Factors

Description

Advan-

tage

Con-straint

Initial Ideas for Maximizing

Positive Factors or Minimizing

Negative Factors

1. LEARNER FACTORS

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

Age

Average is about 8 years

90%

10%

Regarding the lesson we are now doing, all of the students are developmentally on target and all are mature enough to work on this lesson without as much visiting with each other that distracts from the lesson. However, class management techniques continue to be extremely important.

Teaching Experience

Skill Level

Sex Distribution

12 boys/10 girls

100%

Students spend part of the lesson in their regular “cooperative learning” seating plan, which places 2 boys and 2 girls in each 4-top grouping; when they create “share-pair” teams for the hands-on portion, they are allowed to select with whom they will work and usually the boys gravitate to boys and the girls prefer to work with girls – the purpose of allowing the self-grouping is to give students experience in learning to be with their friends while controlling the tendency to “play” rather than learn

Racial, Ethnic

Diversity

100%l Hispanic

50%

50%

The camaraderie of students is apparent; however, the limited English proficiency usually does present a barrier to quick comprehension of lessons; at this point the students continue to be in bilingual program, but at least 50% of each day is spent in English

Educational

Level

3 rd Graders, none

has been retained

Yes

Students continue to build basic knowledge; they constantly see change around them, but probably have not thought about it in terms of the science of force.

Disability or

Impairment

No resource this time period.

N/A

N/A

All children, regardless of ability, are welcome in the class and are treated fairly and with care. There is not a resource child in Mr. Amaya’s class right now, but if there were, this lesson could easily be modified for the child. I am including a theoretical modification in the lesson plan.

Developmentally

Appropriate

Development is appropriate for age level

Yes

Cognitive responses and motor responses are at an appropriate developmental level for all of Mr. Amaya’s students child Children are given as much time as necessary to practice and to complete tasks. That said, personal behavior is sometimes immature, which sometimes requires more time for lesson implementation. The most difficult part of the lesson is putting together the LEGO cars, but they are very simple – just a flat bottom with a 4 wheels. The students will also use small metal cars.

Prerequisite

Knowledge

Motor skills of holding pieces and putting items together; also, holding item and letting go down a ramp – if they haven’t done this previously, they can easily see how to accomplish this task; there is a measuring task; so students must recognize marks on a ruler and have the ability to add;

Yes

This lesson is being presented during the second semester, so regarding the measuring part of the lesson, students have experienced many lessons this school year that emphasize adding.

Related

Experience

It is likely that every child has seen the results of a car wreck or broken lamp or other item that shows a change resulting from a force.

Yes

This is a good time to discuss with children what they have noticed around them. Were they blamed for breaking something when it was someone else?

Perception of

Role as Student

Moving items around and rolling cars is a common tasks for 3 rd graders, especially the boys.

Yes

Students begin the lesson with animations they see and interact with on the Internet. This is a great experience for the kids – they love to use the computers. The animation lets them use force on the car to move it along. Their working in pairs give them the opportunity to feel reinforced by sharing experiences with their peers. As long as there is appropriate class management, the lesson should be positive for all students.

Motivating for

Learning

The initial activity of Mr. Amaya using the ball to knock down books will engage the students.

Yes

Student will enjoy watching Mr. Amaya do something he doesn’t usually do. Also, the internet interaction will engage them. Playing with the toy cars will seem like fun, but they are learning science.

Attitude Toward

Subject

Excited

Yes

This will seem like playing rather than learning. Aso, working with their peers in pair-share situations creates a very positive experience.

Expectations

From Session

Success at all tasks and identification with Bloom’s Taxonomy

Yes

We think there is an excellent opportunity for all students to succeed at this lesson. Bloom’s levels would be knowledge (observe and recall, describe, label), Comprehension (grasp meaning, interpret facts, compare and contrast), Application (solve problems, calculate), Analysis (see patterns in numbers and lines on ruler), Synthesis (predict, relate ability to measure in this lesson to other instances of measuring), and Evaluate (assess using CPS)

Competitiveness

Staying on task and completing the assignments leads to success on the assessment.

Yes

When students use the Classroom Performance System (CPS) “clickers,” they usually feel a sense of competition. The assessment is created on the computer and, at the time of the assessment, the computer monitor screen is projected on the wall screen. Questions are presented sequentially. Students choose from the multiple-choice answers and click their answer on the remote. after all students answer, the teacher moves forward and students can see which is the correct answer. Since they know which button they pressed, they know if they answered correctly. The CPS system lists the percentage of students who make the correct choice. The kids always yell “Yes” as through each did get the answer right. In addition, as the questions proceed, the cumulative score is calculated and presented. This becomes very competitively oriented. The kids who can figure out the cumulative scoring will then tell the group, “we need to get our cum up.” This is very enjoyable for the teacher, since it reinforces that use of the CPS system and its positive effect on the children.

Stage of Integration

 Able to understand the lesson

2. ENVIRONMENT

FACTORS

Analyzing the environment is a means to identify the issues that ill impact the (a) process of the design and production, (b) implementation, and (c) outcomes of the learning experience

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Materials Required

Ball and books, Rulers, computer with internet access, LEGO pieces for cars, small metal cars, wooden ramp, marbles

Yes

The materials are on hand in the school

Production Equipment Available

Computer; CPS classroom set; LCD projector

Yes

School is already equipped

Time for Design and Production

Two to three weeks

Yes

An effort will be made to insure the efficient and effective use of time

Department Technology Requirements

None

Technology equipment is already in the classroom

IMPLEMEN-

TATION

FACTORS

Class Size

22

Yes

Class management will be important – it would be better if the student to teacher ratio were no more than 18 to 1; since there is a high turnover of students, there are times during the school year when there are fewer students than the current 22-to-1 ratio (turnover at our school is high,with students transferring constantly or often leaving to visit Mexico and then return)

Class Period Length

Science is 90 minutes – Mr. Amaya is self-contained

Yes

Since Mr. Amaya is self-contained, if the lesson needs to be continued the next day, this is easily accomplished

Location

Classroom

Yes

Students will move around the classroom to accomplish the task

Seating Arrangement

Cooperative Learning seating of 4 to a group

Yes

Students begin in their regular seating arrangement of 2 boys and 2 girls in a 4-top seating arrangement. From their seats, they can come one at a time to the computer to interact with the animation (projected onto the wallscreen). After watching the animations, they pair up to create their LEGO cars and begin the activity of rolling the LEGO cars, the small metal cars that are on hand, and the marbles down the ramp. One reporter measures as the cars leave the ramp. Measuring is secondary to the lesson. The main objective is to understand force creates change. The objective is measured using the CPS system.

Lighting

Standard classroom

Yes

Lights are on for most of the lesson but are turned off during the assessment using the CPS units and the test projected on the screen

Temperature

Normal

Yes

Temperature of classrooms in the building cannot be adjusted by teachers.

Noise

From quiet to above normal

Yes

The noise level will depend on which part of the lesson students are participating in. Knocking down books with the ball will be louder, as will rolling cars and marbles down the ramps. Making the LEGO cars will not be a noisy task. We expect some “visiting” among students.

Equipment

Computers, software, CPS units, LCD projector; drop-down wall screen

Yes

The classroom already has this equipment (although the CPS units are at times borrowed by other teachers – we don’t have sets for each classroom) – Mr. Amaya has a set in his classroom and always has a few days’ lead time regarding requests to borrow the set; scheduling this lesson can be flexible so that another teacher could be accommodated, if necessary.

Technology Support

Computer Lab 1 or 2 personnel

Yes

Support is not anticipated, but lab people will be available if there are problems

OUTCOME

FACTORS

State Requirements

3 rd Grade Science

TEKS

Yes

The lesson will follow Student Expectations and TEKS

Employer Needs

DISD Curriculum

Yes

The actual lesson plan will be completed using DISD’s Curriculum Central Lesson plan template

Co-worked Needs

Peer support, reinforce-ment, and help

Yes

Any help needed from peers will be available.

Student Needs

Affective, Psycho-Motor, Cognitive

Yes

The lesson will address all of these needs in students.

OTHER

FACTORS

none

3. CONTENT

FACTORS

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 and imagined)

POSSIBLE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO REDUCE OR MANAGE LEARNING DIFFICULTY

Observation Skills

Students can do this well, resource student may need prompting

None

Prompting through questions, if necessary

Selecting a Partner Skills

This will be enjoy-able for all stu-dents; His-panic students appear to be very social

None

Students should be able to do this without help, but it is important for the teacher to insure that each child feels selected. One boy’s team will have more than 2 students.

Building Skills and Measuring Skills

Making the cars requires psycho-motor and eye-hand coordi-nation

None

Teacher will be available to help any student not doing this correctly. Since students are working in pairs, they will be able to help each other to a great extent.

Technology Skills

Using mouse to initiated animationa; CPS units

None

Each student has used a mouse before. Students have used the CPS system before and understand how to click their answer.