Lesson #3:

Providing a Sense of Purpose

Criterion IA

Purpose: The lesson introduces criteria for evaluating curriculum materials for how well they provide students with a sense of purpose for studying the unit learning goal.

Overview: During this lesson, pre-service teachers learn the importance of providing a sense of purpose for study and examine the criteria for evaluating how well materials provide a sense of purpose.

This lesson emphasizes the role of learning goals in instruction and sets the stage for further analysis using the Examining Curriculum Materials Criteria.

This lesson works best when pre-service teachers are ready to work with instructional units. Instructors who feel their pre-service teachers are not ready to address the teaching of entire units, this lesson may work better later in the sequence.

Goals:

1. To emphasize the importance of learning goals in unit instruction.
2. To emphasize the importance of providing students with a sense of purpose for unit study.
3. To examine the indicators for Criterion IA - Providing a Sense of Unit Purpose.
4. To apply the indicators for Criterion IA to curriculum materials.

Activity #10 20 minutes Establish a problem

Problem #2: Understanding

Unit Purpose

Activity #11 5 minutes Elicit Student (Pre-

Ways of Introducing Units service Teacher) Ideas

Activity #12 20 minutes Model & Apply Criterion

Introduction to Criterion IA & IA with Coaching

Application to Food for Plants

Activity #13 20 minutes Apply Criterion IA with Application of Criterion IA to (or Homework) Fading / Assessment

Field Units

Roth, K. J., Anderson, C. W., and Smith, E. L. (1987). Curriculum materials, teacher talk and student learning: case studies in fifth grade science teaching. Journal of Curriculum Studies 19 (6) 527-548.

No materials are needed. The instructor should be prepared to discuss examples of how units might be introduced (ex: discrepant event, presentation of a problem or challenge, etc).

Sequence of Activities for Food for Plants (1 per pre-service teacher)

Evaluating Curriculum Materials Form IA - Food for Plants - Blank (1 per pre-service teacher)

Evaluating Curriculum Materials Form IA - Food for Plants - Completed (1 per class)

Overhead projector or other projection equipment

Activity #13

1. Blank Evaluating Curriculum Materials Form IA (1 pre-service teacher)
2. Field Units - Pre-Service Teachers need access to units they will be teaching in their field placements.

In applying Criterion IA, pre-service teachers often loose sight of the learning goal and the overall unit. Pre-service teachers often apply indicators 2 - 4 to specific activities rather than to the unit problem/learning goal.

Note: There are many formats for facilitating large and small group discussions. The questions are provided to guide discussions and lesson content. Goal answers are provided in brackets [ ].

1. Using either a large group discussion format or an alternative group format, conduct an analysis Case Study #3 of the Roth, Anderson, and Smith (1987) article, focusing on the following questions:
1. What was the learning goal for this unit? [Plants use the energy from light to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water that can be used or stored for later use.]
2. What was the question the class was studying? [Why do plants need light?]
3. Do the learning goal and the question the class was studying match? [No]
4. What did Ms. Kain believe about telling students what they were to learn? [Ms. Kain believed the students would discover the purpose for doing the activities and the goal conception through doing the activities.]
5. What problems did this mismatch create for the students?
6. What problems did this mismatch create for the teacher?
2. Continue the discussion by conducting an analysis of Case Study #4 of the Roth, Anderson, and Smith (1987) article, using the following questions:
1. Did the learning goal and the question the students were examining match in this case? [yes - better than case #3].
2. Did the teacher provide students with a sense of purpose or an understanding of the learning goal? How?
3. Why is it important for students to know the learning goal, problem, driving question, or purpose of the unit? [Students need to know what they are supposed to learn and why they are learning it so that the activities do not seems like unconnected collections of things to do.]
4. How do we make sure that units support the learning goals? [Activities in the unit should have a specific purpose that address student ideas, provide practice, and build in complexity towards learning the intended concepts and skills].

Activity #11 - Ways of Introducing Units and Providing a Sense of Purpose

1. Have pre-service teachers share ways that they have observed teachers in their field placement classrooms introduce units of study or sequences of activities. Engage pre-service teachers in developing an understanding of how the introductions did or did not succeed in providing students with a sense of purpose for why they were studying the unit or an understanding of the unit learning goal.

Activity #12 Introduction to Criterion IA & Application to Food for Plants

1. Distribute the Food for Plants Sequence of Activities and Examining Curriculum Materials IA for Food for Plants .
2. Briefly introduce the indicators for Criterion IA.
3. In groups or pairs, have pre-service teachers examine the Sequence of Activities for Food for Plants. Pre-service teachers should:
1. Identify the learning goal. [Food provides the fuel and the building material for all organisms. Plants use the energy from light to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water. This food can be used immediately or stored for later use.]
2. Identify activities that introduce the unit and provide a sense of purpose. [Brainstorming, pre-test, activities that elicit student ideas]
3. Identify the purpose of these activities used to introduce the unit and explain why those activities are important. [ To create interest, to find out what students know, to elicit student ideas, to develop the guiding question (purpose)]
4. In the same pairs, pre-service teachers should complete Examining Curriculum Materials Form IA for Food for Plants, using the Sequence of Activities.
5. In a large group format, debrief the class on how well they thought Food for Plants met the indicators for Criterion IA. Possible techniques include
1. Using an overhead or computer projector, complete the Examining Curriculum Materials Form IA for Food for Plants based on class feedback.
2. Project a completed version of Materials Form IA for Food for Plants for comparison with class findings.
3. Post a completed version of Materials Form IA for Food for Plants for pre-service teachers to access later.

This activity can either be an in-class or homework assignment. Pre-service teachers need access to the units or lessons they will be teaching in the classroom. Pre-service teachers should evaluate those units based on the indicators for Criterion IA, completing the appropriate form. Remind pre-service teachers that they must identify the learning goal of the lesson or unit and apply the indicators to the parts of the lesson or unit that address that learning goal. Pre-service teachers may work individually or in field placement groups. However, each pre-service teacher should hand in the completed forms.

Activity #13 serves as the assessment for this lesson. Each pre-service teacher should turn in for evaluation Examining Curriculum Materials Form IA. Use the following response features for evaluation. After evaluation, provide pre-service teachers with appropriate feedback and revisit key points, if necessary.

Resources

Food for Plants Sequence of Activities

Examining Curriculum Materials Forms

IA for Food for Plants - blank

IA for Food for Plants - completed

IA blank