Theories and Factors That Affect Student Learning

Reba Goodman
MTTC summer 05

Factors Impacting Learner-centered Instruction

Analyzing the student learners is a means to identify the learner characteristics that will likely impact the process and outcomes of the learning experience.

Factors	Description	Learning Environment: Resource (+) or Constraint (-)		Initial Ideas for Maximizing Positive Factors or Minimizing Negative Factors
Age/Academic Range	12 - 14 years old	+		Plan for cooperative learning strategies appropriate for this age group.
Sex Distribution	varies by class	+	-	Classes with close to equal balances tend to work best.
Racial, Ethnic Diversity	70% Caucasian 30% Hispanic	+		Students are exposed to diverse backgrounds and ideas.
Educational Level	8th Grade	+		Single grade classes at the middle school level are important for skill development.
Disability or Impairment	Learning Disabled (LD)		-	Modifications and monitoring of student work as a daily task.
Developmentally Appropriate	All students are developmentally appropriate.	+		Age appropriate expectations are maintained in the classroom.
Prerequisite Knowledge	Basic technology skills Use of Power Point	+		Students have been working with Power Point in other classes.
Related Experience	Presenting to a group	+		Have students relate the activity to talking in front of other groups of people.
Perception of Role as Student	Students are eager to make power point presentations and use technology.	+		Discuss the use of presentation software for enhancing presentations.
Motivation for Learning	Creating book reports that are fun and interesting.	+		Have students discuss what the final project will be like.
Attitude Toward Subject	Students like the creative parts of the software	+		Build on their interest of the software to enhance their written content.
Expectations from session	To learn to use power point and present to a group.	+		Build confidence with speaking skills.
Competitiveness			-	Not a factor in this lesson.
Environment factors that may impact learner-centered instruction. Analyzing the environment is a means to identify the issues that will impact the (a) process of the design and production, (b) implementation, and (c) outcomes of the learning experience
Factors	Description	Advantage or Constraint		Initial Ideas for Maximizing Positive Factors or Minimizing Negative Factors
Design and Production Factors:
Budget Available	NA			Requires no additional funding
Materials Required	Computer Lab Software: Power Point	+		Students will meet in the computer lab rather than in our standard classroom during the completion of this project.
Production Equipment Available	Computers and projector	+		Students will work in the computer lab for entire project.
Time for Design and Production	This project will take two weeks to comlete.	+		Monitoring students and progress on a daily basis.
Department Technology Requirements	Assist teachers and students as needed.	+		Teachers are responsible for integrating technology into their curriculum. .
Implementation Factors:
Class Size	18 - 24	+		Computer lab has 24 computers
Class Period Length	1 - 50 minute class period each day.	+
Location	Computer lab.	+		Students will be directed to meet in the computer lab during this project rather than reporting to the regular classroom.
Seating Arrangement	At available computer	+
Lighting	NA			NA
Temperature	NA			NA
Noise	Soft voices	+		The lab rules are for using soft voices.
Equipment	24 computers in lab	+		Each student should have their own computer.
Technology Support	Technology teacher is somewhat available		-	Technology teacher is in the room next door for help if needed. However, the tech teacher has a class going on at the same time.
Outcome Factors:
State Requirements	TA TEKS 6 -8	+		Provides framework for instruction.
Employer Needs	N/A
Co-worker Needs	N/A
Student Needs	Learn to use power point and write a good book report	+		Positive impact on learning and grades.
Other Factors:

Content factors that may impact learner-centered instruction. Analyzing the content is a means to identify in general terms the topics to be addressed in your course and to analyze these topics in terms of the prerequisite sub-topics, and degree of learning difficulty
Main Topics	Sub-Topics (What Is Involved In Learning Each Main Topic?)	Readiness To Learn (Prerequisites Mastered)	Degree of Learning Difficulty (Real / Imagined)	Possible Instructional Strategies to Reduce or Manage Learning Difficulty
1. Read a fiction book	Reading and vocabulary skills	Ability to read	Real -Diverse reading levels in one class. Imagined -Difficulty of book	Help students decide on books based on AR levels on book.
2. Create a power point book report. .	Organizing the report into the parts of a work of fiction.	Basic understand of the book.	Real -Will have some difficulty in organizing the information.	Review concepts and have the students pre-write each topic.
3. Create a technology rich lesson.	Using the computer lab as a class to integrate technology into the LA cirriculum.	Previous experience in the computer lab.	Real - Using power point to create the desire meaning.	Teacher will provide directions and examples of quality work.