Educational Aims, Objectives, and Other Aspirations

Educational Aims, Objectives, and Other Aspirations
Jared O'Leary
Download

In this episode I unpack Eisner’s (2002) publication titled “Educational aims, objectives, and other aspirations,” which problematizes behavioral education objectives and discuss two alternative approaches.

  • If you walk into most classrooms in the

    United States you often see a statement

    like the students will be able to and

    then something after that some kind of

    objective like the students will be able

    to sit quietly for eight hours straight

    without moving or more Progressive

    Educators might ask it in the form of a

    question like how might the students sit

    in their seats quietly without moving

    for eight hours while this is something

    that is often focused on by

    administrators like you'll lose five

    points as an educator if you don't have

    it stated on the board one might ask

    well why do we even actually have those

    objectives to begin with OR how might we

    reconsider or rethink objectives in

    classrooms context today's episode of

    the csk8 podcast is going to unpack a

    chapter titled educational aims

    objectives and other aspirations and

    this is by Elliot Eisner and it's going

    to question our focus on and use of

    objectives in the classroom context in

    fact it's actually going to provide

    three different ways that you might be

    able to reconsider these types of

    objectives so the first one is kind of

    unpacking what are these behavioral

    objects objectives the next one talks

    about problem-based objectives and the

    third one kind of reframes objectives

    into expressive outcomes and if you're

    curious to who am I my name is Jared

    O'Leary and this is the csk8 podcast I

    have a background in all grades

    kindergarten through doctoral student in

    music education and computer science

    education context so I'm going to relate

    this chapter into a wide variety of

    different contexts alright so the

    chapter begins with Eisner talking about

    what exactly are objectives so here's a

    quote from page 93 quote objectives are

    the specific goals that one hopes to

    achieve through the educational program

    that is provided in order for

    educational planning to be meaningful

    not only must goals be formulated they

    must also be formulated with precision

    and with Clarity to formulate then with

    precision and Clarity it is best not to

    use words that have reference that are

    difficult to observe words such as

    understanding Insight appreciation and

    interest referred to qualities that

    cannot be observed directly they require

    one to make inferences about their

    existence through the observation of

    manifest Behavior thus useful objectives

    should be stated in behavioral terms or

    in more current jargon performance terms

    when objectives are stated behaviorally

    it is possible to have specific

    empirical reference to observe thus one

    is in a position to know without

    ambiguity whether the behavioral

    objectives has been reached an objective

    that seeks to help students appreciate

    the insights of great poetry needs to be

    recast into terms far more specific and

    precise what would a student do to

    demonstrate that such appreciation has

    occurred what Behavior could he or she

    display what task is he or she to

    perform end quote I don't know about you

    but that kind of like reminds me a lot

    of the PD sessions that I go to on

    Wednesday afternoons and early release

    days where they'd kind of talk about

    what is an objective you probably

    learned this in your 101 course on

    education but we're going to teach it to

    you again to make sure that you

    understand what it is which side note on

    that I think is hilarious and districts

    treat everybody the same like when I

    went back into the previous District

    that I was in I just finished my

    residency for my PhD education and they

    required me to go to the new teacher

    orientation for it was supposed to be a

    year long and it would teach you stuff

    like well what is an objective blah blah

    blah and every teacher had to go to it

    if you were a new teacher in that

    District but fortunately I was teaching

    a college class at the exact same time

    that this occurred and I had already

    committed to that before I had signed on

    for the district so I went to the first

    and I think the last one and that was

    about it I understand why districts have

    those kind of courses in place but it

    kind of comes across as assuming

    teachers come in not knowing what

    they're talking about just because it's

    your first year in the district doesn't

    mean you haven't taught several years

    before or have many degrees in that

    subject area but tangent over now Eisner

    goes on to describe how these objectives

    are no longer focused on what the

    teacher is going to do but the behavior

    of the students what exactly will the

    student do not only do you identify the

    behavior but you also identify the

    content that students are going to

    engage with and then finally you need to

    include some kind of degree of

    Competency that somebody is going to

    reach when completing the objective so

    here's a quote from page 94 and this is

    actually Eisner quoting Robert major or

    magger apologies for mispronouncing your

    name quote an objective is an intent

    communicated by a statement describing a

    proposed change in a learner a statement

    of what the learner is to be like when

    he has successfully completed a learning

    experience it is a description of a

    pattern of behavior performance we want

    the learner to be able to demonstrate as

    Dr Paul Whitmore once put it the

    statement of objectives of a training

    program must denote measurable

    attributes observable in The Graduate of

    the program or otherwise it is

    impossible to determine whether or not

    the program is meeting the objectives

    when clearly defined goals are lacking

    it is impossible to evaluate a course or

    program efficiently and there is no

    sound basis for selecting appropriate

    materials content or instructional

    methods after all The Machinist does not

    select a tool until he knows what

    operation he intends to perform neither

    does a composer orchestrate a score

    until he knows what effects he wishes to

    achieve similarly a builder does not

    select his materials or simply a

    schedule for construction until he has

    his blueprints objectives before him too

    often however one hears teachers arguing

    the relative merits of textbooks or

    other AIDS of the classroom versus the

    laboratory without ever specifying just

    what goal the aid or method is to assist

    in achieving I cannot emphasize too

    strongly the point that an instructor

    will function in a fog of his own making

    until he knows just what he wants the

    students to be able to do at the end of

    the instruction end quote then actually

    went over from page 94 into the very top

    of page 95. now that is a really

    interesting quote and I have so much to

    say and counter with that but I'm gonna

    just kind of

    keep my mouth shut and we'll let Eisner

    do that for me now this study of like

    behavioral objectives has roots in the

    American educational psychology but

    there are two other Traditions

    associated with this type of approach

    that Eisner discusses one is industry

    and the other is military training so

    here's how these objectives might be

    used in an automobile plant like a

    facility that will kind of manufacture

    or assemble automobiles so this is from

    page 95. quote a prototypical form is

    created for the cars to be assembled

    this form is described both physically

    and mechanically for each model

    subsequently a component analysis is

    made of the Prototype a task analysis

    follows that prescribes the steps to be

    taken in production and their sequence

    and production Begins the manager of the

    assembly line has the task of ensuring

    that all operations are performed in the

    order specified the goal to be achieved

    is the creation of an isomorphic

    relationship between the original

    prototype and each car coming off the

    line if these cars do not match there is

    a callback and the problem is identified

    and readjustments are made an efficient

    and effective assembly line produces

    identical cars day after day that in

    every aspect match the model that was

    originally created end quote now that

    might sound fine until you realize this

    is talking about children then Eisner

    goes on on page 96 to talk about how

    this relates to military now here's a

    quote from age 96 quote when one has a

    training program a program that

    intentionally attempts to help another

    acquire a known specific performance

    system to be used to achieve a known

    goal the acquisition of known behavioral

    routines might be appropriate personal

    Ingenuity and idiosyncratic Behavior are

    discouraged both on the assembly line

    and in the boot camp the Armed Forces

    justify such an approach on the basis

    that it is of Paramount importance for

    soldiers to learn to follow orders

    prediction and control of troops are

    required in time of War Industry employs

    such an approach because it is efficient

    more cars can be produced in better

    fashion when systematic routinized

    procedures are followed end quote now

    when we start thinking of students and

    the education system as assembly lines

    and students as a product of that

    assembly line I find some problems in

    that and we're going to kind of talk

    about that some more in this chapter in

    this podcast episode but Eisner provides

    some context and says that a lot of this

    shift in thinking had to do with

    pressures being put on superintendents

    at the time in the early 1900s and how

    we adopted a Taylor approach who was

    like an industrial management Specialist

    or consultant who kind of talked about

    time management and efficiency and how

    you can optimize your assembly line to

    be able to produce more and so this

    approach was applied into the

    educational system in the early and mid

    day I mean I don't know about you but I

    had administrators in like one of my

    districts who said we cannot afford to

    fail to only do the lessons that we know

    are going to work do not experiment with

    the lessons that you are teaching with

    any kind of projects do not experiment

    with how you are going to teach it Etc

    do not customize it for this students

    that you're working with just go with

    what is literally verbatim written out

    for every single one of the 50 plus

    elementary schools across the district

    and assume it's going to work for every

    single student which surprise surprise

    it did not work especially when I went

    to one school that was an affluent

    school where it was predominantly white

    and had a golf course across the street

    from it and then I went to another

    school that was not predominantly white

    worth 95 of the students did not speak

    English as their first language surprise

    the lessons didn't really work too well

    in both those contexts but again the

    assembly line approach is everybody's

    going to have the same experience and

    come out with the same outcomes

    regardless of how you come into this

    program and what kind of experiences you

    bring so assessing prior understanding

    kind of doesn't really matter in this

    kind of an approach which again is often

    used in most classes in North America

    that I've witnessed so on page 97 Eisner

    quotes a superintendent who's talking

    about how this new approach focusing on

    time management and whatnot and making

    your classroom instructions super

    efficient and effective was kind of a

    smoke and mirror to kind of help protect

    themselves of the criticisms that many

    superintendents were receiving quote one

    may easily trace an analogy between

    these fundamentals of the science of

    industrial management and the

    organization of a public school system

    for example one the state as Employer

    must cooperate with the teacher as

    employee for the latter does not always

    understand the science of Education two

    the state provides experts who supervise

    a teacher and suggest the processes that

    are most efficacious and economical

    three the task system obtains in the

    school as well as in the shop each grade

    being a measured quantity of work to be

    accomplished in a given term four every

    teacher who accomplishes the task

    receives a bonus not in money but in the

    form of rating which may have money

    value 5. those who are unable to do the

    work are eliminated either through the

    device of a temporary license or a

    temporary employment six the

    differential rate is applied to the

    teacher quantity and quality of service

    being considered in the rating 7. the

    result ought to be a maximum output at a

    low relative cost since every repeater

    costs as much as a new pupil 8. 8 the

    teacher thus receives better wages but

    only after demonstrated Fitness for high

    position 9. hence we ought to have the

    most desirable combination of an

    educational system relative cheapness of

    operation and high salaries end quote

    now if you listen to some of the

    episodes that talks about like Bordeaux

    for example episode 98 re-examining

    inequalities in computer science

    participation from a bordujian

    sociological perspective as well as

    intersections of cultural capital with

    Kimberly Scott that's episode 124. both

    of those kind of talk about how power

    and power dynamics can have an impact on

    what occurs in the classroom now what's

    really interesting is that even though

    this is kind of adopts a corporate

    mentality is we don't have the ability

    like in many corporations to continue to

    earn higher wages so for myself I was

    capped at a very specific rate based off

    of Just My degrees and how many years I

    had taught I could receive a small bonus

    if the students performed well across

    the school because again I taught every

    single kid in the school wasn't just

    specific class or grade level but in a

    corporate context if you're like a

    salesperson you can keep receiving more

    and more commissions for the better you

    perform so it's kind of convenient that

    that part of the corporate mentality has

    kind of been left out of the educational

    system but that's a whole nother topic

    that we can discuss on another episode

    let's get back to talking about the

    problems with objectives here's an

    important quote from page 97 from Eisner

    quote the society was viewed as the

    consumer of the school's products the

    children were the raw material to be

    processed according to specifications

    laid down by the consumer and the

    teachers were the workers who were to be

    overseen by supervisors all of this was

    to take place under a superintendent end

    quote now to an untrained person who may

    have experienced education that might

    sound fine like yeah that makes sense

    it's just like an assembly line but

    Eisner points out that the way steel

    reacts to pressure being applied to it

    is going to be very different than the

    way a student reacts to pressure being

    applied to them this deal you can

    usually predict if the machines are a

    effectively tuned that is going to

    create the same exact outcome but Eisner

    points out quote children are far from

    inert so are teachers they respond

    differently to the same stimuli because

    how the stimuli are perceived indeed

    whether they are in fact stimulant

    depends as much on the characteristics

    of the student as it does on the

    objective characteristics of the stimuli

    themselves end quote that's a really

    important quote to kind of unpack so

    think about like what you went into if

    you are a computer science educator what

    made you interested in computer science

    and why did you go into this field as

    opposed to teaching another one like for

    myself I went into music education and

    then after several years there I

    switched over to Computer Science

    Education why did I go into either of

    those subject areas as opposed to

    culinary arts education what about for

    you why did you end up in computer

    science education as opposed to Arts

    education or language arts it may be

    because the stimuli the different

    experiences and lessons and projects you

    engaged with in one subject area it was

    more meaningful than in others even

    though everybody might objectively

    receive need the same kind of

    instruction like if you have a computer

    or a video that demonstrates the exact

    same concept and you would create the

    exact same thing as somebody else you're

    going to walk away from it with a

    different experience I talk about this

    in some other episodes I'll include in

    the show notes at jaredolary.com but

    there are many different layers of

    curriculum so like there's the intended

    curriculum that is what is designed by

    somebody like a curriculum developer

    there is what is taught the taught

    curriculum that is how the teacher

    teaches that because it's often very

    different as a former curriculum

    developer and classroom teacher I'm very

    aware of that but then there's also what

    is embodied or experienced by the

    students and then there's like what is

    understood there's like the null

    curriculum like there's many different

    layers of curriculum but what a student

    experiences and walks away with and kind

    of embodies and takes away from a

    particular experience is going to be

    completely different than the person

    next to them most likely well one

    student might walk away from a lesson

    and go wow I really like abstraction in

    computer science another student might

    walk away going wow that was a really

    funny looking picture on page four we

    don't actually know what students are

    going to think and what they're going to

    walk away with when it comes to an

    educational experience because again

    they are not inert objects but the

    behavioral objectives kind of treat them

    as though they're all going to do the

    same thing and so Eisner points out that

    quote one major problem I see in the

    admonition to teachers and curriculum

    planner to specify their AIMS in

    behavioral terms is that the limitations

    of such objectives are seldom

    acknowledged they are offered as though

    one more not really professionally

    competent without a list of objectives

    that one could pull out of for each set

    of curriculum activities formulated End

    quotes from page 98 a little bit further

    down Eisner goes on to clarify look I'm

    not saying we shouldn't have educational

    aims or objectives but I'm just saying

    that quote one should not feel compelled

    to abandon educational aims that cannot

    be reduced to measurable forms of

    predicted performance end quote and that

    right there is kind of like the main

    Crux of this particular chapter and goes

    against what a lot of people discuss

    when it comes to education except for

    people on this particular podcast

    because I like to unpack papers and

    interview guests who do talk about

    interest-based learning that might not

    have anything to do with a very specific

    and generalizable learning outcome that

    is going to be applied to all students

    so I'll include a link in the show notes

    to interest driven learning podcast

    episodes that I highly recommend

    checking out so Elliot goes on to

    further eviscerate the behavioral

    objectives and says that we often focus

    on very simple things that can be

    described or observed but that kind of

    does not get at the subtleties of what

    it means to be a human or to even have

    discursive language is quote from page

    discourses of language performs rather

    well but for the subtleties of human

    experiences for our knowledge of human

    feeling for modes of conception and

    understanding that are qualitative

    discourse Falls far short how many words

    would it take to describe Insight

    perceptivity Integrity self-esteem how

    would one describe how water water

    tastes how would one describe the

    qualities of a late Beethoven quartet in

    precise unambiguous measurable terms the

    point here is not an effort to inject

    the mystical into educational planning

    but rather to avoid reductionist

    thinking that impoverishes our view of

    what is possible to expect all of our

    educational aspirations to be either

    verbally describable or measurable is to

    expect too little end quote the next

    problem with some behavioral objectives

    is that there's often a judging going on

    as to whether or not somebody has

    achieved an objective or to what degree

    and this could create a problem as well

    now we might come up with some

    objectives like a student will be able

    to write five lines of code or a student

    will be able to write a for Loop that

    has only four lines of code or a student

    will be able to make a Sprite navigate

    through a maze using only five blocks I

    don't know these are all common

    objectives that are used in computer

    science education here's some questions

    from Eisner on page 99 quote but what

    about the rhetorical force of a

    student's essay what about the estate

    that quality of her painting what about

    the cogency of his verbal argument what

    about her intellectual style the way she

    interprets the evidence in a science

    experiment the way in which historical

    materials is analyzed are these subject

    to standards I think not but to say that

    such qualities cannot be measured by

    students a little bit further now how

    much weight does one give to Insight and

    how much The Logical argument how does

    one compare this essay or this statement

    or this project or this painting to the

    one or ones the student did before

    judgments about such qualities are not

    will of the Wisp Cavalier irresponsible

    conclusions they are complex appraisals

    that use an extraordinarily wide range

    of knowledge to arrive at what unbalance

    is a warranted human judgment the

    multiple choice test is simply not

    adequate for everything end quote

    dropping the mic right there it's such

    an important thing to consider and now

    with like chat GPT and other AI

    generation platforms and whatnot being

    used to like cheat on tests I'm really

    curious what Eisner would say about all

    of this but that that's a whole other

    topic maybe we'll invite somebody on as

    kind of an expert in that but Eisner has

    a third critique of Behavioral

    objectives and basically says that

    there's kind of like a pre-specification

    of what students will be able to do and

    that kind of thinking is guided

    specifically by Western technology and

    processes or systems so that may or may

    not align with different ontologies or

    axiologies so different ways of being or

    different values that different students

    might have they come from different

    cultures but Eisner points out that life

    in the classroom is not always linear or

    neat and says on page 100 quote many of

    our most productive activities take the

    form of exploration or play in such

    activities the task is not one of

    arriving at a performed objective but

    rather to act often with a sense of

    abandon Wonder curiosity out of such

    activity rules may be formed and

    objectives may be created end quote now

    when I was in the classroom I had it so

    that the students could explore and

    create whatever projects they wanted so

    there are several programming languages

    that that students can pick from like

    one of them specifically focused on

    coding music another one focused on Art

    and animation another one allowed them

    to make games and stories and another

    one uh and it was like great for making

    apps and this was a variety of different

    types of apps for like iPads iPhones Etc

    a student could start on a language or a

    project and then they could abandon it

    at any point that they wanted to I often

    ask them to hey spend maybe a full day

    on it or a full week of class work on it

    and then if you decide Mac you don't

    like it and cool you can switch to

    something else how many times have you

    as an adult worked on some kind of a

    project like oh I'm gonna do this

    painting of I don't know my dog and you

    get halfway through it and you realize

    you're not quite the van Gogh you

    thought you were or you're like nah you

    know what I'm really interested in this

    I'm gonna put this on pause or maybe not

    even resume it ever instead I'm gonna do

    this other thing that grabs my attention

    but in classroom context it's usually

    positioned as well once you start

    something you have to finish it and when

    you start something you have to have the

    end goal in mind and that's something

    that I didn't really like oftentimes

    students who come in my class and be

    like I want to make something okay what

    do you want to make what are you

    interested in and be like well I'm

    interested in sports okay well spend

    some time thinking about what you're

    interested in in sports and maybe what

    you want to create so then they start

    creating something relating to sports

    that they think is of interest to them

    but as they're working on it they go oh

    you know what I actually like learned

    this like little thing that I can do

    that's kind of tangentially related to

    this I want to head in this other

    completely different direction and that

    is completely okay that happens to

    myself in real life all the time like

    yesterday I was working on something for

    the consecration that I do and then I

    was like oh you know what I don't want

    to work on this other thing and then I

    shifted course but if I had some kind of

    Behavioral objective it would have been

    a failure because I did not complete the

    thing that I had started but in reality

    it was a success because I completed

    something else that I needed to get done

    but going back to the core idea like

    even a layer deeper than just completing

    things but the idea of being able to

    explore and to play this is something

    that we've talked about in interviews

    like with Mitch Resnick so many of the

    other guests in unpacking scholarship

    episodes and especially the rhizomatic

    learning podcast cast like the fostering

    intersectional identities through

    rhizomatic learning which is episode 150

    and then episode 75 titled rhizomatic

    learning with Catherine bornhurst John

    Stapleton and Katie Henry I'll include

    links to all those in the show notes but

    in those episodes we talk about how you

    don't have to have a linear path in fact

    you don't even have to have a

    predetermined path students can actually

    come up with him that's a novel idea in

    educational context instead of top-down

    Educators saying hey student we are the

    Knowing person you are going to learn

    this thing that we have determined for

    you instead you could start with hey

    student within this domain like computer

    science what is it that you actually

    want to learn what kind of projects

    could you create or things might you

    explore or how might you express

    yourself through computer science or how

    might you investigate your interest in

    computer science but I won't rant on

    that too much more because we talk about

    it more in other episodes check this out

    on the show notes at jaredoleery.com or

    by going to the description in wherever

    you're listening to this on right now

    now here's a really interesting way of

    kind of thinking about this shift in

    approach so this is a quote from page

    quote at a certain moment the canvas

    began to appear to one American painter

    after another as an arena in which to

    act rather than as a space in which to

    reproduce redesign analyze or Express an

    object actual or imagined what was to go

    on the canvas was not a picture but an

    event the painter no longer approached

    his easel with an image in his mind he

    went up to it with material in front of

    him the image would be the result of

    this encounter end quote so if we think

    of a lot of like artwork like in the

    Renaissance it may have been I'm going

    to paint this I don't know basket of

    fruit but in a lot of contemporary forms

    of creating art a artist might go up to

    Canvas have the materials like paint

    supplies or whatever and they're just

    kind of explore how they might create

    whether it's I'm not going to use

    brushes today I'm just going to use my

    forearms and paint with that or I'm

    going to drop some paint onto the canvas

    and kind of see what happens and then

    use that as inspiration for other things

    that I'm going to do these are all

    approach coaches to creating artwork

    that did not have an end goal in mind

    other than I'm going to explore a

    process so a little bit further down in

    the next section titled problem-based

    objectives and expressive outcomes

    Eisner poses two other alternatives to

    behavioral objectives so thinking more

    broadly Eisner suggests well another way

    then this one might really resonate with

    computer science Educators but another

    way is problem solving objectives but

    it's very different than how many people

    talk about problem solving in computer

    science so here's a quote from page 101

    quote in the problem-solving objective

    the students formulate or are given a

    problem to solve say to find out how

    deterrence to smoking might be more

    effective or how to design a paper

    structure that will hold two bricks 16

    inches above a table or how the variety

    and quality of food serve in the school

    cafeteria could be increased within the

    existing budget in each of these

    examples the problem is posed in the

    criteria that need to be achieved to

    resolve the problem are fairly clear but

    the forms of its solution are virtually

    infinite end quote that is a very

    important distinction there as opposed

    to what is typically taught in like

    puzzle-based platforms where there is

    one correct solution to be able to solve

    a particular problem this is instead

    saying hey broadly speaking we have this

    problem and there are an infinite number

    of ways that we can kind of solve this

    particular problem this gets at like

    what Wiggins and mctai talks about in

    their understanding by a design

    framework of like a big idea or an

    essential question it is not a specific

    question but it is a question that could

    be explored through many different

    perspectives and many different

    solutions to a particular problem and

    this does relate to some of the computer

    science standards like csta's national

    standards so here's a quote from page

    of the solutions the forms I take are

    highly variable alternative solutions to

    problem solving objectives could be

    discussed in class so that the students

    could begin to appreciate the Practical

    costs in quote now think of that in

    relation to like some of the algorithms

    and programming standards where you are

    to compare or contrast like multiple

    algorithms so if we have a problem and

    the students come up with different

    algorithms to solve that particular

    problem cool let's put them on both up

    on the board and let's talk about how

    they are similar and different which one

    works for different scenarios and which

    one's better in what ways or worse in

    what ways and why but that kind of an

    idea of comparing and understanding

    could be done not just at the

    algorithmic level but at the broader

    level of solutions to problems not just

    like comparing line by line how is this

    for Loop used compared to a while loop

    but instead thinking of what kind of

    thought went into the solution of the

    problem so instead of focusing on syntax

    we focus on the thought that went behind

    the project or solution to a problem and

    Eisner relates this to like engineers

    and Architects there are many different

    ways that an engineer might construct a

    bridge or that an architect might create

    a building many different floor plans

    that can be used many different

    materials that can be used all of these

    will have different kind of impacts and

    what the engineers and The Architects

    know in advance are the problems not

    necessarily the solutions what might be

    considered an appropriate solution might

    not be understood until Midway through

    or even towards the end of work on a

    particular problem if you're

    constructing a bridge and you had some

    assumptions going into mind and you find

    out well that uh water is not as solid

    as we think we need to construct

    something to stabilize some of the

    pillars or an architect will drop a

    floor plan and bring it to the client

    and the client might go yeah we like

    this but what if you can make it an open

    floor concept I've been watching HD TV

    and they go back to the drawing board

    and they come up with a new potential

    solution to that new context that is

    provided but then we relate this to

    scientists and Eisner points out that

    scientists are often the ones who are

    actually coming up with the problems

    that they're going to investigate and

    that gets back to what I was just

    talking about with rise and manic

    learning so instead of teachers coming

    into a context and saying to a student

    hey we have a problem you the student

    are going to solve this instead we can

    say hey student what kind of problems

    might you solve what kind of questions

    do you have where might you explore this

    is a very different approach that

    relates to the rhizomatic approach

    that's discussed in many other podcast

    episodes on this podcast and again I

    include links to those in the show notes

    this approach instead of a behavioral

    objective quote places a premium on

    cognitive flexibility on intellectual

    exploration on the higher mental

    processes End quotes from page 103 but

    Eisner has a third approach a third

    approach to educational aims and so

    rather than calling them an expressive

    objective Eisner prefers to use the term

    expressive outcomes and kind of

    distinguishes between the two on page

    one ends up with intended or not after

    some form of Engagement expressive

    outcomes are the consequences of

    curriculum activities that are

    intentionally planned to provide a

    fertile field for personal purposing and

    experience end quote so again this had a

    profound impact on my approach to the

    classroom which I talk about on episode

    characteristics in computer science

    education but rather than designing a

    lesson that was carefully constructed to

    guide students through a series of tasks

    that minimize cognitive load i instead

    created a space in which students could

    freely explore things that they were

    interested in and then I facilitated

    that one-on-one rather than directing

    everyone through the exact same thing

    because again going back to what we

    talked about earlier not everyone is

    going to walk away from the exact same

    experience with the same understanding

    or same takeaway some students might

    walk away going I now better understand

    what a for Loop is while other students

    will walk away going I really don't like

    computer science and that's unfortunate

    if we instead flip it so that we start

    with what are you interested in how can

    we explore that interest through

    computer science then students might be

    more interested in the subjects actually

    being taught and this is for any subject

    area I might have paid more attention in

    my other classes if I found why it was

    relevant for me to know what a matrix

    was in pre-calc I could solve them I

    don't know why I needed to know how to

    solve them if I could find a way to make

    it relevant to my own life then great

    maybe I would have paid more attention

    here's a for page 104 quote I believe

    that it is perfectly appropriate for

    teachers and others involved in

    curriculum development to plan

    activities that have no explicit or

    precise objectives in an age of

    accountability this sounds like heresy

    yet surely there must be room in school

    for activities that promise to be

    fruitful even though the teacher might

    not be able to say What specifically the

    students will learn or experience

    parents do this all the time the trip to

    the zoo weekend spent camping in the

    woods the bicycle ride after dinner no

    specific objective or problems are posed

    prior to setting out on such activities

    yet we feel that they will be enjoyable

    and that some good will come from them

    curriculum planning and schooling in

    general need not always be single-minded

    in their Pursuits forever focusing on

    objectives that are by definition always

    Out Of Reach purposes need not proceed

    activities they can be formulated in the

    process of action itself end quote now

    there is a figure figure two and so in

    this figure it talks about how

    behavioral objectives leads to the

    behavioral activity problems solving

    objectives leads to a problem-solving

    activity but with expressive outcomes

    it's actually flipped the direction so

    the expressive activity leads to an

    expressive outcome so rather than

    starting with the end in mind with the

    outcome in mind it starts with the

    activity or the experience whether or

    not you actually have a behavioral

    objective planned in advance the actual

    outcome is not going to be what you

    think it is even if a student can

    demonstrate understanding of something

    like successfully demonstrate how to use

    a for Loop inside of a very specific

    program great that's not the only

    outcome that comes out of this we have

    to acknowledge that students are going

    to walk away from this with many

    different understandings of that

    particular lesson or experience it might

    relate to what they learn and that might

    be like a computer science concept or

    practice and it might also be that they

    don't like computer science or that they

    do like computer science and Hammer at

    home if we focus on those things that

    students want to explore the concepts

    and the practices will fall in line

    because as they explore their interests

    they're going to have to learn these

    Concepts and practice is to be able to

    create what they want but if we start

    focusing on the rote little things like

    what is recursion Etc and we don't

    actually get to the application of

    understanding in a meaningful way until

    a Capstone project at the very end we

    might lose students along the way like

    as somebody who went through School of

    Music can say that many musicians get

    burned out because they don't actually

    get to perform the things that they

    enjoy they did in high school most

    likely they were able to pick their

    solos for solo and Ensemble or or their

    audition repertoire to get into a school

    of music but then when they get into

    school music the way that it's often

    done is a professor will assign you a

    piece to learn that is supposed to push

    you in a newer Direction but if you

    don't like that piece of music you might

    spend months or in semesters or years

    working on something you actually don't

    enjoy playing and so many musicians get

    so burned out because they're no longer

    playing music that they enjoy and

    instead are just focusing on the Rope

    mechanics to improve their musicianship

    and expressiveness in a way that is no

    longer meaningful to that individual so

    they walk away from it going I don't

    like music anymore this happened to

    myself I took quite some time off from

    making music or practicing it and this

    can happen in education as well if you

    are forced to focus on things that you

    are not interested in in a subject area

    it's going to go in one ear angle out

    the other one as soon as you are done

    applying that understanding but if we

    instead focus on how to explore these

    Concepts and practices in ways that are

    meaningful to that individual then maybe

    just maybe they'll actually want to

    continue to do it after the close of the

    classroom but you might only get one

    semester or one quarter or maybe even an

    entire year to do that and because of

    that you might feel very constrained

    with how much you're supposed to teach

    in that period of time but if you cram

    everything into the most effective and

    efficient way possible in your quarter

    or semester or whatever and you hit all

    of those objectives great but the

    outcome is that student will never want

    to engage in computer science again in

    the long run was that worth it I would

    argue it does more harm than good

    because instead of learning how to use

    computer science in everyday life and

    cultivating a desire to continue to use

    it at the close of that particular

    course instead of a student walks away

    from it understanding these Concepts and

    practices but doesn't want to ever

    engage in it again then I think we

    failed them but that's my own biased

    opinion now there's an interesting thing

    that Eisner points out at the bottom of

    page 104 top of page 100 five so Eisner

    talks about Tyler rationale which is

    something that I'd recommend taking a

    look at if you're unfamiliar with the

    Tyler rationale it kind of has set the

    course for how most schooling and

    curricula is done this is from the like

    mid 1900s but the way that Tyler

    discussed objectives was that they were

    educational objectives but this was

    later changed to instructional objective

    and then eventually changed to

    behavioral objective and more recently

    to Performance objective but Eiser

    points out that quote Behavioral or

    performance objectives may or may not be

    educational the normative aspect of

    Education no longer is a part of them

    one can have a behavioral objective that

    aims at creating racist or paranoids

    such an aim could hardly be regarded as

    educational unless of course racism and

    paranoia were a part of one's conception

    of Education end quote from page 105. so

    if we focus on the things that students

    do we can often lose sight of what

    they're actually learning from that so

    for example I often see like with the

    scratch rubrics and whatnot it's like

    you might get one point for one Sprite

    three points for three Sprites and five

    points if you include five Sprites in

    your projects but what are they actually

    learning from that and how does that

    relate to what they want to create maybe

    they're creating a monologue or a single

    player game with one character exploring

    a deserted planet or maybe they're

    creating a conversation between friends

    each one of those projects May lend

    itself to more or less Sprites but how

    does the number of Sprites actually

    relate to what students are going to

    learn maybe if they're using

    broadcasting messages from one Sprite to

    another then maybe that's an important

    thing to consider but is the focus on

    the number of Sprites or is it focus on

    the application of understanding using

    broadcast blocks I'd argue it's the

    second one and not the first one so

    we've really got to focus on not just

    what students will do or demonstrate but

    what they will learn through that

    demonstration of understanding but a

    little bit further down Eisner asks the

    questions well how specific should these

    objectives be if we are going to have

    like expressive outcomes or

    problem-based or behavioral objectives

    how specific should they be and so

    Eisner does some quick math and

    basically says that if we start adding

    in more and more objectives for each one

    of the lessons across the course of a

    week we might have hundreds of

    objectives that students are going to be

    engaging in but rather than having

    teachers focus on all of those

    objectives for all of the different

    standards in all of the different

    subject areas they might teach Eisner

    instead recommends focusing on other

    areas because teachers deal with far

    more than just the standards and the

    objectives that are written not on the

    board at the front of the classroom

    quote these objectives are not found in

    lists they are not written although some

    school districts have compiled such

    lists of the objectives in notebooks the

    size of the New York City telephone

    directory these objectives are a part of

    the personal and psychological

    repertoire that teachers draw on each

    day when working with students in quotes

    from page 106. a little bit further down

    on 106 and into 107 quote consider for a

    moment the range of problems content

    context and individuals with which a

    teacher must deal not only must there be

    some sense of purpose or direction to

    the activities in which teachers are

    engaged but also the priorities among

    those projects must be considered

    altered or sustained when does a teacher

    for the time being wisely forget about

    the goal of helping a student learn to

    spell a set of words correctly or learn

    how to punctuate an adverbial clause and

    instead attend to other aims aims that

    are also part of his or her aspirations

    for the student but not an explicit part

    of that particular segment of the

    curriculum when does a teacher choose to

    make educational Capital out of

    unexpected opportunities in the

    classroom an offhand remark by a student

    or Keen Insight by another and in so

    doing depart from his or her previously

    specified objective all of these happen

    in classrooms at least those that are

    not rigidly tied to a set of

    single-minded AIMS in particular

    Elementary classrooms often acquire

    their own Tempo the students become

    immersed in what was to be a casual

    short-term project and teachers often

    yield to such Tempo recognizing the need

    for an organic as contrasted to a

    mechanical treatment of time thus from

    one point of view 845 objectives are far

    more than any teacher can reasonably be

    expected to focus on 420 would be

    equally difficult yet at the same time

    teachers operate with thousands of

    objectives in the form of their

    aspirations for the student with whom

    they work the major difference is that

    their latter aims are implicit and

    contextual rather than explicit and

    prepared prior to the specific context

    in which they are to teach end quote now

    this is a really really really important

    thing to consider there is a lot of

    discussion going on because of

    generative Ai and just AI in general and

    in this discussion some people are

    hypothesizing but there's not going to

    be a need for teachers in the future

    that we're just going to have ai and

    programs and whatnot make it so that we

    can have custom experiences for students

    so that they can learn how to solve

    problems and if they're engaging in a

    problem that's difficult it will will

    identify and find the best solution yada

    yada yada and if again we treat students

    as inert objects sure that approach

    works great but if we recognize that

    students are human beings we might come

    to a different conclusion maybe just

    maybe AI is not the solution to

    education but that's my own perspective

    and you can disagree with me on this

    podcast there's a contact me button on

    my website jaredeliry.com I'd love to

    have you on as a guest but there is a

    book by Audrey Waters that is titled

    teaching machines the history of

    personalized learning I recommend taking

    a look at that this has actually gone on

    for decades and decades it's a really

    interesting concept to consider speaking

    of Concepts to consider at the end of

    these unpacking scholarship episodes I'd

    like to talk about some lingering

    questions or thoughts that I have so one

    question that I might ask is what does

    your school's curriculum focus on does

    it focus on behavioral objectives

    problem-based objectives or expressive

    outcomes and how would you balance the

    three types in your classroom if you

    could wave a magic wand and have the

    ideal kind of setup would you lean

    towards one over another would you have

    for each of them or when do or don't we

    need to balance these three types of

    objectives maybe we could have it so

    that all of them are problem-based

    objectives or all of them are expressive

    outcomes there's not necessarily A

    one-size-fits-all approach to it but

    certainly that is how many people talk

    about education so think about your

    context who you are working with what

    the goals of not just your District are

    or your curriculum is but of the

    students and the communities that you

    work with and consider them in relation

    to behavioral problem-based objectives

    and expressive outcomes but then another

    thing we might consider is in what ways

    do or don't standardized educational

    objectives align with equity-based

    pedagogies again we've talked about

    razzmatic learning and interest driven

    learning Etc but those are very

    different approaches to what is

    typically done from a pedagogical

    standpoint is what is typically done

    more Equity based or are the things that

    I've talked about more Equity based your

    answer to that might differ from mine

    and that's something that as a field we

    should discuss in my opinion but another

    broader question that I have is is there

    a correlation between politicians with

    industry business or military

    backgrounds and voting for

    performance-based objectives in

    classrooms we often have these Outsiders

    who are politicians lawmakers Etc who

    come into the educational Space by an

    outsider imposing their own perspectives

    onto teaching and learning while well

    intentioned we get this very industrial

    approach to education as a system that

    treats students again as inert objects

    this is problematic for so many reasons

    discussed in this chapter that was

    unpacked in this episode as well as in

    some of the episodes that are talking

    about social emotional learning which

    I'll link to in the show notes at

    jaredolary.com I hope this episode helps

    you reconsider or think through some of

    the hegemonic influences or the

    structures of structures in the

    educational system but also from a more

    granular level questioning what kind of

    objectives am I writing on the board and

    are those actually useful or how might I

    reframe them to be customized and more

    interesting to the kids that I work with

    if you enjoyed this episode please

    consider sharing this on social media or

    with a friend or family member again you

    can find all the show notes at

    jaredolary.com where there are hundreds

    if not thousands of free computer

    science education and right now over

    a bunch of gaming content as well

    because I'm a nerd but don't worry it's

    neatly organized so you don't have to

    see any of the gaming content if you

    don't want to stay tuned next week for

    another episode until then I hope you're

    all staying safe and are having a

    wonderful week

Chapter

Eisner, E. W. (2002). Educational aims, objectives, and other aspirations. In The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation of school programs (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall, 93-107.

My One Sentence Summary

This chapter problematizes behavioral education objectives and discuss two alternative approaches.

Some Of My Lingering Questions/Thoughts

  • What does your school's curriculum focus on: behavioral objectives, problem-solving objectives, or expressive outcomes?

    • How would you balance the three types in your classroom?

      • When do(n’t) we need to balance these three types of objectives?

  • In what ways do(n’t) standardized educational objectives align with equity-based pedagogies?

  • Is there a correlation between politicians with industry/business/military backgrounds and voting for performance based objectives?

Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode

More Content

Unpacking ScholarshipJared O'LearyCurriculum, Interest-driven learning, Rhizomatic learning, AssessmentComment