Curriculum Analysis Final Project PDF

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Summary

For this assignment, you will analyze the instructional value of a lesson plan for elementary, middle, or high school students. You may either use a lesson plan you have created in a previous course or you may locate one on the internet. Professor Virginia Lea....

Description

EDUC 303: Curriculum Analysis

CURRICULUM ANALYSIS For this assignment, you will analyze the instructional value of a lesson plan for elementary, middle, or high school students. You may either use a lesson plan you have created in a previous course or you may locate one on the internet. This assignment will help ground our readings and discussions of development, learning, cognition, instruction, assessment, and individual and group differences. Students may work individually or in groups of up to 4. Regardless of group size students are expected to make significant individual contributions to this assignment and share the assignment burden equally. Assignment Instructions: 1. Determine the subject area and grade level of the lesson plan you wish to analyze. You may wish to choose a lesson plan that is in a subject area that you plan to teach. 2. Look through the various web sites listed below or on D2L to find a lesson plan. You may also use a lesson plan you have made in another course or from another source available to you. A high quality, clearly written lesson plan will be easier to analyze for instructional value than a poor quality or unclearly written lesson plan. Please select accordingly. 3. Choose and answer THREE (FOUR if working in groups of 4) of the questions listed on the last page of this assignment packet.

For your write-up: 1. Briefly describe the lesson plan you have selected in your own words, including the subject area and grade level. Identify the learning objectives or outcomes in your description. You are allowed to use portions of your D2L post for this portion of the paper. 2. Answer each of your chosen questions thoroughly (see last page). Each question should take approximately 1 – 2 paragraphs to answer, and not longer than 1 full page per question. Include the question topic as your header for each section and cite the textbook in APA style where appropriate (Eggen & Kauchak, 2013, p. 201). See the D2L page for an APA template for this assignment. 3. Provide an introduction and a conclusion to your discussion. Consider how the topics of your questions work together and frame your write-up accordingly. 4. Include a complete copy of the lesson plan at the end of the paper.

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EDUC 303: Curriculum Analysis

5. Each write-up should be approximately 4-7 pages (double spaced) total, not including the copy of the lesson plan, APA title and references pages.

Where to Find Lesson Plans Scores of lesson plans are available online, so your next step is to fire up Google. For example, searching for “math lesson plans” will bring up pages of hits. Roughly, the links will be of four classes: I. Lessons created by classroom teachers. These are often collected by clearinghouse sites. http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/ http://www.col-ed.org/cur/ http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/ http://www.lessonplanz.com/Lesson_Plans/ http://lists.topica.com/lists/middleschoolscience.com/read •

Note that these range wildly in quality. Do not just settle for the first one you find.

II. Lessons created by professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NTCM). http://illuminations.nctm.org/ •

These reflect best practices in the field, and are typically quite good.

III. Lessons created by textbook publishers. Publishers of course want you to buy their expensive textbooks. However, as a kind of advertising, they often make available a few free lessons for each grade level. One example is: http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/

IV. Lessons created by university researchers as parts of projects to improve curriculum. Some examples include: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/mathematics/elementary/ http://mathforum.org/ Many of these projects have been purchased by textbook publishers, and the researchers’ websites will not provide any lessons, but rather will direct you to the textbook publishers’ sites. There are other sources of lessons. You may also use Google, contact teachers that you’ve worked with or know, or select a lesson plan you have previously developed for a course. Those of you in licensure programs can use your instructors in your areas as resources as well. Just make sure to read the questions below first to ensure that the lesson is complex enough to analyze in this format.

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EDUC 303: Curriculum Analysis

Questions Analyze the lesson from the perspective of the theories and experiments we are covering in class. Select any THREE of the following questions to address in your write-up: 1. Cognitive Development: From a cognitive development perspective, is the lesson appropriate given the known cognitive capacities of children of that age? Make sure to describe and provide a theoretical basis for your argument. Include a discussion of either the Piagetian or Vygotskyan theory of cognitive development.

2. Information Processing: How can the information processing model describe the movement of information in this lesson plan? What cognitive processes are used? Are these processes encouraging deep or shallow processing? How is information successfully encoded? How is cognitive load managed? Be sure to discuss sensory, working, and long-term memory in your response.

3. Behaviorism/Social Learning: What elements of operant conditioning are present in the lesson plan? How are reinforces used to build skills/expertise in the subject area? Are there elements of social learning? Describe any examples of modeling and why you think they would or would not be effective.

4. Assessment: How is achievement in this lesson plan formally assessed? Through tests? Written reports? Class presentations? Portfolios? What would be the best way to go about assessing this lesson plan? What strategies should a teacher delivering this lesson plan use to increase reliability and to provide evidence of validity?

5. Individual and Group Differences: How is or could the lesson plan be made appropriate for important individual and group differences learners may have? Describe at least two important learner differences and how those differences are addressed in the lesson plan (i.e., SES, culture, prior knowledge, gender, exceptionality status, or others).

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EDUC 303: Curriculum Analysis

Scoring Criteria Absent

Below Average - Unclear and confusing information presented.

Average - Information unevenly presented, some clarity present

- Citations absent. - Numerous grammatical and spelling errors. - Independent, critical thought not present throughout.

- Few spelling errors & grammar errors, citations - Uneven independent and critical thinking present.

Above Average - Information and writing mostly clear - Spelling & grammar errors rare, well cited - Independent and critical thinking mostly present throughout

Excellent - Information and writing clear & unambiguous to reader - Spelling & grammar errors completely absent, fully cited - Independent and critical thinking throughout

APA Title Page

0

1-5

6-7

8-9

10

Lesson Plan Copy & Description

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 - 15 1 - 15 1 - 31 1 - 31 1 - 31 1 - 15 1-5

16 - 17 16 - 17 32 - 35 32 - 35 32 - 35 16 - 17 6-7

18 - 19 18 - 19 36 - 39 36 - 39 36 - 39 18 - 19 8-9

20 20 40 40 40 20 10

Introduction Question #1 Question #2 Question #3 Conclusion APA References Page

TOTAL

4

200 pts....