The mastery of enabling objectives is necessary before the learner can master the terminal objective.
The relationship between terminal and enabling objectives is illustrated by the following:
Another way to represent the relationship between terminal and enabling objectives is shown below. Both illustrations have the same meaning in terms of the relationship between the terminal and enabling objectives.
Note that all terminal objectives are on top, representing the "parent" or higher level outcomes. The enabling objectives are always subordinate, or lower than the terminals. There may be several levels of enabling objectives. All must be mastered before going on to the terminal objective.
