Thank you for inviting me to Thailand - from what I have seen so far in Thailand is a beautiful and friendly country.
I read the Mukdaharm project with great interest and great admiration. It is one of the best integrated teaching units I have encountered in my long teaching career. It meets the goals of the Thai curriculum that students achieve competence in the English language, become critical thinkers and attain a heightened awareness of the environment. At the same time it provides an interesting, realistic learning experience for students. Because of its excellence I have analyzed it as an example of how goals and objectives for all units of study should be determined.
To begin let's look at the overall goal of the project:
GOAL: To educate students to enjoy, develop and respect the quality and variety of life on our planet today and in the future and to increase their knowledge of English..
Evaluation Explain - any unit has 1 overall goal and about 3 to 10 objectives depending on the length of the unit and its complexity. We have seen that the goal of the Mukdaharm Project fits the Thai curriculum....an important feature. We will take a look at the objectives of the unit as well but first it is important to understand the kinds or types of objectives that are necessary to achieve critical thinking.
Benjamin Bloom is one of the best and easiest experts to understand of the many curriculum developers in this area. He says there are six levels of thinking: Evaluation Synthesis Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge Explain: Knowledge is the base. On it all the other levels of thinking depend. Knowledge is the learning of names, facts, methods and procedures. When writing objectives in this area the teacher uses phrases such as: - the student will define - the student will identify - the student will label - the student will list - the student will match - the student will name
In the Mudkaharm Project a knowledge objective was: "students will identify environmental issues of sustainability."
Comprehension is understanding or grasping the meaning. It is a slightly higher level of thinking than just knowing. Comprehension may be shown by summarizing, interpreting or explaining. When writing objectives in this area the teacher uses phrases such as:
- the student will explain
- the student will distinguish between
- the student will paraphrase
- the student will rewrite in his or her own words
- the student will summarize
In the Mudkaharm Project a comprehension objective was: "students will increase their understanding and use of the English language."
Application is the ability to use material that has been learned and apply it to problems or new situations. Application is shown when rules, laws or theories are applied to solve problems. It requires a higher level of understanding than those under comprehension. When writing objectives in this area the teacher uses phrases such as:
- the student will solve
- the student will demonstrate
- the student will predict
- the student will use ______ rule to find
- the student will change
In the Mudkaharm project an application objective was: "students will find a solution to at least one problem of environmental sustainability."
Analysis refers to the ability to probe different parts of a theory and derive or make sense of the relationship between parts. Analysis requires understanding of both content and structural form. When writing objectives in this area the teacher uses phrases such as:
- the student will select
- the student will differentiate between
- the student will divide into parts
- the student will diagram
- the student will relate
In the Mudkaharm project an analysis objective was: "students will be able to differentiate between a variety of world views of sustainability."
Synthesis refers to the ability to put parts together to form something new. This could be the production of a theme or speech, a plan of operations such as a research proposal or a set of abstract relations such as a way of classifying new information. When writing objectives in this area the teacher uses phrases such as:
- the student will create
- the student will form a plan
- the student will write
- the student will organize
- the student will design
- the student will compose
In the Mudkaharm project a synthesis objective was: "students will identify a problem, find possible solutions and form a plan to implement a solution."
Evaluation in Bloom's hierarchy of thinking skills is the highest of all the thinking skills. It contains parts of all those thinking skills ranked below it. It is concerned with the ability to judge the value of material such as a novel, poem or research paper for a given purpose. The judgment must rest on definite criteria. When writing objectives in this area the teacher will us phrases such as:
- the student will criticize
- the student will debate
- the student will judge
- the student will rank
- the student will defend
In the Mudkaharm project an application objective was: "students will decide upon solutions for sustainability and include the best in their final presentation."
So we see that the Mudkaharm Project included critical thinking skills in all the important levels of thinking from knowledge through to evaluation.
However, as teachers we all know it is not enough merely to include critical thinking in a project we must actively teach the skills in our objectives and then evaluate the students' learning to see if they have learned what we intended them to learn. The reason for testing or evaluating students is not to say, "you came first, you came second and you came last". We evaluate the learning the students take away from a unit or project so we as teachers can determine whether or not we successfully taught the subject matter. If students are not learning they may as well be sitting on the beach. So I went further and examined each objective for methods by which it was taught and the means by which it was evaluated.
Objective: "students will identify environmental issues of sustainability."
Type of Objective: Knowledge
Teaching Strategy: Pre-tour lecture and discussion on of sustainability - water & issues involved energy use, waste & cleanliness
Evaluation: Lists of the issues
Objective: "students will increase their understanding and use of the English Language."
Type of Objective: Comprehension
Teaching Strategy: Tour of hotel, discussion &explanation of issues of sustainability
Evaluation: Project dictionary of new English words
Objective: "The students will find a solution to at least one environmental problem."
Type of Objective: Application
Teaching Strategy: Group brainstorming & discussion to find workable to solutions issues of sustainability
Evaluation: List of possible solutions
Objective: "students will be able to differentiate between a variety of world views of sustainability."
Type of Objective: Analysis
Teaching Strategy: Independent Reading, Jigsaw & Guided Reading
Evaluation: List of world views sustainability
Objective: "students will identify a problem, find possible solutions and form a plan to implement a solution."
Type of Objective: Synthesis
Teaching Strategy: Independent research & Discussion with hotel staff
Evaluation: Identification of a problem & a sustainable solution
Objective: "students will decide upon solutions for sustainability and include the best in their final presentation."
Type of Objective: Evaluation
Teaching Strategy: Student presentation to hotel
Evaluation: Quality of final staff presentation - preset criteria
So we see that the Mudkaharm Project fulfilled its goal of educating students to enjoy, develop and respect the quality and variety of life on our planet today and in the future and to increase their knowledge of English. It did so through well formulated objectives using a variety of teaching strategies and valid evaluation. Along with you I look forward to learning even more about the project.