CURRICULUM ANATOMY : AIMS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

1. AIMS, GOALS
AND OBJECTIVES
Sanitah Mohd Yusof,PhD

2. • Aims (ends) refer to some terminal point toward
which we are moving.
• Having terminal point (ends) created in our mind; a
set of identifying processes of getting there is
means.

3. Empirical sources
• Studies of the society: the curriculum aim at
educating in those areas required for successful
functioning in life outside the school: self
preservation [penjagaan diri], parenthood,
citizenship, leisure activities
Sources of Aims, Goals, and Objectives

4. • Study of learners: empirical studied of children
and adolescents for the purpose of
determining their “needs” has long provided
educator with a sources of curriculum purpose.
• Tyler points out that needs can be defined in
two distinct ways:
i) culturally
ii) basic types of needs

5. Philosophical sources
• Imply direction that we ought to take in
educating the young.
• an empirical study of society, can yield a
reasonable accurate picture of the state of
society.

6. Subject matter sources
• the most commonly used source of aims, goals
and objectives in public school curricula.
• subject matter is open, only the objectives
generates tend to be exceedingly specialized,
narrow, and technical
• eg. subject matter of mathematics, their central
consideration is usually the elementary,
intermediate, and advanced skills and knowledge
(objective) that characterize the professional
mathematician.

7. Levels of objectives
Purposes and the analogy of the target
• purposes are similar to targets, they are easier to
achieve if it is closer.
• “Objective” can be used for immediate purpose
such as teaching a student to add 2+2. However,
the goal for teaching a student that is to give
them insight into quantitative relationships.

8. • it is somewhat more distant than objective,
“Goals” can be used for such relatively
intermediate purposes.
• the reason for a student to learn about
quantitative relationships is for him to achieve
self-realization.
• our target has become more distant, “Aims”
can be used for such long-range targets.

9. Curriculum aims
• curriculum aims are expected life outcomes
based on philosophy (Broudy 1971).
• their distinctive quality with curriculum goals
and objectives is that they do not relate
directly to school or classrooms outcome,
some examples are “Self-realization”,
“Ethical character” and “Civic responsibility”.

10. Curriculum goals
• curriculum goals are refer to school
outcomes.
• examples of curriculum goals might
be “appreciation of literature”, “Ability
to think or read critically” and “Interest
in civic affairs”.

11. Curriculum objectives
• curriculum objectives are the most
immediate specific outcomes of classroom
instruction.
• they are quite close and visible and can be
referred as everyday business of the
operative curriculum.
• eg. “the students will be able to solve four
out of five quadratic equations” and “the
student will master the principles of
chemistry”.

12. Relationship of aims , goals and
objectives
• it is impossible to specify when an objective
becomes a goal, or goal becomes aim, in
some cases overlap will make classification
dubious.
• in most cases the distant between a
curriculum objective and a curriculum goal
is great, and enormous between an
objective and aim.

13. • the greatest problem is to maintain a
justifiable congruence from aims through
goals to objectives.
• curriculum worker has the obligation to
demonstrate the relationship of school tasks
(objectives and goals) and the desired life
tasks (aims). The task of justifying desired life
outcomes (aims) is a responsibility curriculum
workers cannot avoid even though they are
out of scope.

14. Classification of
Aims, Goals and Objectives

15. Aims
• Aims can be classified into 4 related categories:
i)Central value pattern-determine character of
aims in other 3 categories.
ii) Social organization (relationship within the
group- people’s interaction)
iii) Social roles (role in worker, family, citizens)
iv) Life style (specifying models)

16. Goals and Objectives
Three category classification
i) Facts- Units of data
ii) Skills-Ability to perform Interrelated
iii) Attitudes-Feelings toward stimuli
* The learning of any skill involve learning of fact
*The learning of fact and skills depends on
attitudes

17. Bloom’s Taxonomy
i) Cognitive –Intellectual Tasks (Write essay)
ii) Affective – Deals with feeling & attitudes
(Voluntarily reading novels/appreciate
drawing)
iii) Psychomotor -Manipulative & motor skills
(Typing 90 words per minute, shooting at
least 8 baskets in 10 tries)

18. Behavorial Objectives
• Based on the concept of ‘operationalism’
• Operationalism- Observable condition that
can be verified
Eg : John is strong (how to indicate strong?)
Operationalism : John can do 200 push-ups
• Subjective in nature
A : John can do 200 push-ups = strong
B : John can lift 150 pound barbell= strong

19. • Behaviorist will use the verbs that signify
observable behavior
Eg : name, describe, solve ✓
appreciate, understand, know X

20. Adantages
• Clarity in the writing of objectives
• Everyone knows clearly
• i) definition of given objectives means
• ii) able to determine the extent of objectives
that have been attained.

21. Disadvantages
• Cannot applied on higher order tasks such as
appreciation of literature (we cannot list down
all the observable behavior in analytic task)
• Do not consider tacit knowing (a knowledge
that cannot be described through words or
pictures- face identification)

22. Training vs Education
• Training- Technical model
• Learners as raw materials to be processed
under curricular treatment to become a
desired finished product.
1) Specify objectives
2) Pre-assess learners
3) Apply instruction
4) Evaluate outcome

23. Education : The humanistic model
• Education as the process of actualizing human
potentials.
• What can man become?
• Curriculum would be structured around
‘openness’
• Based on the concept of ‘self’ or ‘existential’

24. • Training- closed ended
• Suitable for practical purpose (eg: pilots,
typists)
• Suitable for vocational-professional curriculum
designs
*To advocate training model, is to make
education focus on learning efficiency
*To advocate humanistic model, is to let the
learners free to learn instead of restrict them
under certain training policy (KSSR/LINUS)

25. How AGO help in Determining
Curriculum
Conceived and Operative Purposes
• Distinction in curriculum goal
• i) Goals which schools in fact attempt to
achieve
• ii) Goals which schools think they ought to be
aiming

26. Intended and Unintended Outcomes
• Stated curriculum purpose can limit effective
evaluation
• We should consider both intended &
unintended outcome
Eg : We have achieved the goal ( intended)
Unknown consequence after we have
achieved the goal (unintended)