Lesson Three Developing Learning Objectives

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Cognitive Strategies

There are skills that students have like how they communicate, useful experience and abilities. Then consider the requirements of the course. People usually need help knowing how to handle what they are learning. If the course is cabinet making, then they would want to know the space needed to build them; the amount of time it takes; a list of materials; and the required tools and how to use them. Never forget this when planning instruction. What would you need to learn well and what would you do with what you learn? Never think that you are smarter than your students, just focus on helping them find what they need and assuring them that they have help when they need it.

We have a lot of educational psychology research to choose from when looking at how people learn and ideas for curriculum design strategies. To help us get started on this wild journey, we have Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as one of these gems of genius that have been helping teachers for a long time.

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

Benjamin Bloom developed three types of educational objectives to categorize when designing a course. The idea was to establish clearer assessment criteria. In other words, know what you want the students to be able to do when the course is over so you include all the learning objectives to get them there. If you actually get this done, then you have the information sorted in a way that makes it easier to design questions for the student to check their knowledge.

The three so called “Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives” are: Knowledge-based Goals "At the end of this course, the person will be able to perform proper dental hygiene". The student learns facts and concepts that will guide the actions.

Skills-based Goal "Person flosses teeth properly". The person learns how to do something.

Affective Goals "Person cares about proper oral hygiene". These are skills requiring the person’s values, attitudes, or interests that are desired outcomes learned during the course.

Each of these types of goals has an order of increasing complexity from basic to high level thinking skills. Each level of complexity must be considered as criteria of learning objectives. The measurable learning outcomes require increasing level of the complexity of expertise from simple to more sophisticated classroom activities and assessment techniques.

Levels of Learning for Measurable Student Outcome Evaluations

• Basic Knowledge: using all the senses to build an encyclopedia of reference for learning more. Recall is based on memory and memory is built with experience. Young children hold things close to their eyes, put things in their mouths, rub things on their skin, and listen tilting their heads. Over the years we learning to climb, ride a bike and so on building memories and a library for reference when we will learn new things.

• Comprehension of Basic Relationships, Processes, Components of a Situation: It is one thing to know all the supplies and tools used to build a house. It is another to understand how different house are built then all kinds of other structures and their uses. The moon and the stars but what about the seasons and the moon revolving around the Earth and the Earth revolving around the Sun and the Solar System that we are a part of revolving around the Milky Way…

• Application of Comprehension: What would Earth's seasons be like if its orbit was perfectly circular? Why does the moon grow full and go dark? How far do we travel in 24 hours on our way around the sun? Which buildings would easily collapse during an Earthquake?

• Analysis of Applications: Why are seasons reversed in the southern hemisphere? Are there patterns to history? What are the various exploratory satellites finding and how is it useful for us to know what’s on Mars or the chemical composition of Saturn’s rings?

• Synthesis of Analysis: Take 5 books on the same subject and extrapolate one overview of the subject. Take a bunch of facts, theories and philosophies and design a course. Take everything you have learned and explain it in 5 pages.

• Evaluation: Is the original knowledge correct, up to date, and refined? How do I go about comprehending, what kind of evaluations are necessary? What is missing from the management plan? Is the budget designed to cover all the needs of the project?

Level of Skills for Measurable Student Outcome Evaluations

• PerceptionThe cognitive process to guide actions starts with sensory perception, then intellectual integration of new info with the memory and then there is a decision to move. This skill partly depends on good eyes, ears, nose, for the information to be useful and sharp memory to make sense out of it.

• To get setThis is how the person prepares and describes how to go about the task or objective.

• Guided ResponseHere the student needs to describe the various results from doing the task.

• Mechanism The ability to demonstrate confidence and perform the task in a proficient manner

• Complex Overt ResponseThe student is able to do the task without uncertainty or pause, able to relate it to other objectives – has perspective for quicker movement.

• AdaptationHere the student can modify actions to account for new or problematic situations.

• OrganizationThe student can organize, analyze and incorporate newly learned skills into new projects.

Level of Affective Goals for Measurable Student Outcome Evaluations

• Receiving - student demonstrates a willingness to participate, showing motivation to learn.

• Responding - the student expresses interest in the subject while performing the tasks and do whatever it takes to meet the learning objectives and assignments.

• Valuing - the student shows an appreciation for the value of learning and participating.

• Organization - the student shows an ability to compare different values, resolve conflicts, and form a consistent understanding and expression of values in preserving the learning.

• Characterization – the students understands the appropriate range of application of the new knowledge and demonstrate respect for others in developing more understanding of integrating all the learning and the communication and personal skills.

Learning Objectives Without getting too carried away, try to define the actual tasks that student need to know in order to achieve the short-term and overall goals of the course.

Now a simplified list of general tasks looks like goals but says that there are steps to understanding the subject. For Homeopathy we need to understand:

• the steps of how to take a case

• the steps to finding the right remedy

• the steps of following the patient after they take the remedy

• and the steps to evaluating the case and choosing the next treatment remedy.

So, if we must take steps, we might need to know:

Verbal information:

• like list of basic principles of homeopathic treatment

• remedy names and families of remedies

• Categories of Miasms

Intellectual Skills:

• Distinguish between

• Concrete concepts like remedy relationships