Writing Objectives in Behavioural Terms

What the learner should be able to do at the end of teaching?

The structure of the educational or instructional objectives mainly consists of two parts

(i)                  The modification part

(ii)                The content part

The modification part- behavioral changes that are designated to the behavior of the learner through the related instruction or learning experience.

The content part- syllabus in particular and to the curriculum in general to be covered by the related instruction.

WRITING OF OBJECTIVES

• The nature of the objective, i.e. knowledge, application, etc.
• The area or domain of the behavior, i.e. cognitive, affective, etc.
• The specific content areas in which behavioral changes are planned to be brought, i.e. fundamental rights, means of irrigation, sources of energy, etc.

SEVERAL METHODS OF WRITING OBJECTIVES TERMS

• Robert Mager’s Approach
• Robert Miler’s Approach
• R.C.E.M. Approach

ROBERT MAGER’S APPROACH

     According to Robert Mager (1962), instructional objectives are best described in terms of the terminal behavior expected from the learners. He recommends the following things for the writing of the objectives;

• 1.       Identification of the terminal behavior or performance and its naming
• 2.       Description of the important conditions under which the behavior is expected to occur
• 3.       Specification of the criteria of acceptable performance (desired terminal behavior) by describing how good a learner’s performance must be for being acceptable.

     Mager’s approach has adopted Bloom’s taxonomy as starting base for the writing of objectives. He has sought the help of the associated action verbs for stating the different objectives. The verbs help in describing the outcomes of learning or the terminal behavior of the learner in a well-defined way (observable and testable)

A list of associated action verbs for the COGNITIVE DOMAIN

A list of action verbs for AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

Knowledge Objective

     Students state or will state (behavior) at last five (performance) fundamental rights out of the fundamental rights presented in the text (condition).

Skill Objective

     Using a pencil, colored pencil and an outline map of Haryan (conditions), each students will mark (behavior) all the districts of the state (performance)

Affective Objective 

     Students will describe (behavior) the two advantages/values (performance) derived from a pollution-free environment during the visit to an ideal village (condition)

     Let us illustrate it by writing objectives of teaching a particular topic/unit (duties citizens) of the subject social studies related to the affective domain.

Instructional objectives                   -              Writing in behavioral terms

of the affective domain

Receiving                                        - Students accept their duties as a citizen of the country

Responding                                     - Students write or list out the duties of citizen

Valuing                                           - Students demonstrate the duties of a citizen in their behavior

Organization                                   - Students establish relationship between various duties

MILLER'S APPROACH

For meeting the requirement of writing psychomotor objectives he forward his scheme based on skill analysis by outlining the following procedure:

1. Description of the indicator, indicating the relevant activity.

2. Descriptiong of the indication or stimulus that calls for a response.

3. Controlling of the object that is to be activated.

4. Desription of the activity to be performed.

5. The indication of the adequacy of responses or feedback.

R.C.E.M APPROACH

     The four categories of objectives (knowledge, understanding, application, creativity), have been divided into 17 mental processes or abilities. These processes or abilities are used for the necessary outline of the 17 frames or statements as follows:

1. Knowledge objectives

1.1 The learner is able to recognize...

1.2 The learner is able to recall...

2. Understanding objectives

2.1 The learner is able to see relationship between...and...

2.2 The learner is able to cite example of...

2.3 The learner is able to classify...

2.5 The learner is able to interpret...

3. Application objectives

3.1 The learner is able to reason out...

3.2 The learner is able to formulate hypothesis for...

3.3 The learner is able to infer about...

4. Creativity objectives

4.1 The learner is able to analyze

4.2 The learner is able to synthesize...

4.3 The learner is able to evaluate...

How to write objectives in R.C.E.M. Approach

1. Have in mind the entry behavior of the learner.
2. Think again the element of content or topic to be given to the learner.
3. Think again the teaching objective(s)
4. In view of the entry behavior, element of content and the particular objective, try to select appropriate mental process for writing the objective in question.
5. Make use of the 17 frames of the R.C.E.M. approach and fill in the blanks in view of the entry behavior of the learner and learning experiences given to him.

Example 1: Topic: Duties of a Citizen

1. Students are able to recall at least five duties of a citizen (knowledge)
2. Students are able to discriminate between rights and duties (understanding)
3. Students are able to infer about the duties of a citizen through their daily life activities (application)
4. Students are able to evaluate the contribution of the society or education in acquainting them with the duties of a citizen (creativity)

Conclusion Regarding Writing of Instructional Objectives
     The discussion held so far may help the pupil teachers in the task of formulating the desired instructional objectives related to the topics or sub units of their daily lessons. The question, however, arises in actual practice and conditions available for teachers training what type of behavioral changes part really expected in the behavior of the students through the teaching of the lessons in a particular subject. These changes falling in different domains of their behavior may generally be summarized as follows:

1. Students may acquire the knowledge and understanding of the facts,principles and ideas related to the topics and units of different branches of a particular subject of the school curriculum.
2. They may learn about the various skils related to the process and products of the subject like drawing skill, surveying skill, computational skill,etc.
3. They may be able to utilize the knowledge, understanding and skills related to the subject in their daily life.
4. They may develop proper positive attitude for the learning.
5. They may develop proper interest and appreciation for the facts related to the study of that subject.

Planning for Daily Lesson (Objectives)

1. Knowledge and understanding
2. skill
3. application
4. attitude
5. interest and appreciation

An Illustration of Writing Instructional Objectives

Topic: Our Solar System

Knowledge and understanding objectives

1. The pupils recall the names of the planets of the solar system.
2. The pupils tell the name of the planets which lie at the nearest and furthest distance from the earth.
3. The pupils recognize the name of planets and satellites.
4. The pupils recognize the position of the planets, moon, sun, and other members of the solar system in a amp of the solar system.
5. The pupils identify planets and satellites.

Skill Objectives

1. The pupils draw accurate and neat diagram showing the solar system and the occurrence of the solar or lunar eclipses.
2. The pupils calculate the time taken by the light from the members of the solar systems to reach earth and also their relative distances from the earth.

Attitude Objectives

1. The pupils don't accept the mythical stories for giving the reasons of lunar or solar eclipse.
2. The pupils accept his mistake in judging planets and other stars as small as they appear from earth.

Interest and appreciation objectives

1. The pupils how keen interest in visiting planetarium.
2. The pupils build a model of solar system.
3. The pupils write an article on solar system and eclipses in the school bulletin.
4. The pupils read relevant literature concerning solar system and universe in the library.
5. The pupils derive pleasure in knowing the solar system and its place in universe.

Students demonstrate (or will demonstrate) the following types of behavior after studying the topic "Our Solar System"

   After saying so we can then write the various objectives as

-recall the names of the planets of the solar system

-explain the difference between a planet and a satellite

-draw a neat diagram showing the solar system.