Writing Instructional Objectives

General goals are too broad to teach from directly. The teacher’s job is to reduce them into instructional objectives, and this is where teachers become extensively involved in curriculum development. By writing down precise objectives for their own classrooms, based on the general goals, teachers turn a national or school aim into something they can teach and check tomorrow morning.

What an instructional objective is

An instructional objective is a clearly stated objective that describes observable and measurable learner behaviour. The two words that matter are observable and measurable: if you cannot see it and cannot measure it, it is not yet an instructional objective.

A full instructional objective has three parts:

1. The behaviour, stated so it is observable and measurable.
2. The condition under which the behaviour will occur, such as on an exam or in a classroom.
3. A minimum or acceptable level of performance, often expressed as a percentage of correctness.

So a complete objective says what the learner will do, in what situation, and how well. “The learner will, on a written test, correctly label at least eight of the ten parts of a plant” names a behaviour, a condition, and a level. Each part removes ambiguity about whether the objective was met.

Flashcard

What is an instructional objective, and what three parts does it have?

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Answer

A clear statement of observable, measurable behavior, with behavior, condition, and level

It names what the learner will do, the condition it occurs under (such as on an exam), and a minimum acceptable level of performance, often a percentage. All three make it checkable.

What it takes, and the decisions involved

Translating goals into instructional objectives takes real expertise. A teacher needs knowledge of the goals, of the subject matter, and of the learners. Missing any one makes the translation guesswork.

It also takes decisions. To reduce goals into objectives, a teacher decides what learners are expected to learn during each day of teaching, answering two questions:

1. What do I want learners to know?
2. What do I want learners to be able to do following instruction?

Answering these means making decisions about the scope and sequence of the course: finding the essential concepts and skills to be learned and the order in which to teach them. Writing the objectives down has clear benefits. It makes the teacher articulate, in detail, the specific behaviours learners should demonstrate, and it lets the teacher develop an appropriate sequence for the objectives. Above all, it ensures the teacher understands what learners are expected to do, what the teacher must do to help them, and how the learning will take place.

Flashcard

What does a teacher need in order to translate goals into instructional objectives?

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Answer

Knowledge of the goals, the subject matter, and the learners

With these, the teacher decides what learners should know and be able to do, works out the scope and sequence, and writes precise objectives that clarify what learners and teacher must each do.