The best we can do is make inferences that a student appreciates or understands something based on what the student does or says in a controlled situation. The answer is quite simple. A behavioral verb is a word that denotes an observable action, or the creation of an observable product. Verbs such as identify, name, and describe are behavioral because you can observe the act or product of identifying, naming, or describing. Some verbs are embedded in a phrase that gives them a specific behavioral meaning.
Examples are state a rule and apply a rule.
In this case the behavior is contextual, and the context is the rule in question. There are many verbs that qualify as behavioral. For a list of these verbs, and their definitions , click here. To see examples of verbs used in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, click here. To see some education student produced lesson plans that have behavioral verbs, click here.