This webinar provided instruction on developing learning goals and outcomes using Bloom's Taxonomy and aligning them with assessments and teaching materials. It covered writing measurable goals at the module and unit level, differentiating cognitive levels, and evaluating goal quality. The presenters described their iterative process of identifying goals, outcomes, assessments, resources and instructional strategies to ensure alignment across a curriculum unit. Participants were encouraged to apply this approach in their own teaching and to access online tutorials for the SERC content management system.

1. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM program within the
Directorate for Education and Human Resources (DUE-1245025).
GETSI/INTEGRATE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH
& WRITING LEARNING GOALS
MODIFIED FROM PRESENTATIONS BY
JOSHUA CAULKINS (U OF RI) AND DAVID STEER (U OF AKRON)
The webinar begins at:
10 am PT | 11 am MT | 12 pm CT | 1 pm ET
For audio, call: 1-877-668-4490
(or 1-408-792-6300)
Access Code: 579 751 284
Password: mar13
Press *6 to mute and unmute
(but hopefully we won’t need any muting)

2. GOALS FOR THIS WEBINAR
By the end of the webinar you will be able to:
1. Describe how the InTeGrate/GETSI design approach
aligns to the Materials Development Rubric
2. Develop and evaluate learning goals and outcomes
1. Give examples of an overarching module-level goal and a more
specific unit-level learning outcome.
2. Describe the difference between the cognitive levels in Bloom’s
Taxonomy and why curriculum authors should know this difference.
3. List at least two characteristics of well-designed learning goals and
state why they are important.
4. Defend why learning goals should align with assessments for a given
module or activity.
3. Access the SERC Content Management System (CMS)

3. LINKING GOALS AND PROCESS:
THE MATERIALS DESIGN RUBRIC
1. Guiding Principles
2. Learning Goals and Outcomes
3. Assessment and Measurement
4. Resources and Materials
5. Instructional Strategies
6. Alignment
7. GETSI-specific Instructional Strategies
A. Grand Challenges
B. Interdisciplinary problems
(geoscience & social science
tied together)
C. Nature and methods of science
D. Authentic geodesy data and
inquiry
E. [System thinking]

4. Identify
Module
Learning Goals
Identify
teaching &
learning
outcomes for
individual units
Determine
how to assess
and measure
student
success on
goals and
outcomes
Design
teaching
resources and
materials to
match
assessments
Plan
Instructional
Strategies to
implement
teaching
resources
THE APPROACH
Guiding
Principles

5. Identify
Module
Learning Goals
Identify
teaching &
learning
outcomes for
individual units
Determine
how to assess
and measure
student
success on
goals and
outcomes
Design
teaching
resources and
materials to
match
assessments
Plan
Instructional
Strategies to
implement
teaching
resources
THE APPROACH

6. LEARNING GOALS/OUTCOMES
Learning goals identify significant and essential
learning that students can demonstrate by the
end of the module or course.
– Student centered
– Measurable
– Align with one more assessment elements

7. LEARNING GOALS: WHAT AND WHY
• What is a “level” for a learning goal?
– How are module-level goals (also called
“overarching goals”) different from unit-level or
activity-level goals/outcomes?
• So a module-level goal is still measurable but
has a broader focus. Unit-level or activity-level
goals will be more specific and will mention
specific tasks or practices that students will
master or least become proficient in.

8. EXAMPLE OF MODULE GOALS
• F

9. EXAMPLE OF MODULE GOALS
• G

10. UNIT-LEVEL LEARNING GOALS

11. BLOOM’S TAXONOMY – COGNITIVE LEVELS
Three (3) Domains of learning:
1. Cognitive (Knowledge)
• Creating
• Evaluating
• Analyzing
• Applying
• Understanding
• Remembering
2. Affective (Feelings, Emotion)
--Attitude, Sense of Self
Higher
Cognitive
Orders
(HOCs)
Lower
Cognitive
Orders
(LOCs)
3. Psycho-motor (Skills)
--Manual or Physical Skills

12. BLOOM’S TAXONOMY: ACTION VERBS
– Creating - Create, Invent, Compose, Predict, Plan, Construct, Design,
Propose, Devise, Formulate, Combine, Hypothesize, Synthesize, Forecast.
– Evaluating - Judge, Select, Choose, Decide, Justify, Debate, Verify, Argue,
Recommend, Assess, Discuss, Rate, Prioritize, Determine, Critique,
Evaluate, Criticize, Weigh, Value, Estimate, Defend.
– Analyzing - Analyze, Distinguish, Examine, Compare, Contrast, Investigate,
Identify, Explain, Deduce.
– Applying - Solve, Show, Use, Illustrate, Construct, Complete, Examine,
Classify, Choose, Interpret, Make, Apply, Produce, Translate, Calculate.
– Understanding - Explain, Interpret, Outline, Discuss, Distinguish, Predict,
Restate, Translate, Compare, Describe, Relate, Generalize, Summarize.
– Remembering - List, Describe, Relate, Locate, Write, Find, State, Name,
Identify, Label, Recall, Define, Recognize, Match, Reproduce, Memorize.
Note: There is some overlap in the verbs, it
depends on the level of the activity you are
attempting to capture with the goal.
Lower-OrderHigher-Order

13. WRITING LEARNING GOALS
• An action verb identifying performance
• A learning statement specifying the learning
• A standard for acceptable performance
Students will be able to solve interdisciplinary problems.
Students will be able to describe how economic,
social and political issues bear on scientific problems.
At the end of the course, students will be able to
convincingly make the case that economic, social and
political issues are relevant when addressing problems
related to climate change.
ForExample

14. EVALUATING LEARNING GOALS (ADAPTED FROM ACTIVITY BY B.
TEWKSBURY AND H. MACDONALD)
Understand the fundamental concepts of fluid
dynamics.
How would you evaluate this goal?
1. Student-centered? (rather than teacher-centered)
2. Concrete? (or vague and abstract)
3. What Bloom’s Taxonomy level? (1-Remember, 2- Understand,
3-Apply, 4-Analyze, 5-Evaluate, 6-Create)
4. What level is it? (module-level? unit-level? activity-level?)
5. Make this goal more challenging? (Hint: think “verb”)
6. Measureable? How? (Suggested activity/exercise to measure?)

15. EVALUATING LEARNING GOALS
Describe the seven major disasters covered in
the course and explain the geologic process
associated with the disasters.
1. Student-centered? (rather than teacher-centered)
2. Concrete? (or vague and abstract)
3. What Bloom’s Taxonomy level? (1-Remember, 2- Understand,
3-Apply, 4-Analyze, 5-Evaluate, 6-Create)
4. What level is it? (module-level? unit-level? activity-level?)
5. Make this goal more challenging? (Hint: think “verb”)
6. Measureable? How? (Suggested activity/exercise to measure?)

16. EVALUATING LEARNING GOALS
Examine three seismograms from different stations,
locate the arrival of P-waves and S-waves and, given
a uniform time axis and a map of the three stations,
be able to estimate the location of the epicenter.
1. Student-centered? (rather than teacher-centered)
2. Concrete? (or vague and abstract)
3. What Bloom’s Taxonomy level? (1-Remember, 2- Understand, 3-
Apply, 4-Analyze, 5-Evaluate, 6-Create)
4. What level is it? (module-level? unit-level? activity-level?)
5. Make this goal more challenging? (Hint: think “verb”)
6. Measureable? How? (Suggested activity/exercise to measure?)

17. OVERARCHING GOALS & LEARNING OUTCOMES
Goal: At the end of the course, students be able to convincingly make
the case that economic, social and political issues are relevant when
addressing problems related to climate change.
Learning Outcomes: At the end of this unit, students will be able to
correctly:
• Describe five economic impacts of climate change
• Describe three social impacts of climate change
• Compare and contrast two major political positions related to
climate change

18. Identify
Module
Learning Goals
Identify
teaching &
learning
outcomes for
individual units
Determine
how to assess
and measure
student
success on
goals and
outcomes
Design
teaching
resources and
materials to
match
assessments
Plan
Instructional
Strategies to
implement
teaching
resources
The Approach

19.  Measure the learning outcomes
 Criterion referenced
 Consistent with course activities and resources
 Sequenced, varied and appropriate
 Address various cognitive levels
• Which part of the world is
represented on this map?
• Does the ocean surface display El
Niño, ENSO normal, or La Niña
conditions and how do you know?
• Where will precipitation fall if these
anomalous temperatures remain in
place?
ASSESSMENT AND MEASUREMENT

20. ASSESSMENT AND MEASUREMENT
Learning Outcome: Compare and contrast two major political
positions related to climate change
Assessment: You just accepted a position as a Congressional intern for
the Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R), Ohio. As Speaker, he is
responsible for maintaining Republican Party unity. He is preparing for
hearings on proposed EPA regulations related to CO2 emissions. Write a
one page summary comparing and contrasting the two main political
views related to climate change that he will have to contend with
during these hearings.

21. Identify
Module
Learning Goals
Identify
teaching &
learning
outcomes for
individual units
Determine
how to assess
and measure
student
success on
goals and
outcomes
Design
teaching
resources and
materials to
match
assessments
Plan
Instructional
Strategies to
implement
teaching
resources
THE APPROACH

22. TEACHING MATERIALS & RESOURCES

23. Identify
Module
Learning Goals
Identify
teaching &
learning
outcomes for
individual units
Determine
how to assess
and measure
student
success on
goals and
outcomes
Design
teaching
resources and
materials to
match
assessments
Plan
Instructional
Strategies to
implement
teaching
resources
THE APPROACH

24. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
 Support learning goals
 Promote student engagement
 Develop student metacognition
 Opportunities to practice
communicating geoscience
 Scaffold learning

25. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
What are instructional strategies you find
most effective?
Implementation challenges?
Intentional reflection (metacognition)?
•

26. Identify
Module
Learning Goals
Identify
teaching &
learning
outcomes for
individual units
Determine
how to assess
and measure
student
success on
goals and
outcomes
Design
teaching
resources and
materials to
match
assessments
Plan
Instructional
Strategies to
implement
teaching
resources
THE APPROACH:
PHASE 2

27. LINKING GOALS AND PROCESS:
THE MATERIALS DESIGN RUBRIC
1. Guiding Principles
2. Learning Goals and Outcomes
3. Assessment and Measurement
4. Resources and Materials
5. Instructional Strategies
6. Alignment
7. GETSI-specific Instructional Strategies

28. SERC CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
• Great tutorials
are available
http://serc.carleton.edu/dev/getsi/index.html

29. FOLLOW UP WORK
• Navigate to “Reports” page in your module
and fill in “Team Member Information” for you
(near the bottom of the page)