Your learning objectives, lesson content and activities, and assessments should all align with each other. In other words, you should strive to match your assessments for a given lesson to the lesson objectives, whether those objectives are cognitive, affective, or psychomotor.
The graphic below shows a mismatch of the objectives, instruction and assessment for an example lesson. In this case:
Because the level of instruction is misaligned with the objectives and the assessment in this example, students will not have the opportunity to practice at the appropriate level, and they are more likely to struggle with problem-solving assignments or problem-solving questions on an exam.
Figure 1: Objectives, instruction, and assessment are not aligned.
In contrast, the graphic below shows an example of matching objectives, instruction, and assessment.
Figure 2: Objectives, instruction, and assessment are aligned.
In higher education, most learning objectives, lesson content and activities, and assessment fall into the cognitive domain, and Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives is the most common model for writing cognitive objectives. You can also use Bloom's taxonomy to help align your assessment questions with your objectives.
Bloom first created his taxonomy in the 1950's and it was revised in 2001. From simple cognitive tasks to complex ones it works as follows:
Figure 3: Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives.
You can use Bloom's taxonomy to assist you in aligning your objectives, instruction, and assessment.
The perfect time to think about your assessments is while you are writing your objectives. Incorporating key verbs from the table below into your objectives is one way to forecast the types of assessment you will use to measure students’ achievement of those objectives.
Remember | Understand | Apply | Analyze | Evaluate | Create |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Define Identify List Name Recall Recognize Record Relate Repeat Underline Circle |
Cite examples of Demonstrate use of Describe Determine Differentiate between Discriminate Discuss Explain Express Give in own words Identify Interpret Locate Pick Report Restate Review Recognize Select Tell Translate Respond Practice Simulates |
Apply Demonstrate Dramatize Employ Generalize Illustrate Interpret Operate Operationalize Practice Relate Schedule Shop Use Utilize Initiate |
Analyze Appraise Calculate Categorize Compare Conclude Contrast Correlate Criticize Deduce Debate Detect Determine Develop Diagram Differentiate Distinguish Draw conclusions Estimate Examine Experiment Identify Infer Inspect Inventory Predict Relate Solve Test Diagnose |
Appraise Assess Choose Compare Critique Estimate Evaluate Judge Measure Rate Score Select Validate Value Test |
Arrange Assemble Collect Compose Construct Create Design Develop Formulate Manage Modify Organize Plan Prepare Produce Propose Predict Reconstruct Set-up Synthesize Systematize Devise |
Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
Anderson, L.W., & Krathwohl (Eds.). (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.
Bloom, B.S. and Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, by a committee of college and university examiners. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. NY, NY: Longmans, Green.