Examine the Following Lesson Plan and Critique It, Quiz Example

Examine the following lesson plan and critique it based on the following: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/lessons/2197/

Does it adhere to Vygotsky’s understanding of how children learn? Prove it by referring to his understanding of how children and how the lesson takes this into consideration with specific examples.

Yes. This can be shown because Vygotsky’s theory was heavily dependent on the usage of language. To him, language served a purpose beyond its main one as a means of facilitating communication. It also was a tool that students could use in their attempts to solve a broad range of problems, including in this case, mathematical ones. This lesson plan features language based problem solving extensively.

In this case, the usage of flash cards featuring key words that link words students are familiar with and mathematical operations is one example of Vygotsky’s theory. It allows students to think of mathematics in terms that can be understood based on the concepts of language that are already well known by students. The lesson plan also calls for students to realize these relationships between language and mathematics on their own, meaning they get great deals of knowledge through this process.

It also follows Vyhotsky’s theory by allowing for great deals of social interaction between the students. They are brainstorming together and also helping coach each other on problems throughout the lesson.

Does it agree with the progression of Concept to concept and notation to skill with applications following the concept all along? Explain thoroughly by stating what the lesson assumes kids know and don’t know.

The lesson begins with the assumption that students have a knowledge of language as well as an understanding of the basic mathematical operations. At this point, it builds on these two bases by getting students to try and connect the two concepts and understand how the language they see in word problems relates to the math they already know. For this reason, it follows a progression that makes sense for the students.

If you believe that this lesson does not follow Vygotsky’s theory or follow the progression listed above, how would you change it to have it more closely align with these appropriate theories? Give specific examples of what you would change and how you would proceed through the lesson.

I find that it does follow his theory and the correct style of progression and doesn’t require vast changes of any sort.

Two pages provided by eNvision math as forms of intervention for first grade students who are struggling with these topics are also uploaded onto blackboard.  As you examine these pages, I want to know your reactions and thoughts and if you would use it in your first grade class and why. 

These papers do not seem to serve well as interventions. It is reliant on students having an ability to figure out numerical values on their own, which if they could would defeat the need for any interventional actions. Going along with the proper progression issue discussed above, it should rely on something the students already understand. For this reason, the forms should do a better job including things such as visual aids to help the students learn in areas they are lacking. For this reason, I would not assign these pages to help first grade students.

Go to the National League of Virtual Manipulative website and create your own lesson/activity using the tools available on the site or discuss how you would use a particular activity on the site and how it would help you achieve your goals. 

I would made extensive use of the bar graphs that can be found in Data Analysis and Probability. Bar charts are easy for students to create and also understand, especially those produced by others. For this reason, I would like to give my students some sort of experience working with them. The activity in which students must go around gathering data on preferences and then produce a graph of this type on their own is one that could be extremely invaluable. Obviously, the activity should ask preferences that children can relate to such as which type of pet they’d like the most, their favorite game, or their favorite classroom activity. This would keep them interested and make it likely that each student will have an answer to give.

For this activity, I would allow the students great freedom in how they record the data, but make it clear that they must record data from each classmate. There would be a need for more instruction on graph making, so I would give a demonstrative lecture on graphs. This would include how to properly label each axes while avoiding the word axis. The next step would be to make sure they know how to properly label each bar and how to properly represent their data in bar form. Making a graph on their own would make it clear that they understand graphs given to them by others.