The Forum: The Utility of Behavioral Objectives: PRO A Valuable Aid to Teaching

Abstract

I AM writing as a comparative novice in the field of behavioral objectives, for I first heard of them only a few years ago. My first impression was that they were an overly formalized procedure for doing what any good teacher did anyhow and that they should remain the private property of the educational psychologists. Later, however, I reluctantly agreed to use them in the evaluation of the preliminary edition of a textbook that I was writing and to my great amazement discovered that they were of tremendous utility to me. So, like anyone who has just adopted a new religion, I am an enthusiast; and in this article I shall tell you why I am. Enthusiasm, however, should be tempered with judgment; and so I do not wish to claim that behavioral objectives will solve all our problems—they have an important place in mathematical education, but they should be used with appropriate restraint.