfaction or expletives as soon as
they hit a tennis ball or throw a football,
because they can tell by the feel of the
act what the result will produce.
Adaptation: Skills are well developed
and the individual can modify
movement patterns to fit special
requirements.
computer quickly and accurately. Displays
competence while playing the piano.
Key Words: assembles, builds, calibrates,
constructs, dismantles, displays, fastens,
fixes, grinds, heats, manipulates,
measures, mends, mixes, organizes,
sketches.
NOTE: The Key Words are the same as
Mechanism, but will have adverbs or
adjectives that indicate that the
performance is quicker, better, more
accurate, etc.
Examples: Responds effectively to
unexpected experiences. Modifies
instruction to meet the needs of the
learners. Perform a task with a machine
that it was not originally intended to do
(machine is not damaged and there is no
danger in performing the new task).

Key Words: adapts, alters, changes,

Origination: Creating new movement
patterns to fit a particular situation or
specific problem. Learning outcomes
emphasize creativity based upon highly
developed skills.
rearranges, reorganizes, revises, varies.
Examples: Constructs a new theory.
Develops a new and comprehensive
training programming. Creates a new
gymnastic routine.
Key Words: arranges, builds, combines,
composes, constructs, creates, designs,
initiate, makes, originates.

Dave (1975):

Category Example and Key Words (verbs)

Imitation — Observing and Examples: Copying a work of art. Performing a
patterning behavior after skill while observing a demonstrator.
someone else. Performance may
be of low quality. Key Words: copy, follow, mimic, repeat,

Manipulation — Being able to
perform certain actions by
memory or following instructions.
Precision — Refining, becoming
more exact. Performing a skill
within a high degree of precision
Articulation — Coordinating and
adapting a series of actions to
achieve harmony and internal
consistency.
Naturalization — Mastering a
high level performance until it
become second-nature or
natural, without needing to think
much about it.
Harrow (1972):
Category
Reflex Movements — Reactions that
are not learned, such as involuntary
reaction
Fundamental Movements — Basic
movements such as walking, or
replicate, reproduce, trace
Examples: Being able to perform a skill on one's
own after taking lessons or reading about it.
Follows instructions to build a model.
Key Words: act, build, execute, perform
Examples: Working and reworking something,
so it will be “just right.” Perform a skill or task
without assistance. Demonstrate a task to a
beginner.
Key Words: calibrate, demonstrate, master,
perfectionism
Examples: Combining a series of skills to
produce a video that involves music, drama,
color, sound, etc. Combining a series of skills or
activities to meet a novel requirement.
Key Words: adapt, constructs, combine, creates,
customize, modifies, formulate
Examples: Maneuvers a car into a tight parallel
parking spot. Operates a computer quickly and
accurately. Displays competence while playing
the piano. Michael Jordan playing basketball or
Nancy Lopez hitting a golf ball.
Key Words: create, design, develop, invent,
manage, naturally
Example and Key Words (verbs)
Examples: instinctive response
Key Words: react, respond
Examples: perform a simple task
Key Words: grasp an object, throw a ball,
grasping.
Perceptual Abilities — Response to
stimuli such as visual, auditory,
kinesthetic, or tactile discrimination.
Physical Abilities (fitness) —
Stamina that must be developed for
further development such as strength
and agility.
Skilled movements — Advanced
learned movements as one would find
in sports or acting.
Nondiscursive communication —
Use effective body language, such as
gestures and facial expressions.
Lesson 5: Phases of Outcomes Assessment in the Instructional Cycle
Lesson 6: ABCD of the Statement of Objectives
walk
Examples: track a moving object,
recognize a pattern
Key Words: catch a ball, draw or write
Examples: gain strength, run a marathon
Key Words: agility, endurance, strength
Examples: Using an advanced series of
integrated movements, perform a role in a
stage play or play in a set of series in a
sports game.
Key Words: adapt, constructs, creates,
modifies
Examples: Express one's self by using
movements and gestures
Key Words: arrange, compose,
interpretation
Steps to Writing Learning Objectives
1. Identify the noun, or thing you want students to learn.
Example: alternative text for images
2. Identify the level of knowledge you want. In Bloom’s Taxonomy, there are six levels
of learning. It’s important to choose the appropriate level of learning, because this
directly influences the type of assessment you choose to measure your students’
learning. Example: Apply alternative text for images
3. Select a verb that is observable to describe the behavior at the appropriate level of
learning using Bloom's Taxonomy.
4. Add additional criteria to indicate how or when the outcome will be observable to
add context for the student. Example: Apply alternative text for images based on
the context of the page.