This document discusses writing effective instructional objectives. It provides guidance on clarifying objectives by including conditions, if needed, and ensuring objectives describe observable student performances. Examples are given of both well-written and poorly written objectives. Additional scaffolds are available for students struggling to revise objectives, including lists of ambiguous verbs and characteristics of poor objectives. The overall goal is to improve learning experiences by revising objectives to make them clearer and more measurable.

1. Writing Instructional Objectives
…or if you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else.

2. Learning Experience Menu
•Introduction
•Activities
•Scaffolds
•Practice/Feedback
•Review

3. Introductio
n
“When you come to a fork in
the road, take it.”
“It aint over till it’s over.”
“It’s like déjà vu all over
again.”
“If you don't know where
you are going, you'll end up
someplace else.”

4. Introductio
n
Instructional Objectives =

5. Introductio
n
Teachers regularly
read, write and/or
revise
instructional
objectives.

6. Introductio
n
Instructional objectives for this experience:
1. Revise existing objectives to make them well-written
1.1 Identify when a standard is needed
1.2 Identify when conditions are needed
1.3 Clarify statements of performance

7. Introductio
n

8. Introductio
n
Context:
Improve the quality of your existing
learning experience by clarifying
instructional objectives (and using this
to review and revise the experience).

9. Activities
Information
Presentation

10. Activities
Students will learn about
the causes of the Civil
War.

11. Activities
Students will learn about
the causes of the Civil
War.

12. Activities
Students will understand
the causes of the Civil
War.

13. Activities
Performance
Condition (Givens)
Standard

14. Activities
Students will describe the
three commonly-accepted
primary causes of the
American Civil War.

15. Activities
Students will describe the
three commonly-accepted
primary causes of the
American Civil War.

16. Activities
Students will know how to
measure the length of
objects.

17. Activities
Given a meter stick and
objects with flat surfaces,
the students will measure
specified dimensions of the
objects to nearest
millimeter.

18. Activities
Given a meter stick and
objects with flat surfaces,
the students will measure
specified dimensions of the
objects to nearest
millimeter.

19. Practice
Practice

20. Practice

21. Did you mark items 1, 5, and 6? These are the items
that describe student performances that are
observable. Items 2, 3, and 4 describe internal states
or processes, not observable performances. Item 7
describes a teacher performance, not a student
performance, and therefore should not be marked.
Item 8 describes a process (learning), not an
observable skill that students are expected to possess
after instruction.
Practice

22. Did you mark items 1, 5, and 6? These are the items
that describe student performances that are
observable. Items 2, 3, and 4 describe internal states
or processes, not observable performances. Item 7
describes a teacher performance, not a student
performance, and therefore should not be marked.
Item 8 describes a process (learning), not an
observable skill that students are expected to possess
after instruction.
Practice

23. Practice

24. You should have marked items 2 and 3, They require
givens; items 1 and 4 do not. In item 2, the givens are
needed to indicate what type of material (e.g., a list of
sentences, a paragraph) the student will be given to
insert the capital letters and periods in. In item 3, the
givens are necessary to indicate what the student will
be given to label—for example, a diagram of the body
or digestive system, a model, or drawings of the
individual parts. In item 1, it would not be necessary to
include a statement such as “given a swimming pool”
because such a given is so obvious.
Practice

25. Practice

26. Items 1, 4, and 5 are the correct choices here. They
have appropriate statements of givens. (The statement
of givens in item 4 begins with the phrase “when
shown.” ) Items 2 and 3 are inappropriate. Item 2
describes an instructional event (practice). Item 3
indicates a type of test item.
Practice

27. Practice

28. Items 2 and 3 are well-written. Item 3 does not require
a statement of givens. Item 1 is not well written
because it does not indicate what students will be
given to label—a real flower, a diagram of a flower,
the individual parts of a flower, or some other item.
Item 4 is not well written because the “given paper
and pen” statement is so obvious that it should not be
included.
Practice

29. Practice

30. You should have picked items 3 and 4 for this one.
Item 1 is not well written because the verb does not
indicate an observable performance. In item 2, the
givens are an instructional activity. No givens are
required for item 3, which would be an appropriate
attitudinal objective for an area such as citizenship or
school and community service. Item 4 includes givens
(a list of difficult-to-classify foods), even though they
are not stated in a phrase preceding the statement of
the student performance.
Practice

31. Scaffolds
Scaffolds

32. Three documents will be available for students who
continue struggling with revising objectives:
• List of common ambiguous verbs used in objects (next
screen)
• Summary of common characteristics of Poor Objectives (2
screens from here)
• Access to Chapter Two: Writing Objectives (Sullivan, H. &
Higgins, N. (1983). Teaching for competence. New York:
Teachers College Press).
Scaffolds

33. Scaffolds
Common Ambiguous
Words
"Better" Performance
Words
Know, Become familiar with,
Become aware of, Learn
State, Recite, Tell, Declare, Name,
List, Define, Identify
Understand,
Grasp the significance of
Solve, Show, Demonstrate,
Generate, Develop, Create,
Determine, Calculate, Predict
Appreciate Choose (or select), Join, Participate
Demonstrate
[…an understanding of] Any of the above

34. Scaffolds

35. Review
Review

36. Review
What?
So what?
Now What?
Review

37. Review
Review