Writing Acceptable Performance-Based Objectives

To begin preparing appropriate performance-based objectives for students, teachers

should create a brief list of things that students should know and be able to do at the end
of instruction. All of these need to be translated into observable terminal behaviors that
can then be used to formally assess student knowledge and skill. Below is a table
showing a poorly worded objective adjacent to one that is much better written.
Poor Objectives:
The student will know the
Democratic Ideal upon which
the ISU Teacher Education
program is based.

Better Objectives:
The student will write an essay
identifying and explaining each of the
moral and intellectual virtues of the ISU
Democratic Ideal.
The student will provide physical
The student will understand the
examples when asked to show the
distinction between distance and
difference between displacement and
displacement.
distance.
The student will, when given formulas
The student knows how to solve
and quantities associated with variables,
algebraic physics problems.
solve the mathematical relationship for
the unknown(s).

These better quality objectives are acceptable in this course; poorly written objectives are
not. Remember, the best behavioral objectives will have observable behaviors,
conditions, and minimum acceptable standards.
It is marginally acceptable to use words like "understand" and "be able to" and "learn" in
the behavioral objective so long as an observable terminal behavior is included.
Nonetheless, such words are superfluous and do not really assist in clarifying what it is
that the student is to be able to do to demonstrate the expected competency. Terms such
as "identify" and "differentiate" are less ambiguous, but can be acceptable if the
conditions under which such activities are to be performed are stated.
As you create your student performance-based objectives, don't forget to address the
various levels within the cognitive domain. Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
- Cognitive Domain can help in this effort. Don't forget the six areas listed here from the
lowest level of cognitive performance to the highest: knowledge (recall of information),
comprehension (students can recall information and are familiar with the meaning of the
information to the extent of being able to make some use of it), application (the act of
applying some abstraction to a new or unique concrete example), analysis (ability to
break down an idea into its constituent elements or internal organizational principles, and
to perceive relationships among those elements or principles within one "whole" or
between several "wholes"), synthesis (creation of something new from previously
existing elements or principles), and evaluation (formation of a judgment and the
justification of that judgment by reference to facts, examples, or specific criteria).

Here are some lists of "action" words that can be used with each performance
objective based on Bloom's Taxonomy. Read this document before starting your
assignment.

Assignment:
Write six (6) inquiry-oriented student performance objectives - one from each of the areas
of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives - that can be used as the basis for
student performance assessment. Clearly denote which objective is associated with which
cognitive performance -- knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation.You are encouraged to use the interactive class activity to help you write three
of these objectives. Six successfully prepared objectives must be written and included in
an appendix of the Scientific Literacy Project.