Walk into almost any classroom today and you’ll find the same ritual: the teacher writes the learning objectives on the board. It’s become such a staple of lesson planning that few ever question its value. But should we?

The Deductive Trap

Announcing learning objectives at the start of a lesson almost always signals a deductive approach:

• The teacher reveals the “rules” or content first.
• Learners are then expected to confirm, repeat, or apply those rules.

This creates a classroom dynamic where the teacher is the giver of knowledge and the learners the receivers of rules. The flow of thinking is one-way, and the learners’ role is reduced to proving what the teacher already knows.

But education is moving in a different direction. Increasingly, teachers and researchers are advocating for the inductive approach—where learners discover the rules themselves through guided exploration. Induction creates curiosity, ownership, and deeper understanding. Deduction, by contrast, often leads to compliance without insight.

The Problem of Auditory Blindness

There’s another hidden cost. Learning objectives are usually phrased in abstract or technical language: “Students will understand the process of photosynthesis” or “Students will be able to calculate linear equations.”

The problem? Many of the words are unknown to the learner at the start of the lesson. The brain has no picture to match the word. The result is what I call #AuditoryBlindness:

• Students hear the word.
• But the brain cannot form a mental image that makes sense.
• Instead of clarifying, the “objective” actually confuses and distances learners from the task.

When learning begins with words learners cannot yet visualize, the process moves from the unknown to the known—the exact opposite of how the brain naturally learns. Confusion, frustration, and disengagement quickly follow.

A Better Way: Begin With Discovery

Instead of dictating objectives, imagine starting with a problem, pattern, or puzzle. Learners explore, compare, test, and gradually uncover the concept. By the time the formal term is introduced, the brain already has a picture ready to receive it.

• The unknown becomes the known through discovery.
• Words gain meaning only after learners build their own mental models.
• Motivation increases because the process feels like figuring out, not memorizing.

Conclusion

Learning objectives may look neat on paper, but in practice they often shut down curiosity before it has a chance to ignite. They lock the class into a deductive pattern and risk triggering auditory blindness by using words disconnected from learners’ existing knowledge.

If we want learners to think, explore, and truly understand, then perhaps the best learning objective is not to announce one at all—but to create conditions where learners can discover their own.