Unit Two

Educational Goals and Objectives

 Learning Objectives

At the end of this unit, learner should be able to:

1) Define Educational Aim, Goal, Objective, and
Outcome
2) Describe the importance of educational goals
and objectives
3) Explain the considerations in determining
educational objectives
4) Discuss the domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy of
educational objectives
5) Write the educational objectives and outcomes
at the cognitive domain
 Definition and Meaning
• Aim refers to the kind of outcome you expect to see
or produce in the future, e.g. Student will be
proficient in English Language
• Goal refers to the intended outcomes in general
terms in specific period of time, e.g. At the end of
the course, student will be able read, write, and
speak English Language.
• Objective refers to the intended results in specific
terms in specific period of time, e.g. At the end of
the course, student will be able to write a short
paragraph of at least three sentences.
• Outcomes are achieved results of what was learnt,
e.g., At the end of the course, student will be able
to demonstrate a mastery of how to write a short
paragraph.
 Importance of Educational Goals
and Objectives
• Educational goals are many and varied. They are not
easy to specify or agree upon. Indeed, educators have
long been faced with choosing between competing, if not
conflicting, goals. Not all worthwhile goals will be
attained, nor should they all be striven for with equal
fervor (eagerness).
• Traditionally, educational measurement has been more
helpful in determining the degree to which certain
outcomes have been achieved than in determining the
goals of education and in setting priorities. But there is a
circular relationship among objectives, instruction, and
evaluation, and thus measurement has played some part
in the determination of objectives. The importance of
stating educational objectives and determining their
priorities has been stressed by those responsible for
measurement, and this emphasis has provided the
impetus for others to consider objectives.
 Considerations in determining
educational objectives
• In determining educational objectives, three
considerations should be given:
– Relevance of Goals - Goal relevance is
dependent upon both the needs of society and
the needs of the learner. Teachers, school
districts, and the entire "educational
establishment" must continually reexamine the
goals of education in view of society's needs.
The psychological needs of the learner must
also be considered when specifying relevant
goals. The need to achieve, for example, is
related to the probability of success. Students'
aspirations (hope) vary, depending upon how
they perceive their chances of success and
whether they were successful on a previous
task.
Considerations in determining
educational objectives
– Realism of Goals - Knowledge of present outcomes
should help in setting realistic objectives. Realism
can relate to either the age of the children or to the
time available for teaching. For instance, the
objective, "Will sit quietly for ten minutes," is
unrealistic for five-year-old kindergarten children.
Setting unrealistic goals is a sure way to discourage
both students and teachers. The psychological and
developmental nature of individuals delimits to a
large extent what teachers should and should not
expect.
– Priorities of Goals - The term needs assessment is
popular among those who advocate the systems
approach to education. It is based on the notion or
concept that the relevance of education must be
empirically determined and should identify the
discrepancy between "what is" and "what should be"
 Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives
• Benjamin S. Bloom, then Associate Director of the Board
of Examinations of the University of Chicago, initiated
the idea of taxonomy of objectives, hoping that it would
reduce the labor of preparing annual comprehensive
examinations. To aid in his effort, he enlisted a group of
measurement specialists from across the United States,
many of whom repeatedly faced the same problem. This
group met about twice a year beginning in 1949 to
consider progress, make revisions, and plan the next
steps.
• The taxonomy of educational objectives is a framework
for classifying statements of what we expect or intend
students to learn as a result of instruction. The
framework was conceived as a means of facilitating the
exchange of test items among faculty at various
universities in order to create banks of items, each
measuring the same educational objective.
 Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives
• Bloom has categorized educational objectives in three
domains:
• Blooms taxonomy is a taxonomy of educational
objectives:-
– Cognitive Domain – related to brain, thinking,
reasoning or problem solving.
– Affection domain – related to feeling and emotions
– Psychomotor domain – related to motor skills and
physical activities
 According to Bloom’s learning occurs from lower
level to higher level
 Cognitive domain
• It is the most important according to this learning should be
arranged form easy to difficult.
• Knowledge, comprehension and application is lower order
thinking skills.
• Analysis, synthesis and evaluation is higher order thinking
skills.
 Knowledge
• Knowledge is the lowest level
(remembering)
• You learn something by heart
able to recall or recognize it.
• E.g. your learn definition of
noun and he learns from heart
without understanding its
meaning and other example is
recall 1 to 100 or recognize.
 Comprehension
• Comprehension
(understanding): needs
more thinking skills
compared to knowledge.
• This stage student
understands things.
• E.g. student can define
noun and now understand
by their own words and able
to give examples
Application
• Application; when a person can
apply knowledge in a new
situation.
• E.g. when students understand
names of person, places,
animals are called noun; they are
apple to apply knowledge in
speaking or making sentences or
writing composition.
• E.g. five boxes of egg 30X50=
150
Analysis
• Analysis: breaking down
into several parts.
• E.g. illustrate relationships,
differentiate and compare.
Evaluation
• Evaluation: giving reasons
or debate or generalize
things, solution to problem.
• E.g. assess, justify and
defend your view.
Synthesis
• Synthesis (create):
combine elements to form
new thing.
• E.g. develop new theory or
hypothesis, new formula
 Writing Educational Objectives
• Robert Mager argued that learning objectives should be
specific, measurable objectives that both guide
instructors and aid students in the learning process.
Mager’s ABCD model for learning objectives includes
four elements:
– Audience (A) – Who? Who are your learners?
– Behavior (B) – What? What do you expect them to be
able to do? This should be an overt, observable
behavior, even if the actual behavior is covert or
mental in nature.
– Condition (C) – How? Under what circumstances or
context will the learning occur? What will the student
be given or already be expected to know to
accomplish the learning?
– Degree (D) – How much? How much will be
accomplished, how well will the behavior need to be
performed, and to what level?
 Writing Educational 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.
General Format of Educational Objectives
CONDITION + AUDIENCE + BEHAVIOR + DEGREE

– (C) Given a sentence written in the past or present

tense, (A) the student will be able to (B) re-write the
sentence in future tense (D) with no errors in tense or
tense contradiction”
 Writing Educational Objectives
• Knowledge: define, label, list, name, order, recognize,
recall, label, memorize, reproduce, repeat,
• Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain,
identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, review,
select, translate
• Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, employ,
illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch,
solve, use
• Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize,
compare, contrast, diagram, differentiate, discriminate,
distinguish, examine, test, question
• Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose,
construct, create, design, formulate, manage,
organize, plan, prepare, propose, write
• Evaluation: argue, assess, choose, defend, estimate,
judge, predict, rate, score, select, support, value,
evaluate
 Writing Educational Objectives
• Learning outcomes and learning objectives are slightly
different:
– Learning objectives are intended results of
instruction, curricula, etc
– Learning outcomes are achieved results of what was
learnt.
• Following are examples of learning outcomes and
learning objectives:
– Learning Outcome: Students will show mastery of
addition of two numbers up to 5-digits
– Learning Objective: Students will solve correctly a
minimum of 35 of 40 problems on the addition of two
number up to 5-digit numbers
 Writing Educational Objectives
• Objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, and time-bound (SMART)

Consider the following Examples:

“At the end of the lesson, students will be able to
describe the human systems”
Poor
“At the end of the lesson, students will be able to
describe the digestive and respiratory system”
Better
“At the end of the lesson, students will be able to
describe the components of the digestive and respiratory
systems”
Best