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Assessment task 1: Case story scenario and interpretive statement

Scenario

Laura, a student-teacher, was in the second week of her practicum placement. This was a private school
with majority students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. She had spent the first week observing her
mentor teacher teach a couple of science classes every day. This week, it has her turn to start teaching, and
she was nervous but excited to teach her first lesson. She was given a Year 11 Biology class as the mentor
teacher felt it was a class with less class management demands.

Laura was asked by the mentor teacher to follow the existing unit of work activities and lesson planning,
apparently because it was her first lesson. Laura began her lesson as she observed the mentor teacher do so;
she began by gaining attention and explaining the lesson goals. She made use of projector and slides to
teach her lesson. In the class, most students sat quietly and did not disrupt the class. As the lesson
proceeded, Laura noticed that some students did not seem to be engaged in learning at all. They sat
respectfully and did not disturb anyone but did not seem to be paying any attention. Some were doodling,
and others seemed to be looking through notes – as Laura had not provided anything for the class yet, she
investigated during a gap that they were preparing for a test for another subject.

Moreover, during the class the last rows of boy sitting together were consistently chatting amongst
themselves in hushed tones. One boy, James, was particularly disengaged and distracting the other boys.
The boys appeared to be encouraged by James’ behaviour and talked and laughed amongst themselves.
Their noise level gradually increased as the class progressed and started being disruptive to the class. At this
point, Laura decided to pause her lesson and apply some classroom management strategies; she asked this
row of boys to come sit in the front row instead and asked them to focus on the lesson and be quiet. Then
she had a private chat with James and asked him if something unusual was going on in his daily life to
which James replied not really. She then asked him what kind of activities in class he found interesting and
engaging before returning him to his new seat. He said he preferred those activities that involved group
work, games, and moving about out of the seat.

The strategies seemed to show some success, and the boys quieten down. However, they still did not seem
engaged but rather looked like they were just trying to be respectful because they were asked not to disturb
the class. By the end of lesson, Laura is very concerned about disengagement and that this traditional
approach which lacked a mix of teaching strategies, activities, and modalities did not help students interest,
motivation, and thus engagement. After the class, she approached the mentor teacher and asked why a few
students were particularly uninterested in the content. The mentor teacher replied that some students were
not interested in studying or in Biology even though they had elected it but continue studying because of

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parental pressure as they came from backgrounds that expected higher education. Upon reflection, Laura
decided to ask the mentor teacher to allow her to plan lessons as taught in her teaching degree, with more
differentiation and multiple teaching methods, activities, and modalities.

Word Count: 557 words

Interpretive Statement

Laura had identified the need to improve motivation and engagement within the classroom to enhance
effective learning. This response will examine motivation via the Humanist/Human Needs approach,
specifically the self-determination theory. It will elaborate on some strategies that Laura can implement as
recommended within the self-determination theory. It will also discuss how she can use social-interaction
and collaborative learning strategies in the classroom to improve engagement and learning as recommended
by Social Constructivism ideas.

There are many theoretical perspectives to try and understand motivation. Deci and Ryan’s Self
Determination Theory is based on the premise that human beings are motivated to grow and develop on the
basis of three important psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Dushesne and
McMaugh 306). Growth can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, but a truly self determined
person is said to be intrinsically motivated (Dushesne and McMaugh 306). The disengaged students in
Laura’s class are primarily extrinsically motivated, as they face pressure from their families to achieve high
academic qualification. Their autonomy is low, as they feel a lack of control in their actions, which in turn
decreases their motivation to study. Laura can support their self-determination by practicing autonomy-
supportive strategies; she can give them a greater sense of control within the classroom by allocating
problem-based learning, where students determine their own solutions to posed questions (Ferlazzo 1).
Providing structured challenges with regular constructive and positive feedback would boost their sense of
competence and forming meaningful connections with the students through personal conversations would
help to increase the relatedness the students feel with Laura, and others around them (Ferlazzo 2).
Ultimately, if the students feel a sense of willingness to study Biology, rather than a sense of duty and
obligation, their intrinsic motivation will outweigh their extrinsic motivation and the self-determination
theory states they will be more driven learners.

The way Laura has a private chat with James to discuss any personal burdens that may be weighing on him
or interfering with his ability to concentrate, is an example of actions that boost relatedness with students.
Similarly, asking his preferences for mode of study is an autonomy supportive strategy which would prove
to be more helpful to Laura than the other traditional classroom management strategies she employs, like

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moving the row of boys to the front of the class. Rather than prohibiting the students’ interaction with others
through instructions like, ‘Be quiet’, Laura should provide their desire for social interaction with a
constructive avenue or outlet.

The constructivist approach to improve engaged learning “is fundamentally underpinned by the idea that
meaning is constructed by the learner” (Dushesne and McMaugh 218). This knowledge construction is
vitally impacted by the socio-cultural context, and, therefore, significantly dependant on the social
interactions with those around you (Dushesne and McMaugh 218). Piaget and Vygostky admitted to the role
of social constructivism, and Rosenshine (1997) provides evidence for providing students with tasks that
engage them cognitively, in conjunction and contrast with other students, or with teachers (Cimer 25). Such
an approach puts a heavy focus on group work and would provide Laura an opportunity to engage
disinterested learners like James, while also giving them a legitimate reason to socialize with each other
constructively. Two ways to partake in this is cooperative and collaborative learning. Cooperative learning
allows students to work together to attain mutual rewards, whilst collaborative learning allows them to learn
from each other’s unique skill set and knowledge (Dushesne and McMaugh 223). Information exchange
activities, and research project presentations are great examples of collaborative learning, where the student
learns to apply theoretical knowledge, whilst simultaneously teaching other learners. However, it is
important to realize that a single dimensional approach of any technique is not effective. Collaboration is a
good method of teaching, but it does not guarantee learning, so it should be used in combination with other
teaching strategies, like problem based and inquiry-based learning. (Cunningham, Duffy, & Knuth, 1993;
Honebein, 1996; Knuth & Cunningham, 1993).

Therefore, Laura can implement evidence-based teaching strategies, in contrast to most traditional methods
of instruction, to improve student motivation. The self-determination theory and social constructivist
strategies to improve engagement are good reference points for approaches to teaching, but they should
always be varied and scaffolded to maximize learning of all the students in the classroom.

Word Count: 700 words

Total Word Count: 1274 words

References:

1. Çimer, Atilla. 2007. Effective Teaching in Science: A Review of Literature” Journal of Turkish
Science Education 4 (1): 5-12.

2. Cunningham, D. J., Duffy, T. M., & Knuth, R. A. (1993). The Textbook of the Future. In C.

McKnight, A. Dillon, & J. Richardson (Eds.), Hypertext: A Psychological Perspective. New

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York, NY: Ellis Horwood.

3. “Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves – Larry Ferlazzo”

4. Sue Duchesne, and Anne McMaugh. Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching, Cengage
Learning Australia, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central,
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uts/detail.action?docID=4770960.