Learning Objectives & Taxonomies PDF

Learning Objectives We begin this course with Learning Objectives (LOs) because they are the foundation for assessing students. Regardless of the content area, grade level, or assessment type we must begin by asking what we want our students to learn and...

Learning Objectives We begin this course with Learning Objectives (LOs) because they are the foundation for assessing students. Regardless of the content area, grade level, or assessment type we must begin by asking what we want our students to learn and how they are to demonstrate their learning before we can test if our students have mastered the material. EXPLAIN Content standards are NOT curriculum. They are, however, the centerpiece used for guiding the creation of district curriculum and informing classroom instruction and assessment. Classroom Instruction State Content Standards Classroom District Assessment Curriculum While the state provides content standards and districts give curricular and/or pacing guides to help teachers know what to teach at each grade level, this information needs to be modified into specific learning objectives which help in assessing our students’ learning. In order to assess our students, we must know exactly what we are trying to get our students to learn. To do this we use Learning Objectives that are focused on student learning. What are Learning Objectives? Learning Objectives answer the question: “How” do students do “What”? Early Learning Objectives were Behavioral in nature. - Sequential Instruction where they needed to be mastered in a certain order. - Teacher centered and teacher dominated. - Knowledge was acquired through transfer from teacher. o Teacher presented the information or knowledge. o Students learned facts through individual memorization. - Students learned others’ thinking. - Students were motivated extrinsically (external prizes and rewards). Modern Learning Objectives focus on Outcome, Thought Process, and Development. - Learning is a process—it’s adaptive. - Learner centered—the teacher observes, coaches, and facilitates. - Knowledge is formed. o Students develop strategies for learning. o Students discover and construct. - Social interaction between students is a goal—cooperative learning. - Students motivated intrinsically (driven by their desire to learn). Learning Objectives & Taxonomies Page 2 of 7 Observing/Measuring Concepts A concept is an idea, a theoretical construct, a field of study, a talent, or a skill. Can we observe or directly measure each of these Language Arts concepts with a single observation? 1. Spells words correctly. 2. Demonstrates reading skills. Spells words correctly—we could recite a word to a child and ask the child to write the word. We can actually SEE whether the child has mastered spelling through a single, direct observation. Demonstrates reading skills—what single, directly observable task could the child perform to demonstrate that they have mastered this skill? There is no single observation or measurement. Instead, there are many different concepts that could be evaluated with regard to reading skills (e.g., fluency, intonation, spelling). Types of Learning Objectives 1. Domain—overarching & broad; not directly observable or measurable; multi-faceted; theoretical; made up of many different measurable components (specifics). Example: Reading Skills We want to produce children who can READ. In order to suggest the child has reading skills we review their performances in areas we believe are related to reading ability (Specific LOs). 2. Specifics—skills we directly measure to represent ability in the domain. Examples: Pronunciation, Spelling, Phonemic Awareness Parts of a Learning Objective 1. “How”—Action or Skill we expect the student to demonstrate. 2. “What”—Intent or Content students should be learning. Skill Content Examples: Learning Objectives & Taxonomies Page 3 of 7 Relationship between Domains and Specifics Remember, Domains are general, overarching instructional objectives that direct our teaching. We cannot measure them directly. Specifics are learning outcomes that clarify types of student performance that represents achievement in a Domain. Specifics may be “inclusive” and make up ALL possible outcomes of the Domain. It is more likely, however, that you will only use some of the possible Specifics to be “representative” of the Domain. Practice identifying Domains and Specifics. Circle Domain or Specific for each Learning Objective. Physical Science Domain/Specific Give examples of different types of matter. Domain/Specific Assesses between the types of matter. Domain/Specific Constructs a data table. Vocational/Cosmetology Education Domain/Specific Explains the chemical action taking place during a permanent wave. Domain/Specific Lists the various types of permanent waving solutions. Domain/Specific Understands chemical hair analysis. Physical Education Domain/Specific Shows another student how to bowl. Domain/Specific Demonstrates bowling ability. Domain/Specific Identifies which fingers go into the bowling ball. Learning Objectives & Taxonomies Page 4 of 7 Writing Functional Learning Objectives—4 Basic Principles 1. Content is not an Objective—an action/skill stating what a student will do along with the content must be identified. Poorly Written Example: Students read age-appropriate works of fiction. o Where is the skill? Just because students read does not mean they understand what they have read. Better Written Example: Demonstrates reading skills. o This shows the student is learning if they can demonstrate their skills. 2. Focus on Student Behavior—not on teacher’s actions. Poorly Written Example: Teach student appropriate use of hand tools. o This does not indicate that the student has learned anything just because the teacher teaches. Better Written Example: Distinguishes among types of hammers. o Focus is on the student. If students can distinguish, they are showing what they have learned. 3. Objectives are Unidimensional—focus on only ONE concept at a time in a L.O. Poorly Written Example: Identifies U.S. states, capitals, and large cities. o This mixes multiple concepts into one LO making it so we cannot clearly assess this LO well. Better Written Example: S1. Identifies U.S. states. S2. Identifies U.S. state capitals. S3. Identifies large U.S. cities. o Each LO now focuses on only one concept at a time, and we can easily assess which components the students have or have not mastered. 4. Preserve the Hierarchy—Specific objectives should not exceed the skill level presented in the Domain. o This will be discussed more in Unit 1 Module 2 on Taxonomies. But make a note: this is one of the most commonly missed components in the project. Putting it all together: Domains and Specifics. Example 1 Poorly Written Domain: Every student should acquire communication skills of understanding, speaking and writing. What’s wrong with this Domain? Better Written Domain: Learning Objectives & Taxonomies Page 5 of 7 Example 2 Poorly Written Specific: Applies the scientific principle of gravity. What’s wrong with this Specific? Better Written Specifics: Example 3 Well Written Domain with Specifics D1. Applies the scientific principle of gravity. S1.1 Describes gravity. S1.2 Defines gravity. S1.3 Uses gravity in problem solving. Learning Objectives & Taxonomies Page 6 of 7 Taxonomies Learning objectives indicate “what” and “how” we want our students to learn so that we may properly teach and assess our students. LOs also have another key feature of identifying the “skill level” needed to complete a task. In this lesson you will learn about taxonomic levels and how they are related to learning objectives. EXPLAIN What are Taxonomies? Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. In education, taxonomies are used to classify learning objectives into different levels or outcomes of learning. Determining what taxonomic level our LOs are at helps teachers to ensure higher level skill sets are learned as well as lower-level factual skills. Taxonomies play a key role in our LOs. Remember, each LO is comprised of two parts: Learning Objective = Action + Content How students will do What The Action or the How is the Skill Level indicating the taxonomic level we wish to assess. Example: In Language Arts we may ask students to do multiple tasks such as: Identify characters in a story. Summarize a story. Compose a unique story. In this example, the Language Arts skills are getting progressively more challenging as they go from “identify” to “summarize” to “compose”. To complete each LO, students need to use varying degrees of Language Arts ability as indicated by the Action (verb) in the LO. Types of Educational Taxonomies There is more than one “type” of learning. Benjamin Bloom (1956) and colleagues identified three domains of educational activities: Cognitive—mental (knowledge) Affective—feelings/emotions (attitude) Psychomotor—physical (skills) Regardless of the domain, taxonomies are theoretically believed to be Hierarchical. This means that you need to master lower-level skills before the next one can take place. Further, lower skills are more common than higher skills primarily because they are easier for most students to achieve and easier for teachers to assess. Other educational psychologists have developed hierarchies as well. But Bloom’s is the most widely used so we will focus on Bloom’s Cognitive domain. Learning Objectives & Taxonomies Page 7 of 7 Cognitive Taxonomy Commonly referred to as “intelligence” or scholastic abilities and is focused on most in education. Higher Order Thinking Skills Taxonomic Definition Key Words Examples Level Ed. Psych: Determine the educational Judging the value Conclude, Compare, psychological quality of teaching performance. Evaluation of a product using Support, Criticize, specified criteria. Justifies Math: Criticize the efficiency of another student’s plan for solving a multi-step math computation. Ed. Psych: Formulate a strategy for implementing Putting parts Compose, Create, classroom management practices in a classroom. Synthesis together into a Design, Formulate, unique whole. Generates Math: Design a plan for solving a multi-step math problem. Ed. Psych: Discriminate between intentionally and Breaking down Diagram, Outline, accidentally employed psychological strategies. Analysis material into Deduce, Illustrate, component parts. Discriminate Math: Determine the strategies that would be needed to solve a word problem. Using previous Ed. Psych: Selects examples of punishment from Use, Solve, knowledge in new given situations. Application Produce, Compute, & different Organize Math: Compute the area of circles. settings. Grasping the Explain, Infer, meaning of Summarize, Ed. Psych: Describe punishment. Comprehension material Paraphrase, Math: Explain the formula for area of a circle. (understanding). Distinguish Remembering Ed. Psych: List types of punishment. Define, List, Recall, Knowledge previously learned Identify, Know Math: State the formula for area of a circle. material. Lower Order Thinking Skills Note: Recent revisions have been made to Bloom’s Taxonomy switching the top two categories, making Synthesis the highest level and Evaluation the second highest. For the purpose of our class, we will use the traditional model as indicated in the table above. Check Your Understanding Which Taxonomic Levels could be used to assess Problem Solving or Critical Thinking skills?