1. Performance:
An objective states what the learner is expected to
be able to do. A good question to ask yourself is “What
would someone have to do to demonstrate mastery of this
objective?”
A performance is described by a doing
word rather than words that describe something you can
be.
| Examples
of doing words (performances) |
Examples
of being words (abstractions) |
running
solving
discriminating
writing |
knowing
understanding
appreciating
happy |
| “you can find out (…) whether
a person is able to solve a problem
or discriminate between colors.”
(Mager, 1984, p. 31) |
“you can’t see someone appreciating
or understanding, and so those words
do not describe performances; rather, they
describe abstract states of being.”
(Mager, 1984, p. 31) |
|
Benjamin Bloom (1956, Bloom et al.) and his colleagues
put together a taxonomy with specific action verbs that
are categorized into various types or levels of learning. Anderson and Krathwohl updated the taxonomy in 2001.
These verbs may help you to analyze existing objectives
or to create your own:
| Remembering |
Understanding |
Applying |
Analyzing |
Evaluating |
Creating |
list
name
identify
show
define
recognize
recall |
explain
put into your own words
interpret
describe
compare
differentiate
demonstrate |
solve
calculate
use
manipulate
apply
state
classify
modify
put into practice |
analyze
organize
deduce
choose |
assess
judge
defend
critique
justify
appraise |
design
develop
invent
compose
construct |
|
A good learning outcome objective is measurable and
indicates how the learner will demonstrate that they
have achieved the objective.
If we use a word that describes a state of being as
the following objective does, then it is difficult to
evaluate learning:
“At the end of the talk,
the family physician will understand how to diagnosis
diabetes.”
How will we measure how much the family physician will
“understand”?
We could re-write the objective with the following
action verb that describes what the family physician
will be doing:
“At the end of the talk, the family physician
will be able to state the three diagnostic criteria
for diabetes.”
Identify (type or copy and paste) the words that describe
the performance (the doing):
Sometimes the objective describes the product or result
of the doing since the performance cannot be observed
directly. This covert performance may
be mental, invisible, cognitive or internal. In this
case, the learner would be asked to say something or
to do something that is visible that would demonstrate
mastery of the objective.
Example: Discriminate between normal and abnormal X-rays.
The student could be asked to sort X-rays into two piles.
It’s your turn!
Read the following objective:
Given all available engineering data regarding a proposed
product, be able to identify (underline) transistors
on a schematic diagram.
What would students be doing
when demonstrating mastery of this objective?
|
