1. Writing Instructional Objectives
Instructional objectives are statements of educational expectations for students.
Research has NOT demonstrated a strong link between writing objectives and student achievement

2. Writing Instructional Objectives
Nevertheless, it is still considered good educational practice to have written objectives in order to facilitate communication to students about expected outcomes.

3. Writing Instructional Objectives
There are a number of approaches to writing instructional objectives:
Mager -- Behavioral objectives

4. Writing Instructional Objectives
Mager proposes writing specific statements about observable outcomes that can be built up to become a curriculum (an inductive approach).
An example of a behavioral objective:
Given 3 minutes of class time, the student will solve 9 out of 10 multiplication problems of the type: 5 X 4 = _____.

5. Writing Instructional Objectives
There are a number of approaches to writing instructional objectives:
Mager -- Behavioral objectives
Gronlund -- General/specific objectives

6. Writing Instructional Objectives
Gronlund proposes starting with a general statement and providing specific examples of topics to be covered or behaviors to be observed (a deductive approach).

7. Writing Instructional Objectives
An example of a general/specific objective:
The student can perform simple multiplication: a. can define what multiplication means, in his our her own words. b. can define relevant terms such as "multiplier" and "product”. c. can solve problems of the type 5 X 4 = ______.

8. Writing Instructional Objectives
There are a number of approaches to writing instructional objectives:
Mager -- Behavioral objectives
Gronlund -- General/specific objectives
Eisner -- Expressive objectives

9. Writing Instructional Objectives
Eisner proposes that not all instructional objectives should focus on outcome; some should focus on the learning process itself (expressive objectives).
Examples of an expressive objective:
a. Students will attend a live symphony performance.
b. Students will use multiplication in everyday activities.

10. Writing Instructional Objectives
While there are advantages and disadvantages to each approach, we will focus on Mager's approach, because it is the most widely used and perhaps the most inclusive.

11. Writing Behavioral Objectives
An instructional objective is a clear and unambiguous description of educational expectations for students.
When written in behavioral terms, an objective will include three components:
student behavior,
conditions of performance, and
performance criteria.

12. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
skill or knowledge to be gained (e.g., two digit numbers, vocabulary words)
Student Behavior

13. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
Student Behavior
and

14. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
the action or skill the student is able TO DO (e.g., define, count, label, categorize, analyze, design, evaluate, add, multiply, etc.)
Student Behavior

15. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
Students will add two-digit numbers
Student Behavior
Students will define the vocabulary words identified in bold print in the first story.

16. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
Under what circumstances or context will the behavior be performed
Conditions of Performance

17. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
In an oral presentation
Conditions of Performance
Without the use of notes

18. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
How well is the behavior to done
Performance Criteria
Compared to what standard

19. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
80 out of 100
Performance Criteria
containing four of the six components discussed in class

20. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Three Parts of a Behavioral Objective
In an oral presentation,
the student will paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther Kings's I Have a Dream address,
mentioning at least 3 of the 5 major points discussed in class.

21. Writing Behavioral Objectives
When developing the behavioral objective it is best to write the student behavior first, then the condition statement and finally the criteria.
In an oral presentation,
the student will paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther Kings's I Have a Dream address,
mentioning at least 3 of the 5 major points discussed in class.

22. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Write a behavioral objective for each of the following statements:
The students will grasp the significance of civic responsibility.
The student will learn the parts of speech.
The teacher will cover multiplication facts.

23. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Are these properly written behavioral objectives?
Given ten rocks, the student will label them as igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rocks.
The student will located 12 major bones on the diagram of a skeleton.

24. Writing Behavioral Objectives
Are these properly written behavioral objectives?
Given five sentences, the student will correctly classify four of them.
Given three 7-word sentences, the student will correctly identify the parts of speech for 18 of the words.

25. Is this correct? Using 18”x24” watercolor paper and acrylic
paint, create three paintings that express the
Mood of your favorite music using warm
and cool colors.

26. Instructional Objectives
... Write a behavioral objective for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain according to the standards set forth by Mager.
Developed by W. Huitt (1998)