2.2 Research-Based Learner-Centered Strategies
Candidates model and facilitate the use of research-based, learner-centered strategies addressing the diversity of all students. (PSC 2.2/ISTE 2b)
Artifact:
Engaged Learning Project: Bring the School Courtyard to Life
Reflection:
In this engaged learning project, kindergarten students took on a role of naturalists to investigate living and nonliving things in the schools’ courtyard. The process required students to collect, observe, share, analyze, and present data and engaged them in each step of the scientific method. Students created presentations, choosing from a variety of communication formats: writing, speaking, drawing, creating a video, etc. With assistance, students participated in a group research activity to learn about ways to attract living things to the area and developed a proposal on ways to improve the courtyard.
Development of the Bring the School Courtyard to Life project would not be possible without the knowledge and skills obtained in the 21st Century Teaching & Learning course. The project served as an example of an interdisciplinary lesson built strictly on research-based strategies for teaching and learning. Many indicators of instruction for engagement were implemented in the unit to model effective strategies to teachers. For instance, content and learning goals were standard-based and challenging for kindergarten students, learning tasks were meaningful and student-directed, and the teacher’s role was to facilitate collaborative learning of young explorers. In addition, multiple types of assessment were described in the project design to model the process of monitoring student academic progress throughout each task. Strategies of scaffolding, differentiated instruction, and modeling were suggested to ensure learning targets were developmentally appropriate and challenging at the same time.
Chosen strategies were researched-based and focused on learners. Throughout the unit, students were identifying similarities and differences between the objects they observed in the courtyard and summarized their findings in a form of visual and/or audio presentations. These two strategies were researched-based and had an average effect size greater than 1.0, which, according to Cohen (1988), was considered a large effect size. Cooperative learning and complex cognitive tasks were main strategies used in this unit, and both were described as effective strategies by Marzano Research Laboratory (2014).
Every task in this project was purposefully developed to facilitate student-centered learning. Students had multiple opportunities to make decisions about their learning: selecting images of living and non-living things, making predictions about possibilities of improving the ecosystem, and representing specific data in pictographs and tables. Cooperative learning was the main setting for each task in which students had multiple opportunities to collaborate and communicate with their peers and teachers. In addition, students were challenged to lead their learning with inquiry about the world around them. They explored the courtyard environment and investigated different ways to increase the number of livings organisms in it. Diagnostic and formative assessments were conducted to guide instruction and provide support to students, based on their individual academic needs. This project addressed the diversity of all students in many ways. Students were exposed to a variety of learning tasks: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Students had a choice for their presentation mode that allowed all learners to be successful and demonstrate their learning in diverse ways.
It was extremely difficult to manage cooperative learning among 25 kindergarten students. It would be necessary to invite parent volunteers and/or mentors to help facilitate conversations and provide adequate support to students. In addition, it would be necessary to follow through each step of the online project and allow students to compare and contrast finding of kindergarten classes from other states. Such opportunity would make this lesson more culturally-responsive and expose young learners to ecosystems beyond their state.
References
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Marzano Research Laboratory (2014). Meta-analysis database of instructional strategies. Retrieved from http://www.marzanoresearch.com/research/database
In this engaged learning project, kindergarten students took on a role of naturalists to investigate living and nonliving things in the schools’ courtyard. The process required students to collect, observe, share, analyze, and present data and engaged them in each step of the scientific method. Students created presentations, choosing from a variety of communication formats: writing, speaking, drawing, creating a video, etc. With assistance, students participated in a group research activity to learn about ways to attract living things to the area and developed a proposal on ways to improve the courtyard.
Development of the Bring the School Courtyard to Life project would not be possible without the knowledge and skills obtained in the 21st Century Teaching & Learning course. The project served as an example of an interdisciplinary lesson built strictly on research-based strategies for teaching and learning. Many indicators of instruction for engagement were implemented in the unit to model effective strategies to teachers. For instance, content and learning goals were standard-based and challenging for kindergarten students, learning tasks were meaningful and student-directed, and the teacher’s role was to facilitate collaborative learning of young explorers. In addition, multiple types of assessment were described in the project design to model the process of monitoring student academic progress throughout each task. Strategies of scaffolding, differentiated instruction, and modeling were suggested to ensure learning targets were developmentally appropriate and challenging at the same time.
Chosen strategies were researched-based and focused on learners. Throughout the unit, students were identifying similarities and differences between the objects they observed in the courtyard and summarized their findings in a form of visual and/or audio presentations. These two strategies were researched-based and had an average effect size greater than 1.0, which, according to Cohen (1988), was considered a large effect size. Cooperative learning and complex cognitive tasks were main strategies used in this unit, and both were described as effective strategies by Marzano Research Laboratory (2014).
Every task in this project was purposefully developed to facilitate student-centered learning. Students had multiple opportunities to make decisions about their learning: selecting images of living and non-living things, making predictions about possibilities of improving the ecosystem, and representing specific data in pictographs and tables. Cooperative learning was the main setting for each task in which students had multiple opportunities to collaborate and communicate with their peers and teachers. In addition, students were challenged to lead their learning with inquiry about the world around them. They explored the courtyard environment and investigated different ways to increase the number of livings organisms in it. Diagnostic and formative assessments were conducted to guide instruction and provide support to students, based on their individual academic needs. This project addressed the diversity of all students in many ways. Students were exposed to a variety of learning tasks: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Students had a choice for their presentation mode that allowed all learners to be successful and demonstrate their learning in diverse ways.
It was extremely difficult to manage cooperative learning among 25 kindergarten students. It would be necessary to invite parent volunteers and/or mentors to help facilitate conversations and provide adequate support to students. In addition, it would be necessary to follow through each step of the online project and allow students to compare and contrast finding of kindergarten classes from other states. Such opportunity would make this lesson more culturally-responsive and expose young learners to ecosystems beyond their state.
References
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Marzano Research Laboratory (2014). Meta-analysis database of instructional strategies. Retrieved from http://www.marzanoresearch.com/research/database