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A comparative study of the effect of behavioral objectives on class performance and retention in physical science
Author(s) -
Olsen Robert Charles
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.3660100312
Subject(s) - subject matter , psychology , forgetting , mathematics education , class (philosophy) , academic achievement , achievement test , ninth , physical science , control (management) , standardized test , cognitive psychology , computer science , pedagogy , artificial intelligence , curriculum , physics , acoustics
This experiment was designed to assess the effects of behavioral objectives on class achievement and retention. Eight experimental classes received instruction in physical science with stated behavioral objectives and six control classes received the same instruction without knowledge of the objectives. The subject matter used in this ninth‐grade investigation was the third unit of the program, Interaction of Matter and Energy . Behavioral objectives and their accompanying assessment tasks were written by the investigator for the subject matter areas of heat energy, light energy, and phases of matter. The experimental classes obtained higher mean scores than the control classes on both achievement and retention tests. The overall mean differences due to treatment was found to be significant at the 0.01 level of confidence. The results of the study support the thesis that providing classes and teachers with behavioral objectives prior to instruction can enhance the performance on achievement tests. Also, the data strongly suggest that behavioral objectives and their accompanying assessment tasks will cause a resistance to forgetting.