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Goals

Goals provide a sense of direction, in a rather

Introduction to Goals and

Behavioral Objectives

specific way.

Goals tell the learner why the subject is being taught.

Students can commit to a goal if they understand why

it is important.

Goals therefore sustain our reasons for teaching the

Mark Gelula, PhD

Dept of Medical Education
Univ of Illinois at Chicago and
Dept of Medical Education (DOME)
KLE University, Belgaum
(c) MH Gelula 2011

subject.

Goals answer Why am I teaching this subject, course,

rotation, etc?

(c) MH Gelula 2011

Goals May be Written for the

Instructor & the Learner

Purpose of Objectives

Purpose: students should be able to understand the

basic structure of human anatomy

Purpose: students should be able to design a well
integrated PBL case

Purpose: students should be able to write a course
description including its purpose and course
objectives.

(c) MH Gelula 2011

Objectives have two practical purposes

1.

They offer a bridge between general

goals/purposes to any of a variety of
instructional strategies that will help achieve
the goals/purposes

Notice that while these are written for the instructor,

they are expressed from the learners point of view.
Goals also identify what the students will learn from
their involvement in the course, rotation, clerkship, etc.

2.

The instructional strategies are chosen based

on what is stated in the objectives

They suggest teaching strategies in a format

that allows the instructor to measure their
effects on learners

(c) MH Gelula 2011

Objectives Defined

Blooms Taxonomy

Objectives are specific statements of learner

Objectives, as we have seen, suggest learning

Cognitive objectives can be approached in a logical

fashion using the taxonomy proposed by Benjamin

Bloom, et. al. (1964)

1st

e.g., By the end of the

year, given a list of
25 rashes, the Dermatology Resident will
correctly identify them with a 95% degree of
accuracy.

So, if I am the Dermatology faculty, I will think
of a variety of ways that I could teach so that
the learners can accomplish this objective.
(c) MH Gelula 2011

activities, and define outcomes

behavior or outcomes that state the

conditions under which the behavior is to be
exhibited

Using his six levels, we can consider learning activities

and we can define, in absolute terms levels of
outcomes
Bloom B, M Englehart, W. Hill, E. Furst, and D.
Krathwohl (1964). Taxonomy of educational
objectives: the classification of educational goals.
Handbook I: cognitive domain. New York: Longman
Green.

(c) MH Gelula 2011

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Blooms Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy

Knowledge objectives require students to remember

Evaluation

or recall information such as fact, terminology,

problem-solving strategies, and rules

Comprehension objectives require a degree of
understanding. Students should be able to change
the form of a communication; translate, restate what
has been read; see connections or relationships; or
draw conclusions or see consequences from
information (inference).

Higher
Order
Thinking

Synthesis
Analysis
Application

Lower
Order
Thinking

Comprehension
Knowledge

(c) MH Gelula 2011

(c) MH Gelula 2011

Blooms Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy

Application requires the student to use previously

Synthesis requires a learner to produce

acquired information in a setting other than the one in

which it was learned. Application objectives differ
from comprehension objectives in that they require
the presentation of a problem in a different and
usually applied context

Analysis requires the learner to identify logical errors
(contradictions, erroneous inferences) or to
differentiate among facts, opinions, assumptions,
hypotheses and conclusions. They have to draw
relationships among ideas and compare contrast
them.
(c) MH Gelula 2011

something unique or original. Here students

solve unfamiliar problems in unique ways or
combine parts to form a unique or novel
solution. This is clinical problem-solving.

(c) MH Gelula 2011

Blooms Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy

Evaluation is the highest behavior and

There are several words that typify the

requires competence in each of the previous

behaviors. Students form judgments and
make decisions about the value of methods,
ideas, people or products that have a specific
purpose. Students should state the bases for
their judgments (e.g.., the criteria or
principles, or theories they drew on to reach
their conclusions
(c) MH Gelula 2011

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10

outcomes / activities useful for each of the

levels of this taxonomy.

See the cognitive verbs

(c) MH Gelula 2011

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Affective Domain

Affective Domain

Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia (1964)

As a learner moves up the hierarchy, more

developed a five level taxonomy for this

domain

As in the cognitive domain, it is hierarchical
and assumes that higher level objectives
include and are dependent upon lower-level
affective skills

involvement, commitment, and reliance on

ones self occurs

as opposed to having ones feelings, attitudes

and values dictated by others

Krathwohl D, B Bloom and B Masia (1964).

Taxonomy of educational objectives. The
classification of educational goals. Handbook II:
Affective domain. New York: David McKay.
(c) MH Gelula 2011

13

Affective Domain
5. Characterization
4. Organization
3. Valuing
2. Responding
1. Receiving

(c) MH Gelula 2011

14

Psychomotor Domain

Devised by harrow (1972), this taxonomy
Higher
Level

More
Authentic

Lower
Level

Less
Authentic

outlines five levels of psychomotor (skill)

behavior.

Affective Verb Objectives

(c) MH Gelula 2011

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Psychomotor Domain
5. Naturalization
4. Articulation
3. Precision
2. Manipulation
1. Imitation

(c) MH Gelula 2011

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Caveats

The lower order of objectives should not be confused

Most
Complex

Least
Complex

with least desirable.

Most
Authentic

Simple behaviors are important; higher order

objectives depend on complete accomplishment of

lower order objectives.

It is important to use the taxonomies to provide a
smorgasbord of behaviors at different levels of
complexity so that students may learn and move in a
fashion supportive to their learning systems.

Least
Authentic

Psychomotor verb examples

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(c) MH Gelula 2011

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Caveats

Caveats

Behaviors of less complexity (e.g., recall of

The ease with which a behavior can be

facts) are not necessarily easier to teach than

behaviors of greater complexity (e.g.,
problem-solving)

Do not be persuaded that lower-order, less
complex behaviors require little preparation,
fewer instructional resources, or less teaching
time than higher-order, more complex
behaviors.

taught is not synonymous with the level of the

behavior in the taxonomy (i.e., higher or
lower)

Higher or lower refer to the mental cognitive
operations required of the student, and not
the complexity of the activities required by the
instructor to facilitate learning of the behavior.

(c) MH Gelula 2011

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(c) MH Gelula 2011

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Caveats

The fact that we have categorized behaviors

into cognitive, affective, and psychomotor

domains does not mean that the behaviors
listed in one domain are exclusive of those
listed in other domains.

Finally, the word authentic, used in these
domains refers to relevance to the real
world

(c) MH Gelula 2011

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