Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan

By Daya Kaur

Department of Education

EDUC 5210 - Learning Theory

Dr. Maura Hobson

Feb 16, 2022


Constructivism is ‘an approach to learning that holds that people actively

construct or make their own knowledge and that reality is determined by the

experiences of the learner’ (Elliott et al., 2000, p. 256). Learners understand

what they can relate to and build on that learning the most. This means that

learners construct knowledge instead of just imbibing what is given to them.

Learners or people reflect on their experiences, build their own representations

and incorporate knowledge into what their prior knowledge. This is also the

foundation of Vygotsy’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

Learning is most effective through the constructive approach. However

there are aspects of the Social learning Approach that cannot be overlooked.

The initial years of a student, basics are taught through modelling and

repetition. This is how the alphabet, and numbering systems are learned.

Nonetheless the remaining aspects of early learning have a combination

approach. Teachers take objects from the learner’s environment or regional

objects for language development. Only post this can a more Constructivist

approach be taken.

“The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when you discover

pursuit that absorbs you, frees you, challenges you, or gives you a sense of

meaning, joy, or passion.” (Terry Orlick, 2007). ZPD provides learners with an

opportunity for conceptual understanding and transfer of knowledge through


personal inquiry. As Guy Claxton describes in the foreword to The Power of

Inquiry, Learning is like a river that is choppy and fast moving on the surface,

but moves more slowly in its depths, Activity on the surfaces easy to see;

activity lower down is harder to see, but just as influential. On the surface of a

classroom there is acquisition of knowledge that is ensured by both the

approaches. However, lower down is the development of skills, techniques and

strategies which help us do not only interesting but useful things.

As a facilitator of upper elementary and middle school students I prefer

the constructivist approach. My Agenda is to build on their conceptual

understanding and explore ways that they can apply their learning. An ideal

session in my class would begin with a quick 5 minutes circle time for sharing

what the students have been doing. This helps me make lessons more relevant

based on their interests and experiences. Following which I start with a

provocation. In an upper elementary class about writing fairy tales, I would

want the learners to guess the topic. This piques their interest and is the first

step of engagement. I would show the covers of three fairy tales. This would

lead to the students guessing the topic. Following which, I would want the

students to break into groups and write the plot of the fairy tale using a story

mountain. This would showcase their prior knowledge about the components of

a story and the fairy tales they know. It is a scaffolding strategy.


When scaffolding the delivery is not that I put up the components but

want the students to take charge. Students would share the components and as

their facilitator I would jot the points on the board. This chalk talk would be

student led and my role would be to question them so any missing components

can also be added. While facilitating a class, students need to know the

objective of a session. In my experience, it is most beneficial if the teachers

co-create the learning objective. This empowers the students and helps them

understand the objective better. As a result, the students are relatively more

engaged. Once they have done so, I would have a quick discussion about the

components of a fairy tale. These would pertain to reciprocal teaching.

I would model a part of a tale as an example. Post this, I would again

divide students into small groups. The task I would be to use the characters from

different fairy tales and create a new fairy tale. The persona of the characters

cannot change but the story has to be original. As students work in groups they

are learning from each other as well as apprenticing. Groups would then in a bus

stop activity give each other’s stories feedback on post it. To enhance their

learning, in the next session, each group would be given 5-8 minutes to perform

their story in any way they like. This not only keeps them engaged but also

provides an opportunity to showcase their story building skills beyond writing.


In conclusion, “A person’s interest often survives when a reward is used

neither to bribe nor to control but to signal a job well done, as in a ‘most

improved player’ award. If a reward boosts your feeling of competence after

doing good work, your enjoyment of the task may increase. Rewards, rightly

administered, can motivate high performance and creativity. And extrinsic

rewards (such as scholarships, admissions, and jobs that often follow good

grades) are here to stay.” -David G. Meyers. Psychology: Eighth Edition in

Modules.

References

Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th

ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Murdoch, K., & Claxton, G. (2015). To teach their own. In The

Power of Inquiry. essay, Seastar Education.

Darrin, D., & Darrin, D. (2017, July 29). Behavioral vs cognitive

perspectives on learning theories. educational research techniques. Retrieved

February 10, 2022, from

https://educationalresearchtechniques.com/2015/02/03/behavioral-vs-cognitive-

perspectives-on-learning-theories/#:~:text=Behavioral%20approaches%20view

%20learning%20as,and%20the%20processing%20of%20information.&tex
t=Recall%20that%20realism%20was%20about,seeing%20a%20change%20in%

20behavior.

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