Module III methods/Strategies of Teaching History

3.1.1 Behaviour 
Behavior is that part of instructional objective that shows what the learner should do. It is 
always accompanied by an action verb. The objective needs to be written in terms of the 
student and in terms of some performance that can be seen, changed, modified and measured. 
Important point to note here is that the behaviour must be observable. Let us look at some 
examples below: 
‘The student will be able to identify through discussion’. 
‘The student will be able to evaluate……………..’ 
Words that can be used in writing behaviour objectives include to write, recite, list, identify, 
differentiate, solve, construct, compare, etc.
3.1.2. Conditions 
It is that part which describes the condition under which the behaviour should be performed. 
In other words, what is it that you will do, or the student is expected to do or learn in order to 
change or modify his behaviour? For instance, is he to listen to a guest speaker, or observe a 
drama or listen to a debate, etc? What are the conditions for example:

After listening to the Guest Speaker from the Hospital, the students will be able to 
identify through discussion….. 

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
After the debate on ‘should education be free at all..…’ the student will be able to 
decide..… 
3.1.3. Criteria for Acceptable Performance 
This refers to the minimum acceptable level of proficiency that students should show that 
they have attained that level. In other words, how will you know if students are achieving up 
to an appropriate standard? How much of the learning activity should be learned by each 
individual in the class? When no criteria are set, it is assumed that each student is expected to 
perform at the 100% level at all time. Let us look at the examples below: 

After listening to a Guest Speaker from the academia, the students will be able to 
identify through discussion four out of the five advantages of oral source of history. 

After the debate on “Should history be on Nigeria school curriculum at all levels?” 
the students will be able to decide which side presented the best argument. 
Although each of these items might help an objective to be more specific, it will not be 
necessary to include all the three in each objective.