How learning targets 'power up' student learning in physical education
A change that occurred since I started teaching 'in the 80's' is the shift from teacher objectives for student learning to student achievement standards or outcomes that determine the learning targets progressively along the continuum of achievement outlined by the curriculum framework. In their book "Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today's Lesson," Moss and Brookhart (2012) explained that a learning target is the "engine" that drives student achievement. They argued that for students to be successful, they must have a clear, shared understanding of what they are learning during the actual lesson. Without a clear understanding of the lesson's goal students are "flying blind," arguably focusing on completing tasks rather than coming to understand and master content. A critical distinction in the book is that objectives are for teachers (planning) while targets are for students (doing). Learning targ...
