EASyThe adjacent lesson was developed to promote health and well-being for elementary level students in a face-to-face environment. Students were to learn how to not only recognize the effects of their current choices but also to learn to make choices that will positively impact their life. Objectives are noted within the lesson plan.
The original lesson was very collaborative and heavily relied on learner-learning interaction. However, the activities did not include a balance for each individual being a full participant. Students could easily become shadow students, whereby hijackers dominate in conversations and participation. Lehmann & Chamberlin (2009), define hijackers as "students who take over the control of the class or an instructor's discussion" (p. 146). The original lesson was void of synthesis critical thinking; the original assessment targeted lower level critical thinking skills by probing for application of content learned only. The objectives remain the same for the newly revised online lesson. However, the activities, though collaborative in nature, extend learner-content and learner-product relationships for deeper critical thinking for each individual participant through active learner content interactivity. Each activity was altered/replaced to align within one of the three categories within the EASy critical thinking process (Evaluate, Analyze, Synthesize) and are identified. Embedding comparison, discernment, reflection and metacognition as a necessary component for completion of each activity was intentional to assist students in digging deeper into the content. Students are encouraged to gather information and determine its significance based upon their personal experiences. The use of additional resources allows the student opportunities for comparisons to understand relationships, eliminate misconceptions, discard insignificant materials and increase new thought processes. The generation of new products synthesized their personal perspectives with newly presented content/considerations to create a new perspective of their learning. |
Original Lesson Target Audience: Elementary Grades 2-5
Revised Target Audience: Elementary Grades 2-5; Community School Program for diverse populations; Reflection
In developing this lesson, I have realized this can be offered to our Community Schools outreach program to assist community members in learning positive health & well-being for their families. The demographics of our community is quite diverse, with a high population requiring governmental subsidies and assistance. This online lesson could be offered to parents to complete independently or collaboratively with their child to increase family awareness of positive choices for health and nutrition. The EASy framework was a useful tool to maintain my focus when redefining activities. Constant review and reflection was required to choose key words, actions/verbs and assessments that aligned within the evaluation, analysis and synthesis of the subject matter content. Progression of Refinement
A Drag and Drop activity was originally placed as part of an assessment to determine student understanding of concepts, but in further reflection it is better served as a self-correcting activity prior to a culminating activity. Students can use the activity to clarify their understanding and then can exhibit their understanding through the final project. Further clarification is necessary in regards to the interactive drag and drop mastery quiz and its label of evaluation. Within the activity, students will be posed with scenarios in which they will need to gather information from the scenario to establish current knowledge and determine the outcome based upon the information provided. The original lesson did include some higher level thinking skills, however it was selected because it was void of personal learning and more reliant on group collaboration and not individual learning. I have altered the lesson to an online environment as well as to utilize collaboration to support individualized learning. |
Citation:
Lehmann, K. & Chamberlin, L. (2009). Making the Move to eLearning: Putting Your Course Online. Rowman & Littlefield Education Publishers.
Lehmann, K. & Chamberlin, L. (2009). Making the Move to eLearning: Putting Your Course Online. Rowman & Littlefield Education Publishers.