This document provides guidance on writing effective learning objectives. It explains that learning objectives should describe what students will be able to do after instruction using a measurable verb. Learning objectives have three parts - the description, condition, and criteria. The description is the skill or knowledge students will gain. The condition provides context for how the skill will be performed. The criteria establishes how well the skill must be demonstrated. Well-written learning objectives are aligned to curriculum standards and incorporate different levels of thinking based on Bloom's Taxonomy. The document provides examples to illustrate how to write learning objectives that meet these criteria.

1. Writing Learning Objectives:
Beginning With the End in Mind

2. By the end of class today, you will
be able to:
• Write learning objectives that contain a
measurable verb.
• Write learning objectives which demonstrate
Bloom’s higher levels of thinking.
• Align learning objectives to the Tennessee
Department of Education Content Standards.

3. What is a Learning Objective?
A learning objective is a
statement of what students will
be able to do when they have
completed instruction.

4. What does a learning objective
look like?
“By the end of this lesson, the
student will...

5. Why Do We Need Learning
Objectives?
Learning objectives are guides to:
• Selection of content
• Development of an instructional strategy.
• Development and selection of instructional
materials.
• Construction of tests and other
instruments for assessing and then
evaluating student learning outcomes.

6. What Are the Parts of a
Learning Objective?
• A description of what the student will be
able to do
• The conditions under which the student
will perform the task.
• The criteria for evaluating student
performance.

7. Description
What will the student know or be
able to do after instruction?
• A learning objective must describe what is
to be learned in performance terms.
• A learning objective has an action verb.
• DO NOT use these verbs:
Know Comprehend Understand Appreciate Learn

8. Condition
How will it be performed?
The conditions of the objective should
communicate the situation, tools,
references, or aids that will be provided for
the student.
• By looking at photo
• Using a timeline
• Using a microscope
• By looking at a diagram

9. Criteria
How well must it be performed?
Each learning objective should be measurable
and include the criteria for evaluating student
performance. Generally, the criteria provide
information to clarify to what extent a student
must perform to be judged adequate.

10. How the Parts Interact
Learning Objective: The student will create a
time line of the main events at Gettysburg after
generating a graphic organizer on Chapter 5: A
Decisive Battle with a rubric rating of 3 (out of
5) or better.

11. Aligning Learning Objectives to
Curriculum Standards
Learning Objective: The student will create a time line of the main
events at Gettysburg after generating a graphic organizer on
Chapter 5: A Decisive Battle with a rubric rating of 3 (out of 5) or
better.
Content Standard 5.0: History involves people, events, and issues.
Students will evaluate evidence to develop comparative and casual
analyses, and to interpret primary sources. They will construct sound
historical arguments and perspectives on which informed decisions in
contemporary life can be based.
Learning Expectation 5.01: Identify major events, people, and patterns
in Tennessee, United States, and world history.
Performance Indicator 3.5.spi.2.: use a timeline to determine the order
of a historical sequence of events.

12. Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis Evaluation
• Synthesis
• Evaluation Knowledge

13. Knowledge
• Remembering previously learned material.
This skill may involve recall of a wide
range of material
• An example - Make a list of the main
events

14. Comprehension
• The ability to grasp meaning of material.
This skill may be shown by translating
material from one form to another (words
or numbers), by interpreting material
(explaining or summarizing) and by
estimating future trends (predicting
consequences or effects)
• An example - Retell the story in your
words.

15. Application
• The ability to use learned materiel in new
and concrete situations
• An example - Make a diorama to illustrate
an important event.

16. Analysis
• The ability to break down material into its
component parts so that its organizational
structure may be understood
• An example - Write a biography of the
study person.

17. Synthesis
• The ability to put parts together to form a
new whole. Use old ideas to create new
ones, generalize from given facts
• An Example - Design a record, book, or
magazine cover for...?

18. Evaluation
• The ability to judge the value of material
(statement, novel, poem, research report)
for a given purpose, Make choices based
on reasoned argument
• An example - Conduct a debate about an
issue of special interest.

19. Remember!
A well-written learning objective provides a
clear picture of the outcome or
performance you expect as a result of the
lesson. It should be specific, concise,
and, most importantly, observable or
measurable.

20. Now it’s your turn!
• Select a VERB for performing the task.
• Determine if the verb you have chosen best describes
the type of behavior that the learners need to display
See Writing Learning Objectives .
• Under what CONDITIONS must the task be performed?
• Determine what CRITERIA the task must be performed.
• ALIGN learning objective to the Tennessee Department
of Education curriculum standards:
– Content Standard
– Learning Expectation
– Performance Indicator or Accomplishment
Curriculum Standards Activity Learning Objectives Activity