Design Challenge Two

 

 A Learning Design

 

 Top 10 Principles of the Efficiency Model

1)Determining the learning goals

2)Specifying the learning objectives

3) Gathering the instructional materials

4)Sequencing of Instruction

5) Providing meaningful frameworks correlated to instruction

6) Monitoring and assessment of learning

7) Reinforcing any learning discrepancies

8) Implementation & application of the learning

9) Learning Evaluation

10) Summation & Closure

Top 10 Challenges to the Efficiency Model

1)The "N-geners" are creating a new learning paradigm, brining a different set of expectations. 2) Some students are more receptive to personally meaningful-oriented learning. 3) Attention is focused on books serving as the primary source of information, thus the content supercedes the importance of learning. 4) Studies have shown that learning in everyday situations and various cultural settings confirms that learning is not an isolated processes. 5) Some speculate that the efficiency model doesn't prepare learners for participation in society. 6) Students are not learning just at school, but from outside sources such as television and computers. 7)There are a variety of learning needs that exists among individuals. 8) The model teaches skills in isolation, thus some learners might not be able to make interdisciplinary connections. 9) It might be challenging to incorporate activities that actively engage the learners. 10) The development of meaningful assessments to reflect the student's acquisition of the information learned.

Step One: Define a Learn Goal

The student will become familiar with the water cycle.

Step Two: State Objectives

Given a picture depicting the water cycle (b), the student will be able to determine how water changes its form in the environment (a) and identify each of the phases by name (c).

Step Three: Sequence Instruction

1) The learners will be shown visuals depicting examples of the water cycle (i.e. rain, lakes, clouds). 2) Teacher will then display an isolated example of how the water cycle occurs (i.e. diagram with arrows indicating each phase of the cycle). 3) Students will be guided through each of the phases by participating in a whole group discussion. 4) The students will focus on developing an understanding of how the cycle functions and the appropriate terminology (i.e. condensation, evaporation, precipitation). 5) The students will then recall the phases of the cycle through a guided activity (i.e. teacher displays an example of each phase and the students will identify what it is). 6) Students will generate a model of the water cycle and display it accurately.

Step Four: Determine Learning Success

In this lesson, learning will be determined successful it the students are able to recall what they understand about the water cycle on a formal assessment. This formal assessment will include multiple-choice comprehension questions and labeling a diagram of the water cycle. Students who do not meet the expectations will then receive repeated review of the water cycle utilizing small-group instruction. While the teacher is working with these students, the students who have met their goal will be working in cooperative learning groups on enrichment activities associated with the water cycle.

A Reflection and Critique of the Design

Strengths: -Vocabulary development -Ability to learn the process of the water cycle -Exposure to the water cycle in context Weaknesses: -Some types of students (i.e. ELL's) might not comprehend the instructor during the direct teach part of the lesson. -Lack of the ability to work with manipulatives -Doesn't promote critical thinking skills within the learners Today's Technology Users- Consistent: If the teacher utilizes a multimedia projector and enables the students follow up with computer enrichment activities, then this will coincide with this generation of learners. Inconsistent- Not sufficient exposure to problem-solving skills in the lesson. Conflicts with Constructivist Learning: -Doesn't allow the learners to derive understanding in an exploratory manner. -The focus is more on knowledge recollection instead of knowledge construction.

 

Design Challenge Three

 

The FACTS Model of Design

 

 

Teachers as Designers: A Cinquain Poem

 

Teacher

developer builder

creating devising molding

enriching the learning

Establisher

Teachers as Designers: A Diamente Poem

Teacher

proactive, tenacious

planning,leading,guiding

leader, guide, learner,scholar

comprehending, listening, deducing

studious, dedicated, eager

Student

The FACTS Model: A Summary

 

It is a sequence of instruction that is based on incorporating five vital components: learning foundations, student-engaging activities, content, resource tools, & system of assessment.

 

The F is for Foundations

 The prerequisite knowledge & skills learners need to develop cognitive processes and schema. It can also be considered the learning building blocks for future endeavors.

The A is for Activity

Appropriate tasks or actions achieved by learners to gain competency or acquire skills. The activities can one of the following: authentic, knowledge-building, constructing or sharing.

The C is for Content

The learning standards that students are expected to achieve through instruction. It is what the learner should be able to comprehend in application.

The T is for Tools

The resources that instructors utilize to enrich instruction for student learning. These instructional materials support the delivery of information & learner comprehension.

The S is for Systems of Assessment

The methods of evaluation implemented to validate the quality of instruction. It also depicts whether the instruction effective promoted student learning.

 

FACTS Design: Lesson Plan

 

Summary of Thought Process: Water is a prime example of a type of matter that changes its state as the result of temperature.  One of the primary processes learned in science is the water cycle.  Thus, students acquire an understanding of how water goes through different stages in the environment.  However, students don't really grasp the impact that temperature changes has in transforming the phase of water.  This stems from the lack of awareness that temperature changes are the result of a process.  Thus, water changing its states depends on the occurence of certain processes.  Therefore, it is necessary for students to experience activities depicting the effects of temperature on water (i.e. heating, freezing).  Yet, at the same time, teachers will need to assure that they provide the opportunity to participate in engaging, safe activities.  Therefore, a resourceful alternative can be to incorporate interactive websites available online.  Additionally, the students can create student projects via a computer that will keep them actively engaged in the learning activities.  Proceeding through this unit will establish a foundation for making connections between structures, processes and cycles.  This will inevitably lead to building schema for the students when they proceed to becoming familiar with systems.

 

Big Idea Connection:  After completing this unit, the students will be able to further understand the role a process plays in a cycle.  In science, cycles encompass a significant part of the obtaining a famliarity with systems.  Therefore, students could utilize their experience with this unit as a stepping stone to making connections between structures, processes, and cycles (a.k.a. the three major componentes of a system).

 

Objective:  The students will make observations and gather data on the effects of temperature on water.

 

Target Audience:  The learners of this lesson will be second grade students.  One of the units in the Science instruction for these students is the water cycle.  Thus, this unit would best be suited following the completion of the water cycle unit.  Most of the students have visited the computer lab and participated in other types of lab activities.  All of the students have some basic prerequisite technology skills: utilizing the mouse, navigating through the internet, and familiarity with common keyboard buttons (i.e. space bar, enter).  Additionally, the student have some background knowledge of the science content presented during the lesson.  The students have studied the water cycle during previous lessons and have explored the different states of matter.

 

Subject Area:  Science

 

Estimated Time of Completion: 1 to 2 weeks

 

Anchored Problem:

     An important idea in Science is that of systems.  Systems are composed of structures, processes and cycles that function together.  For some students, the idea of cycles can be confusing because they aren't aware of how important the processes involved are for it.  This inhibits students from being able to recognize the connections that exist between each of the factors.  It is essential to guide the students into understanding these connections because lacking the foundation can defer them from understanding the "bigger" concept later on in their studies.

 

Literacy:

Symbols-  An end result of this unit will be that the students can gather an understanding of the importance of processes involved in cycles.  The students will be able to acknowledge the connections between structures going through processes that results in the components of a cycle.  Directly, the students will be able to recognize the pivotal role temperature plays in changing the states of water.

 

 

 Discourse- The students will be able to synthesize the content by creating their own visual representation in Kidspiration.  This will also provide the teacher an indication if the unit was successfully implemented or if the content was lost during the execution.  The Science Discourses that will be covered are: Processes, Cycles, States of Matter, Observing.  The Technology Discourses will be: Interactive websites, working with clipart.

 

Cognitive Processes-  As the students participate in the activities, they will be able to interpret their observations,make predictions, draw conclusions and synthesize the information.

 

Foundations:

Disciplinary Structures-

The learners of this lesson would need to have the following prerequisite abilities:

1) writing down observations

2) working with graphic organizers (i.e. Venn Diagram)

3) utilizing the mouse

4) navigating through a website

5) adjusting the volume if necessary

 

 

Disciplinary Processes-

The learners are expected to determine the effects of temperature on a specified body of water (i.e. applying heat or freezing).  Additionally, they will need to be able to write down their observations and determine the relationship between temperature and a specific state of matter.

 

Disciplinary Discourses-

The learners will be able to recognize patterns and connections as they view the demonstration presented in the interactive website.  Additionally, their observations should be able to display their analytical reasoning of the content.

 

Problem Solving-

One way to visualize a cycle can be by imagining a puzzle.  Puzzles are composed of putting pieces together accurately to complete an image.    In cycles, structures experience different processes and the result can be the completion or the creation of an end product.  Students need to be able to recognize that cycles consist of not only the structures involved, but also the processes that occur.  Thus, this unit will enable them to experience how one process (temperature change) affects the structure's state (water).

 

Activities:

 

Authentic-

A1: The students will gather observations of water in two common states: ice & liquid.

A2: The students will gather some similiarities and differences between an ice cube and liquid water using a Venn Diagram.

A3: The students will view a teacher demonstration of what occurs to water that is heated on a hot plate.

A3: The students will recognize that there is a relationship between temperature and the states of water.

A4: The students will generate a visual representation depicting the relationship between temperature and states of matter.

 

Background Building-

B1: The students will observe the effects of temperature on water via an interactive website.

B1: The students will participate in the Changing States activity in the computer lab.

B2: The students will reflect on their experiences in the interactive website in their science notebook.

B3: The students will participate in small group discussions to share what they learned from the experience.

B4: The students will participate in a teacher-guided class discussion of the content.

 

Constructing-

C1: The students will brainstorm ideas of how to create a model of this process in Kidspiration.

C2: The students will work in Kidspiration to develop a model of how temperature plays a key role in the changing states of water.

C3: The students will save their project to display for others.

 

Sharing-

S1: The students will use the class multimedia projector to share their project with the class.

S2: The students will be able to see vivid examples of how others interpret the process.

S3: The students will discuss what they liked about the projects and also what they didn't quite comprehend.

 

 

Content:

Science TEKS:

2.3A-Make decisions using information

2.2E-Construct reasonable explanations & draw conclusions using information and prior knowledge

2.7A-Observe and record changes that occur to an object, such as an ice cube, chocolate, a wet sponge or a paper towel, when heat is applied

2.7 B-Identify, predict and test uses of heat to cause change such as melting and evaporation.

Technology TEKS:

2.7A Use software programs with audio, video and graphics to enhance learning experiences

 

 

Tools:

As a method of introducing the lesson, the teacher will display images from the computer.  Every image will have an example of water (i.e. rain, ice, vapor).  The teacher will then reiterate that even though the images displayed different forms, every single picture was of water.  The teacher will then pose the following question: how could these images look different yet be displaying the same type of matter?   After receiving some responses from the students, the teacher will then introduce the lesson for the day.  The teacher will utilize liquid water & ice as part of the materials for the lesson.  The students will also need to have magnifying lens available as they conduct their observations of the two physical states of water.  Then, for the next lesson, the students will be visiting the computer lab.  The teacher will model how to navigate to the designated site for the activity using the mulitmedia projector. 

 

 

Systems of Assessment:

The teacher will be able to gather formal and informal assessments from the unit of study.  One type of informal assessment can be done when the students are gathering observations.  The teacher can monitor the students ability to complete the task by having a checklist.  During the lab lesson, the quiz at the end of the interactive activity can be an assessment over the student's understanding of the demonstration they participated in with the website.  Additionally, the teacher can choose to gather other types of informal assessments (i.e. participation, effort) while the students are working together on the Kidspiration project.  A rubric will be used to assess the student's completed project.

 

Learning Environment:

There are two locations in which the unit of study will take place.  They are:

 

Teacher's classroom- The students will be working at their desks.  The desks are arranged in groups of four.  the teacher's materials for the lesson will be on the AV cart.  The materials include document camera, multimedia projector and images to display.

 

Computer Lab- The teacher will also have the students participate in an activity in the lab.  There are 28 individual desktop computers available for use.  Also, one of the computers is connected through a VGA cable to a multimedia projector.