Page 281 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

sequence.

The conditions are “given the disassembled parts of the meat slicer.” The practitioner should provide a
disassembled machine and ask the employee to reassemble it. An inappropriate test would be to ask the
learner to list the steps in reassembling the meat slicer or to discuss the safety precautions to be taken.

If the learner must perform under a range of conditions, you may need to test performance using the entire
range. If a client eats at home and in restaurants, the dietetics professional must determine whether the person
is capable of following the dietary changes in both environments. If students are learning to take a diet history,
they should be taught to handle the range of conditions, including people of different ages, socioeconomic
levels, and cultural groups. Not every condition will be taught and tested, but the common conditions that the
individual will encounter should be included in the objectives and in testing.

The main intent of an objective may be stated clearly or it may be implied. The main intent is the
performance, whereas an indicator is an activity (visible, audible) through which the main intent is inferred:

EXAMPLE (Given a copy of a sodium-restricted diet) is able to plan a menu for a complete day.

In this example, the main intent is to discriminate between foods permitted and omitted on the diet, and
the indicator is the ability to plan menus. You can infer that the client knows what is permitted and what is
not if accurate sodium-restricted menus are planned. Test for the indicator in objectives that contain one.
This, of course, does not prove that the person will change eating behaviors.

Covert actions are not visible, but are internal or mental activities, such as solving problems or identifying.
If the performance is covert, an indicator should have been added to the objective, as explained in Chapter 11,
and the indicator should be tested.

EXAMPLE Is able to identify the parts of the slicer (on a diagram or verbally).

For this example, the employee should be provided with the indicator, a diagram of a meat slicer, and asked
to identify the parts.

Although some performances are covert, others are overt. Overt actions are visible or audible, such as
writing, verbally describing, and assembling. If the performance is overt, determine whether the test item
matches the objective.

EXAMPLE Is able to reassemble the parts of the meat slicer.

The employee should be provided with the parts of the meat slicer and asked to reassemble them.
Performance tests are appropriate when skills are taught. If the employee is being taught to use equipment,
the evaluation should be to have him or her demonstrate its operation. If a student is learning interviewing
skills, an interview session is indicated as the evaluation.

The discussion so far has used examples of objectives in the cognitive and psychomotor domains. Affective

281