Theories and Models of Learning and Instruction

This week the principal was in my first grade classroom for the evaluation that she does of me every two years. I did a lesson on verbs and then some sorting activities using verbs and nouns. I decided to base this week’s blog on the lesson I would have created for my evaluation if I was required to use learning theories. I had a very difficult time getting my table to post so there is a huge gap in my blog before my table shows up. Please keep scrolling so you can see the table.

1. My goal is for my students to be able to decide if a given word is a verb or a noun with at least 80% mastery. The first learning theory that I would use in creating my lesson is the Cognitive Information Processing Theory. I am a very hands-on type of teacher and I like for my students to learn by doing. We will connect prior knowledge by looking at verbs and physically doing the action that is on the card. The students will use their personal memory banks to know what action goes with each word. They will learn that if the word on the card is something that they can physically do it is a verb. We will use the Schema Theory to do a sorting activity with verbs and nouns. The students will work as a group to sort word cards into the categories of verbs and nouns. This activity will help the students create schemata that they can store in their long-term memory.

Robert Gagne’s Instruction Design Model; “The Nine Events of Instructions”

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2. I found a paper written about Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction at http://de.ryerson.ca/portals/de/assets/resources/Gagne. The paper was written for The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University. I used the information that was given in the paper to do my compare/contrast chart between Gagne and the “First Principles”.

Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction	How they are the same as “First Principles”	How they are different from “First Principles”
1. Gain Attention		Gagne feels that it is important to arouse the attention of students with novelty or surprise. “First Principles” begins with stimulating recall of prior learning.
2. Inform Learner of Objectives		Gagne feels that it is important to inform learners of the expectations you have of them.
3. Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning	Both feel that students retain concepts and new information better if the concepts are related to something they already know. In this way, they can make the connection to their personal experiences and the learning will be more meaningful. “First Principles” refers to this as Activation.
4. Present Stimulus Material	Both feel that students need to be shown, rather than just told, what they need to be learning. “First Principles” refers to this as Demonstration
5. Provide Learner Guidance		Gagne feels that communication between the teacher and students is very important for guidance. Guidance also comes from visual materials.
6. Elicit Performance	Both feel that the practice should be consistent with the stated or implied objectives. “First Principles” refers to this as Application.
7. Provide Feedback	Both feel that practice should be followed by corrective feedback.
8. Assess Performance	Both feel that assessments should be consistent with the stated objectives.
9. Enhance Retention and Transfer	Both feel that what is learned should be carried over and applied to situations outside of the classroom. “First Principles” refers to this as Integration.

If I was using the first principles to create my lesson on verbs, I would Activate prior knowledge by having the students act out the words on the verb cards. I would Demonstrate the difference between a verb and a noun by showing the students that verbs are words that show actions whereas a noun just names something. We would work together to sort out word cards into the categories of verbs and nouns using a large mat on the floor. Students would continue to Apply what they learned by individually completing a foldable word sort on verbs and nouns. Students would Integrate what they learned about individual words in the future when writing sentences. Students know that a sentence must contain a noun and a verb so this activity will carry over into their sentence writing.

3. Since the whole-task approach is showing students how the lesson applies in everyday life, I would have the students create a list of all of the actions (verbs) that they do during a regular day of school. We would discuss how important those words are that describe their actions. I would also read them a book and leave out all of the verbs so they could see how the verbs are needed for sentences to make sense. With the scaffolding approach, I would ask the students questions about their every day actions that would require more critical thinking to come up with the answers. With the Mathemagenic Method, I would teach the students how every noun must have a verb to tell what it does so that they will be able to transfer that information into their writing and speaking.

4. Motivation
Attention:
Perceptual Arousal-Play a game of charades using verbs
Inquiry Arousal-Create a list of verbs that students call out
Variability-Teacher led/hands on activities/independent activity
Relevance:
Goal Orientation-My students need to see the written words and have some help reading the words.
Motive Matching-Provide students with two choices (verbs or nouns)
Familiarity-Discuss the actions that are done by the students every day at school.
Confidence:
Learning Requirements-State the objectives at the beginning of the lesson so students know what they are responsible for.
Success Opportunities-Give students several opportunities to be successful and provide encouraging feedback when they are incorrect.
Personal Control-Praise students for their good work and for trying hard.
Satisfaction:
Intrinsic Reinforcement-Provide practice opportunities over the next several weeks so students can continue to improve their knowledge of verbs.
Extrinsic Rewards-Provide students with a small treat such as a sticker or pencil for work that is well done.
Equity-I will continually praise my students to build their self esteem.

5. The benefits of engaging in design research is that you can study your students and decide which type of learning theory will work best for each student. Each student learns a little bit differently and it takes many different approaches to get everyone in the class to learn the same content.

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If I was using the first principles to create my lesson on verbs, I would Activate prior knowledge by having the students act out the words on the verb cards. I would Demonstrate the difference between a verb and a noun by showing the students that verbs are words that show actions whereas a noun just names something. We would work together to sort out word cards into the categories of verbs and nouns using a large mat on the floor. Students would continue to Apply what they learned by individually completing a foldable word sort on verbs and nouns. Students would Integrate what they learned about individual words in the future when writing sentences. Students know that a sentence must contain a noun and a verb so this activity will carry over into their sentence writing.