LessonPlanCritique

CreatingaWebsiteConnectingLiteracywithTechnology

2014W1ETEC51264AApplicationsofLearningTheoriesto
theAnalysisofInstructionalSettings

DavidMcMullan

ThelessonIhavechosenisCreatingaWebsiteConnectingLiteracywith
Technology.ItistakenfromtheJuniorLiteracyIntervention(J.L.I.)programfromthe
T.C.D.S.B.J.L.I.isanintensiveshorttermwithdrawalprogramthatprovidesadditional
smallgroupsupporttoprovidestudentswiththeskillstobecomestrategicreaders.
ThelessonfallsunderthemedialiteracycurriculumexpectationsfortheProvinceof
Ontario.ThelessonwillbecritiquedfromtheperspectiveofVygotskyssociocultural
theory,distributedcognitionandfinallysituatedlearning.Thislessonwillbeexamined
throughthelensofeachtheoryinturnbyexamininghowthelessonincorporateseach
theoryandthenwherethelessonislacking,suggestionsastohowitcanbemodified.
CentraltoVygotskyssocioculturaltheoryistheideathatchildrenlearnthrough
interactionswiththeirsocialenvironment.Theseinteractionsinvolvepeople,cultural
artifactsandculturallyspecificpractices.InthisrespecttheCreatingaWebsitelesson
doesreflectVygotsky'sideas.Thelessoninvolvescollaborationbetweenstudentsas
theyexamineawebsiteintheidentifyingandlabellingactivityandthecreatingoftheir
ownwebsite.Collaborationisalsofacilitatedbetweenthestudentsthroughtheir
discussionsabouttheirdesignchoicesandthecreativechoicesofwebsitesthatthey
visit.Inaddition,peerevaluationprovidesanopportunitytolearnfromtheirclassmates.
Culturalartifactsareexaminedthroughtheuseofexamplewebsitesandcurriculum
documentsusedforchecklistanddiscussionquestions.

AnotherkeyideainVygotskystheoryistheZoneofProximalDevelopment.
Whichhedescribesinhisownwordsas,thedistancebetweentheactualdevelopment

levelasdeterminedbyindependentproblemsolvingandthelevelofpotential
developmentasdeterminedbyproblemsolvingunderadultguidanceorincollaboration
withmorecapablepeers(Vygotsky,1978).Studentsneedtobeassessedastotheir
levelofcompetenceandthenguidedtotheirlevelofchallenge.Thelesson,asitexists,
attemptstoascertainthestudentsknowledgeaboutwebsitesthroughtheinitialsharing
backgroundknowledgeactivityofidentifyingthepartsofthewebsite.Thelessonthen
guidesthestudentsthroughtheactivityofcreatingawebsitethroughgroupdiscussion
tothepointwherestudentscancreatetheirownwebsiteindependently.Thestudents
areguidedthroughtheactivitywiththeassistanceoftheirteacherandmore
knowledgeablestudents.TheassistanceofanotherMoreKnowledgeableOtheris
anotherimportantpartofVygotskystheoryasitrelatestoboththeZPDand
collaborationinlearning.
InordertoimprovethelessontogreaterreflectaVygotsky'sperspective,
modificationswouldbeneededinitiallytoassessforlearninginordertofacilitate
studentlearningintheZoneofProximalDevelopment.Throughtheuseofaprogram
likeSocrative,knowledgeandinterestofthestudentscanbeassessedinorderto
informwebsitetopicsandpeergrouping.InadditionaKWLchartcanbeutilizedasan
assessmentforlearningtoolandthestudentsownreflectionontheirlearning.Using
thedatafromtheseassessmenttools,studentswillbeformedintomixedlevelgroups
tofacilitatecollaborativelearningwithMKOpeers.Thisinformationwillalsoinformthe
teacherandstudentsincreatingtheirbreakoutgroupingsinajigsawactivity.

Thejigsawactivitywillbreakdownthetaskofcreatingawebsiteintogroupsthat
willfocusthedifferenttasksassociatedwithwebsiteconstruction:layout,colour,font,
imagesandtext.Studentswillresearchtheirtasksandcomebacktotheiroriginal
groupswheretheywillpresentproposalsfortheirideasforthewebsite.Studentswill
beassistedbyaMKOthroughtheguidanceoftheirteacherandavolunteerweb
designerfromthecommunity.
AnotherideathatdevelopedoutofVygotskystheoryisscaffolding.Throughthe
supportoflearning,assistanceisgraduallywithdrawnasthestudentmovestoward
independentlearning.Thiswasnotfullyutilizedintheoriginallesson.Theactivitywill
thereforebescaffoldedtoallowstudentstofocusonmoremanageabletasks,andthen
comebacktotheiroriginalgroupsasexpertsorMKOs.Aftercomingtogetherand
learningfromotherstudentsintheirgroupandmakingtheirgroupwebsite,students
shouldbeabletomovetoindependentlycreatingawebsite.
Finally,tobetterreflectthecultureoftheschoolcommunity,examplesof
websitesfromavarietyofculturalbackgroundswillbeusedaswellasresourcesthat
reflectthisdiversity,forexample,chartsonthemeaningofdifferentcoloursincultures.
Thedistributedcognitiontheorypositsthatcognitionisdistributedacross
individuals,artifacts,toolsinthesocialandphysicalenvironment.Throughthis
distributionofcognitiveprocesses,acommonlanguagemaydevelopwithinthe
community.Intheoriginallesson,cognitionislooselydistributedacrossstudentsas
theycollaborateonidentifyingthepartsofawebsiteandworkinpairsincreatingtheir
ownwebsiteaswellasofferingfeedbackinstudentevaluations.Cognitionis

distributedthroughtheartifactsofthewebsiteexamplesandcurriculumdocuments
usedfordiscussionpurposes.Finallyacommonlanguageisdevelopedthroughthe
useofnewvocabularydevelopedthroughthepartsofawebsiteidentificationactivity.
Intherevisedlessonplan,distributedcognitionwillbestructuredintothejigsaw
activity.Thestudentswillbedividedintogroupsbasedontasksneededtocreatethe
website:layout,colour,font,imagesandtext.Studentswillworkonresearchingand
makingproposalstobringbacktotheirgrouponhowtoinfluencemeaningandcreate
impactthroughtheirdesigndecisions.Asexpertsintheirdifferenttasksstudents
cognitionwillbedistributedthroughthegroup.Inadditionwithineachbreakoutgroup,
studentswillbeabletosharetheirknowledgewiththeircorrespondinggroupona
discussionboardinanotherclass.Cognitionwillalsobedistributedthroughartifacts
usedbythestudentsintheirresearchsuchaswebsiteexamples,informationontopics
thatwillinformtheirdecisions(eg.,informationonthemeaningofcolour)aswellas
curriculumdocumentsusedfordiscussionpurposes.Inadditioncognitionwillbe
distributedthroughthetoolsusedbystudentstoresearchandcreatetheirwebsite,for
example:webbrowsers,websitegeneratorsanddiscussionboards.
Thetheorythattheoriginallessonattemptstoreflectmostissituatedlearning.
Situatedlearningpositsthatlearningoccurswhenitissituatedinanauthenticcontext.
Throughlearninginaculturalcommunityoflearners,usingacommonlanguage,guided
byexperts,studentsbecomeacognitiveapprentice.Thelessonthroughtheactivityof
creatingawebsiteattemptstofacilitateanauthenticcontext.Throughthedecisions

madeaboutthecreationofthewebsiteandthecommonlanguagedevelopedin
identifyingandlabellingactivitythelessonapproachesanauthenticcontext.
Therevisedlessonwillbemorerobustintheapplicationofsituatedlearning.
Firstly,thetaskitselfwillbearealworldtask.Thestudentswillbegiventhejobof
improvingawebsiteforalocalsoccerclub.Studentswillactaswebdesignersand
redesignawebsitethatwillhavebothimpactandmeaningfortheirclient.Theoriginal
lessonhasstudentscreateapaperrepresentationofawebsite.Thisreflectsanactivity
basedinschoolcultureandnotthatofanauthenticcommunityofwebdesigners.In
therevisedlesson,studentswillbecreatingarealwebsiteusingthetoolsofaweb
designer.Theywilldevelopexpertiseintheirjigsawactivity,creatingproposalsto
presentwhentheiroriginalgroupisreconvened.Forexamplethecolourgroupwill
developthreedifferentproposalsthattheythinkwillbestmeettheirclientsneedsand
justifyorselltheirchoicestotheirgroup.Inordertodevelopacommonlanguage
amongthestudents,theidentifyingandlabelactivitywillbeadaptedtoasmartboard
activitywithinthewholegroup.Commonlanguageandcreatinganauthentic
communitywillfurtherbedevelopedbyworkingwithavolunteerwebdesignerfromthe
community.
Throughthesemodificationsthelessonwillbetterreflecttheapplicationof
Vygotskyssocioculturaltheory,distributedcognitionandsituatedlearningtheoriesand
thereforefurtherdeepenstudentunderstandingandknowledge.


References

Brown,J.S.,Collins,A.&Duguid,S.(1989).Situatedcognitionandthecultureof
learning.EducationalResearcher,18,3242.Availableonline:
http://edr.sagepub.com/content/18/1/32

Hutchins,E.(2000).DistributedCognition.Available
online:
http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/Anthro179a/DistributedCognition.pdf

Rogers,Y.(1997).ABriefintroductiontodistributedcognition.Availableonline:
http://mcs.open.ac.uk/yr258/papers/dcog/dcogbriefintro.pdf

Vygotsky,L.S.(1978).MindinSociety:Thedevelopmentofhigherpsychological
processes.Cambridge,MS:HarvardUniversityPress.