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Where
to begin?
Before we can prepare a lesson plan we need to analyze our goals. A great
tool for formulating educational objectives is Robert
Gagné's Hierarchy of Learning.1 It can help us clarify:
- What are the learning
objectives
- How we should articulate
the learning objectives
We determine objectives
by analyzing:
- What
capabilities our students currently have
- What
capabilities we want our students to acquire
Using
this chart can help us:
-
Identify the characteristics that define a particular capability
- Create
instructional strategies that guide students to mastery
It
provides a framework for:
- Articulating objectives
- Identifying capabilities
needed to meet objectives
- Designing activities/exercises
to acquire needed capabilities
1) Gagné, R. (1985).
The Conditions of Learning (4th ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston
The Process
Working top-down using the Learning
Domain and Type of Learning as a guide, articulate your
learning goals in a circular, iterative process to refine and focus objectives.
- Articulate your
objective so it is clear what generalized concepts and practices
students will learn; do not focus on specifics.
Generalized examples: Students will be able to;
Implement a class project
Evaluate variables with negative exponents in rational expressions
Apply the rules for changing nouns ending in y to their
plural form
Not specifics:
Students will know how to define tasks and share workload
Students will know that x -2 is equal to 1/x2
Students will know the plural of capability drops the y
and adds ies
- Identify capabilities
required to meet objectives
- Identify tasks
for acquiring capabilities
- Translate tasks
into class activities/exercises
- Translate class
activities/exercises back into objectives
- Check to insure
your translated objectives match your articulated objectives
- Repeat process
until articulated objectives match translated objectives
For example:
- Learning Enterprise
- integration: Identify types of activities that require students
to collaborate and use a variety of capabilities; translate those activities
into a class project; translate the project into objectives by identifying
the component skills; and/or
- Cognitive Strategies
- learning techniques: Identify the key concepts, rules, and practices
you want students to be able to apply; translate into activities that
require a strategy for using concepts, rules, and practices; translate
the exercises into objectives by identifying the component skills; and/or
- Intellectual
Skills - problem solving: Identify the types of problems you want
students to be able to solve; translate these problems into activities
that require problem solving skill; translate the activities into objectives
by identifying the general case component skills; and/or
- Intellectual
Skills - concepts: Identify terms and definitions you want students
to be able to recognize and use appropriately; translate these concepts
into activities that require students to identify and classify examples;
translate the activities into objectives by identifying the component
skills.
This iterative method
may sound needlessly redundant, but it provides several benefits:
- A checking mechanism
to prove that learning activities meet learning objectives
- A draft for lesson
activities/exercises
- A basis for an
assessment plan
To recap the process:
- Articulate your
objectives in the generalized case
- Identify capabilities
required to meet objectives
- Identify tasks
for acquiring capabilities
- Translate tasks
into class activities/exercises
- Translate class
activities/exercises back into objectives
- Check to insure
your translated objectives match your articulated objectives
- Repeat or end process
as dictated by step 6
What Type of Learning do you
want to achieve?
|
Domain
|
Type of Learning
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Capability
|
Scaffold Level
|
|
Learning Enterprises
learning
goals result from interdisciplinary objectives that share a mental
model
|
Integration
of some or all types of learning toward a common goal
using
multiple integrated capabilities that correlate to multiple integrated
objectives
|
integrates
some or all capabilities
|
8
|
|
Cognitive strategies
learning
how to learn
|
Learning Techniques
(self devised)
creating and
implementing plans and/or procedures for acquiring new knowledge
|
originates
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7
|
|
Intellectual
skills
facts
or rules applied to new situations
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Problem Solving
using
multiple facts and/or rules in union
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generates
|
6
|
|
Intellectual
skills
facts
or rules applied to new situations
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Rules (Relational
and Procedural)
indicates
relationship between items and/or events; the
order and/or method of operation
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demonstrates
|
5
|
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Intellectual
skills
facts
or rules applied to new situations
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Defined Concept
groups
things by attributes
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classifies
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4
|
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Intellectual
skills
facts
or rules applied to new situations
|
Concrete Concept
recognizes
attributes
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identifies
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3
|
|
Intellectual
skills
facts
or rules applied to new situations
|
Discrimination
differences
between two or more things
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discriminates
(detects)
|
2
|
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Verbal information
knowledge
of facts or rules
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Recall (memorization);
memorization,
long term memory
|
states
|
1
|
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Psychomotor
skills
physical
component of learning
|
Motor Skill
performance
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executes
|
B
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Attitudes
affective
component of learning
|
Attribute (self-willed)
behavior
|
chooses
|
A
|
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