Instructional Design Research

A Specific Learning Goal and Two theories used to teach the goal:

Pre-Kindergarteners are a ball of fun!  Having the opportunity to teach Pre-K for three years was very exciting and interesting.  I have so many wonderful memories of the funniest things they would say or do in my class.  They were eager to learn and wanted to explore the world we live in!  In my classroom I would regularly use two learning theories to teach different goals.  I used the Behavioral Learning Theory to reinforce good behavior and desired behavior.  I also used this in encouraging and motivating my students to keep working to get to the goal being taught.  Cognitive Information Processing Theory was also important, because everything is new for Pre-K students.  I had to work hard to help them relate material to previous knowledge or create events that would help them attach the sensory activity to new information being taught.  For example, the goal is to teach our students about bears throughout a week long unit.  Most students know what bears are and what they look like, but hibernation is a really big word and an action that is not familiar at all to them.  So to begin the lesson I would implement the Cognitive Information Process Theory to first grab student’s attention.  Pre-K students love song and play, so to begin the lesson I would first set up an anticipatory set to help students connect past experience or knowledge to what is about to be taught through a game.  I would begin by playing a guessing game.  A sound track of various bear sounds would be played for the students.  The students will be asked to listen to the track carefully and try to think of what the sounds are portraying.  We would then take a poll to see what animal they think is making the noise.  This would lead us into our current knowledge on bears.  We would then make a picture chart of all the things we know about bears and what things we would like to learn.  We would then replay the sounds and act out what we think the bear may be doing. (growling, rustling through leaves, fishing in water, sniffing for berries, etc.)  Throughout the whole week we will be working on encoding information or creating sensory events to begin new information to be stored.  To show retrieval in the lesson, an activity conducted on the last day of the unit is very important and fun.  We would have the students create a bear habitat in our room.  We make a bear cave out of a trashcan, we tear up brown butcher paper to create leaves, and we pretend to eat!  A stuffed bear in our classroom, is pre-stuffed to look like he is overflowing with food in his tummy.  We then place him nicely in his cozy den for hibernation.  In the spring the will go on a bear hunt (song and book) and discover that their classroom bear has awoke from his slumber and is slim.  Through this lesson we fill in the learned section of our chart made earlier to recall what we know about bears and to check for understanding.  We also recall knowledge daily through different activities and crafts reflecting the material taught.  This lesson could almost fall under the Situated Learning Theory as well.  Students are working as a community in learning, acting out and learning through hands on activities.  Students are also acting as an organization throughout winter because they check on the bear in its habitat during centers and try not to disturb it while it sleeps.  We do not include others in our activity though.  The second learning theory used is behavioral learning theory.  In Pre-K this theory seems to work well.  Students respond to antecedents and instruction is broken into extremely small steps, so that failure is not an option. 

Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction and First Principles of Design:

My school district loves the Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction.  Each year during new teacher introduction week, the Director of Special Programs presents a similar set of nine events to the teachers as a good example of how to construct a lesson.  I guess you could say that it is our districts adopted instruction method.  A website that you can check out regarding Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction is http://ide.ed.psu.edu/idde/9events.htm. 

There are many methods of instruction developed for teachers to follow, so many teachers can become overwhelmed and confused about which one to follow.  I love the First Principles Design developed by the authors and presented in chapter 7. (Reiser, Dempsey) The outline they created offers five steps that are included in a number of instructional methods studied by the authors.   I think this is a great reference to a comprehensive view of how a lesson should be formed and taught.  Below it is where I believe the Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction fits into each category of the First Principles of Design.  One through nine are numbered and noted on the chart.  I felt that each number could fit under a category.  For example, one is getting the students attention, in our district we use an anticipatory set to gain the students attention and to draw on previous knowledge that connects to the new knowledge being taught.  This would fall under Activation.  Two is Informing the learner of the objective, which would fall under Problem in the First Principles chart.  The First Principles chart does not specifically follow the same flow as Gagne’s Nine Events, but all of the nine events can be found in at least one of the First Principles categories.  

First Principles of Design and Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

The goal mentioned in the first lesson earlier in this post was to teach my students about bears.  (habitats, food, shelter, sound they make, mammal, etc.)  If I follow Gagne’s Nine Events, each of the first principles will be covered.  Beginning with activation, the students draw on prior knowledge through the game and chart created at the beginning of the week.  Students demonstrate the knowledge to be learned through weekly activities portraying bears in their natural habitats.( live zoo web cams, books, videos, creating a bear habitat, etc)  Application comes throughout the week as students create art and crafts depicting the information learned. For example they may paint a polar bear black and then add white cotton balls to the black polar bear. (polar bears skin is black under the white fur, interesting huh, I never knew this until I taught Pre-K : )  Student will integrate their learning throughout the class year as they check in on the hibernating bear and are quiet around his den, being sure not to wake the sleeping bear.  

Whole task approach, Scaffolding, and Mathemagenic methods:

After Thanksgiving the library is collaborating with the teachers K-5 on a Holidays Around the World Lesson.  Students will use whole task approach, scaffolding, and mathemagenic. 

*Whole Task – Students will discuss their holiday traditions and traditions around the world.

*Scaffolding – Each grade level will select and research in detail a specific countries holiday traditions.

*Mathemagenic- We are hoping to set up a Skype or web conference with a classroom or people from each country selected to discuss their holidays traditions and make a travel brochure highlighting the traditions of that country. 

ARCS Model and categories, ideas to motivate learners:

Goal: Teaching Pre-K students about like and different 

*Attention              Perceptual Arousal and Inquiry arousal

Pre-K students love games so I would begin by playing a game.  I would have a variety of mittens in a circle, one for each student.  We would play music and march around the circle and when the music stopped the students would have to sit down on the mitten they were closest to.  We would then take turns coming up to the front to draw mittens out of a bag.  The students would have to say if the mitten was the same or different. 

*Relevance            Familiarity

The game and  the bag include familiar objects that they have at home that are important on cold winter days.

*Confidence           Learning Requirements and Success Opportunities

We would take turns coming up to the front to draw mittens out of a bag.  The students would have to say if the mitten was the same or different.  They would be encouraged and helped by the teacher.

* Satisfaction          Extrinsic Rewards

Students that demonstrate their knowledge of similar objects throughout the day will receive a small prize from our daily prize aprons and each student would receive a matching pair of mittens that they match during center time.  Mittens are needed and students can do this at home with socks or mittens.  

  

Benefits to design research:

I think the human learning process is so interesting!  Everyone is different and we all learn and teach in a different way.  I think it is enjoyable and beneficial to research design because we can better understand how some people think and we can also learn to plan lessons that are more effective and reach more learning styles.  I really liked reading about the First Principles of Design because it is a compilation of theories.  It can become information overload, because there are so many different views and theories to read.  It is nice to have someone compile the similarities of many into a chart that is easy to follow and understand.  It is a nice summary to how we should be designing lessons according to many theories.