Lesson Plan Critique

Anne Coustalin
ETEC 512
December 4, 2016
Lesson Plan Critique 1

Introduction

Reflective practice is consistently recognized as essential to good pedagogy. In the time

since I created the original lesson plan (OLP), I have engaged in considerable academic and

professional development, and I have developed new tools with which to reflect upon my

practice. I have chosen to critique the OLP using key learnings from Constructivism, Information

Processing theory, and Situated Learning theory. I have also applied those same learning

theories in designing a much improved revised lesson plan (RLP).

Lesson Plan Background information and design rationale

This lesson is part of a grade 6 biology unit on the Diversity of Life. This was the third

lesson in our exploration of animal adaptations. The purpose of the lesson was to solidify the

concept of structural adaptations and introduce the concept of behavioural adaptations. By the

end of the lesson, students were expected to be able to differentiate behavioural adaptations

from structural adaptations and identify human structural and behavioural adaptations.

Application of Theory to Analysis and Design

Information Processing Theory Elements

Information Processing Theory is the best represented learning theory in the OLP. This is

due in large part to the fact that the template used appears to be structured using IP stage

theory. The OLP features several activities associated with each of the levels of IP stage theory

as outlined by Atkinson and Shriffin (1968): sensory, short term memory (STM) and long term

memory (LTM). That being said, there are also several areas where student learning would

benefit from the thoughtful addition of activities, particularly around the sensory and LTM

stages. In revising this lesson, I have added a sensory stage activity at the outset. The activity,

(examining the behaviour of local crows right outside our school) will activate student attention

and make the learning more relevant. As Lutz and Huitt (2003) explain, attention is impacted by
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(among other things) the meaningfulness of new stimuli to the learner. This notion of meaningful

learning is revisited several times in the RLP.

In both the OLP and RLP, the amount of new vocabulary students encounter is limited,

which is appropriate since students in this age group can only focus their attention on

approximately six unrelated stimuli or pieces of information at a given time (Dempster, 1981). I

believe the OLP offers insufficient opportunities to promote automacity around new vocabulary,

however, so I have added a vocabulary review activity. Ideally, increased automacity around

scientific vocabulary will allow students to focus memory resources on new information and

science concepts in a more efficient manner (Schraw, G. & McCrudden, M., 2013).

The IP stage that is the least well represented in the OLP is Long Term Memory. In order

to offer further opportunities for elaboration, I have expanded and redesigned the final activity of

the lesson and added an additional major project (to be commenced in a future lesson). Both of

these activities are rooted in objects of study that students are already familiar with (human

beings and a local animal that they can observe regularly). This not only makes learning more

meaningful, it also promotes elaboration by having students integrate new and existing

knowledge.

Constructivist Theory Elements:

While the OLP had various exotic animals from around the world as objects of study, the

RLP instead emphasizes students existing knowledge: focusing on animals that students have

likely had multiple experiences with and have already built considerable knowledge constructs

around. This allows for a rigorous testing of the validity of new conceptual structures (in this

case, the concept of adaptations) and, consequently, deeper learning. Further, while the OLP

student organizer was largely concerned with figurative knowledge (only asking students to

identify adaptations and classify them as behavioural or structural); the RLP promotes operative

knowledge: students are expected to tie in their examination of animal adaptations to an

exploration of the purpose for the adaptation and an understanding of why the environment
Lesson Plan Critique 3

would favour that adaptation. In this way, the RLP gives students the satisfaction of making

sense of the phenomena they witness, providing opportunities for self-generated reinforcement

(Von Glasersfeld, 2008). It also gives them a construct against which to test phenomena evident

in other organisms.

While the OLP did provide some opportunities for collaboration and social negotiation of

meaning, these have been increased in the RLP. This is important because, as Von

Glasersfeld explains: learning awakens a variety of internal development processes that are

able to operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and in

cooperation with his peers (p. 35). Both the OLP and RLP are careful to structure activities

such that students are able to negotiate meaning and build knowledge with their peers before

being asked to present learning individually. As Smith, Disessa and Roschelle (1994) explain,

errors are characteristic of initial phases of learning because students existing knowledge is

inadequate and supports only partial understandings (p. 123). The approach evident

throughout the RLP promotes safety and reduces anxiety, leading to a more effective learning

environment.

The OLP offered no opportunities for student self-reflection or metacognition. The RLP

attempts to address this shortfall by having students: identify their own key learnings in their

journals; present an outline of how they developed their research questions and conducted their

research for the human adaptations task, and self-assess their work and write a reflection to

accompany their final assignment. As Von Glasersfeld (2008) explains, a students ability to

carry out activities is only part of their competence. The other part is to monitor the activities.

The final assignment associated with this lesson is intended to deepen the learning

opportunity and provide an opportunity for assessment. This is particularly appropriate from the

constructivist perspective because it allows the instructor to look at both the learning activity and

the childs ability to reflect upon or discuss that activity. As Cunningham suggests, assessment
Lesson Plan Critique 4

emerges naturally from task performance if instructors offer authentic tasks of some substance

(1992).

Situated Learning Theory Elements

A situated learning perspective can be challenging to incorporate in the classroom. This

was evident in the OLP, which consisted almost entirely of activities that lacked authenticity and

situational relevance to students. In the RLP, authentic tasks and action are emphasized

throughout and a context of authentic scientific inquiry is created. The process of learning is

emphasized and made visible and opportunities for social interaction and collaboration abound.

While the OLP used exotic animals from around the world as the object of study, the RLP

focuses only on local animals. This makes learning more relevant to the students and also

increases authenticity by allowing for direct study and primary research (which better mimics the

work of a scientist). The main lesson activity involves a scientific investigation into human

beings through the lens of adaptations. In this task, the plan is purposefully de-emphasized.

The activity provides several scaffolds and tools that students may use if they wish, but it does

not prescribe how the learning must occur. This is important because, as Suchman explains, it

is more important to study how people use their circumstances to achieve intelligent action than

it is to abstract action from its circumstances and reconstruct it as a rational plan (1987). The

resulting learning artifact is reflective of that understanding: it explores both the product of the

investigation and the procedure used to investigate. This addresses Collins (1987) critique of

schools that: too little attention is paid to the processes that experts engage in to use or acquire

knowledge in carrying out complex or realistic tasks (p. 2). The approach to situated learning in

the classroom evidenced in the RLP satisfies the imperative of promoting situational

enculturation by making learning mimic the authentic environment of the discipline of study. It

also, however, promotes the imperative (as outlined by A Brown et al., 1993) of enculturating

students into the culture of education, thus promoting the development of lifelong intentional

learners.
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One of the main tenets of Situated Learning is that cognition is social in nature (Putnam

and Borko, 2000). While the OLP had provided opportunities for students to work with a partner

and in groups, the RLP further increases this emphasis. After all, as Browns, Collins and Duguid

point out, it is only within groups that the social interaction and conversation that is essential to

learning can occur (1989). As students engage in collaboration through talking and writing,

those very acts provide a context for shared understanding and a scaffold for reciprocal

interactions. They also serve to make the learning visible (Slaouti, 2007).

Conclusion

Despite my efforts to create a pedagogically sound learning opportunity with the OLP, it is

apparent that several important elements were absent in the original design. By critiquing and

revising the OLP through the lenses of Constructivism, Information Processing theory, and

Situated Learning theory, I have been able to design a learning opportunity that is much more

representative of effective pedagogy, and one that I would be proud to present to my students.
Lesson Plan Critique 6

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