Focusing the Message: Teaching for Life Change

According to chapter 8 of Creative Bible Teaching, I should “…focus on helping learners bridge the gaps between the world of the Bible and the world of the student.”[1] In other words I need to develop the teaching idea by asking myself, “What do I want the students to learn?” The way to do this is to:

1. Begin with the bridge principle – the truth that the author of the passage intended the original hearers or readers to understand
2. Consider the student
3. State the pedagogical idea – the truth that the teacher of the class wants the students to understand from the passage

The second step is to develop the lesson aims by asking myself, “How do I want the student to change?” One tool that has been particularly helpful to me in this is Bloom’s three domains of learning. These are highlighted in the following table.

Bloom’s Three Domains of Learning
			Acts 2:37	Associated Aim
Cognitive	Thinking and knowing	“Head”	When the people heard this,	Content
Affective	Values and attitudes	“Heart”	They were cut to the heart…	Inspiration
Behavioral	Actions and skills	“Hands”	And said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”	Action

The key is setting action aims that speak to what the student will do or how the student will change as a result of the learning experience.[2] With that in mind, the book lays out four criteria for constructing worthwhile aims:

1. Short enough to be remembered
2. Clear enough to be meaningful
3. Specific enough to be achieved
4. Written in terms of the student

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[1] 132.
[2] 141.