Instructional objectives are clear statements of what the teacher seeks to achieve after the lesson delivery in the classroom.
Characteristics of a good instructional objective are outlined below;
They must be stated in behavioral terms. This means the action verbs used in stating the objectives should make it capable of being observed and measured. For instance, by the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to list at least five components of the physical environment of the classroom. Here, the action verb list can be depicted or acted upon.
Instructional objectives must specify the behavior that the pupils are expected to display at the end of instruction. What the pupil is expected to do at the end of the lesson. Is the pupil expected to list, draw, write or label?
They must specify the condition under which pupils are expected to display that behavior learned, such condition could take different forms. For instance, it could be a time condition, where you will expect pupils to answer some comprehension questions within twenty minutes. For instance, whether pupils are going to respond to the comprehension questions in written form or oral form
They must indicate the acceptable level of performance of the expected behavior. The level of acceptance of the behavior to be displayed is essential when writing your instructional objectives. For instance, objectives like by the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to state features of an insect may not be specific enough. This is because it is not clear whether one, two, or three features are sufficient after four features have been taught. The level of acceptance would therefore mean the teacher has to specify how many features would be acceptable in the minimum for example, by the end of the lesson the pupil will be able to state the four features of an insect.
