ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

OF KENYA
NAME: SHADRACK ALEKE

REG NO: RIU/BED/03/20/096

UNIT NAME: METHODS OF TEACHING IN

GEOGRAPHY

UNIT CODE: GEOG 331

TASK: STEPS TO FOLLOW WHEN

PREPARING A LESSON PLAN

CONSTRUCT A TEST ITEM

PRINTED TO: DR. JAMES ASENA

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 30TH MARCH 2023

INTRODUCTION

A lesson plan is the instructor’s road map of what students need to learn and how it will be
done effectively during the class time. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities
and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. Having a carefully constructed
lesson plan for each 3-hour lesson allows you to enter the classroom with more confidence
and maximizes your chance of having a meaningful learning experience with your students.

A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates three key components:

Learning Objectives
Learning activities
Assessment to check for student understanding
A lesson plan provides you with a general outline of your teaching goals, learning objectives,
and means to accomplish them, and is by no means exhaustive. A productive lesson is not
one in which everything goes exactly as planned, but one in which both students and
instructor learn from each other. You may refer to an example of a 3-hour lesson plan here.

BEFORE CLASS: STEPS FOR PREPARING A LESSON PLAN

Listed below are 6 steps for preparing your lesson plan before your class.

1. Identify the learning objectives

Before you plan your lesson, you will first need to identify the learning objectives for the
lesson. A learning objective describes what the learner will know or be able to do after the
learning experience rather than what the learner will be exposed to during the instruction (i.e.
topics). Typically, it is written in a language that is easily understood by students and clearly
related to the program learning outcomes. The table below contains the characteristics of
clear learning objectives:
Characteristic Description
Clearly stated tasks Free from jargon and complex vocabulary; describe specific and
achievable tasks (such as ‘describe’, ‘analyses’ or ‘evaluate’) NOT vague tasks (like
‘appreciate’, ‘understand’ or ‘explore’).
Important learning goals
Achievable Can be achieved within the given period and sufficient resources are available.
Demonstrable and measurable Can be demonstrated in a tangible way; are assessable;
achievement and quality of achievement can be observed.
Fair and equitable All students, including those with disabilities or constraints, have a fair
chance of achieving them.
Linked to course and program objectives Consider the broader goals - i.e. course, program
and institutional goals.
The Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (link) is a useful resource for
crafting learning objectives that are demonstrable and measurable.

2. Plan the specific learning activities

When planning learning activities, you should consider the types of activities students will
need to engage in, in order to develop the skills and knowledge required to demonstrate
effective learning in the course. Learning activities should be directly related to the learning
objectives of the course, and provide experiences that will enable students to engage in,
practice, and gain feedback on specific progress towards those objectives.

As you plan your learning activities, estimate how much time you will spend on each. Build
in time for extended explanation or discussion, but also be prepared to move on quickly to
different applications or problems, and to identify strategies that check for understanding.
Some questions to think about as you design the learning activities you will use are:

What will I do to explain the topic?

What are some relevant real-life examples, analogies, or situations that can help students
understand the topic?
What will students need to do to help them understand the topic better?
Many activities can be used to engage learners. The activity types (i.e. what the student is
doing) and their examples provided below are by no means an exhaustive list, but will help
you in thinking through how best to design and deliver high impact learning experiences for
your students in a typical lesson.

Activity Type Learning Activity Description

Interaction with content
Students are more likely to retain information presented in these ways if they are asked to
interact with the material in some way.
Drill and practice Problem/task is presented to students where they are asked to provide the
answer; may be timed or untimed
Lecture Convey concepts verbally, often with visual aids (e.g. presentation slides)
Quiz Exercise to assess the level of student understanding and questions can take many
forms, e.g. multiple-choice, short-structured, essay etc.
Student presentation Oral report where students share their research on a topic and take on a
position and/or role
Interaction with digital content

Students experiment with decision making, and visualize the effects and/or consequences in
virtual environments

Game Goal-oriented exercise that encourages collaboration and/or competition within a

controlled virtual environment
Simulation Replica or representation of a real-world phenomenon that enables
relationships, contexts, and concepts to be studied
Interaction with others
Peer relationships, informal support structures, and teacher-student interactions/relationships
Debate Verbal activity in which two or more differing viewpoints on a subject are presented
and argued
Discussion Formal/informal conversation on a given topic/question where the instructor
facilitates student sharing of responses to the questions, and building upon those responses
Feedback Information provided by the instructor and/or peer(s) regarding aspects of
one’s performance or understanding
Guest Speaker Feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences specific to a given topic are shared
by an invited presenter

Problem solving and Critical thinking

Presenting students with a problem, scenario, case, challenge or design issue, which they are
then asked to address or deal with provides students with opportunities to think about or use
knowledge and information in new and different ways

Case Study Detailed story (true or fictional) that students analyse in detail to identify the
underlying principles, practices, or lessons it contains
Concept Mapping Graphical representation of related information in which common or
shared concepts are linked together
Real-world projects Planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and
within certain cost and other limitations, either individually or collaboratively
Reflection

The process of reflection starts with the student thinking about what they already know and
have experienced in relation to the topic being explored/learnt. This is followed by analysis
of why the student thinks about the topic in the way they do, and what assumptions, attitudes
and beliefs they have about, and bring to learning about the topic.

Reflection journal Written records of students’ intellectual and emotional reactions to a

given topic on a regular basis (e.g. weekly after each lesson)
It is important that each learning activity in the lesson must be (1) aligned to the lesson’s
learning objectives, (2) meaningfully engage students in active, constructive, authentic, and
collaborative ways, and (3) useful where the student is able to take what they have learnt
from engaging with the activity and use it in another context, or for another purpose.

3. Plan to assess student understanding

Assessments (e.g., tests, papers, problem sets, performances) provide opportunities for
students to demonstrate and practice the knowledge and skills articulated in the learning
objectives, and for instructors to offer targeted feedback that can guide further learning.

Planning for assessment allows you to find out whether your students are learning. It involves
making decisions about:
the number and type of assessment tasks that will best enable students to demonstrate
learning objectives for the lesson
Examples of different assessments
Formative and/or summative
the criteria and standards that will be used to make assessment judgements
Rubrics
student roles in the assessment process
Self-assessment
Peer assessment
the weighting of individual assessment tasks and the method by which individual task
judgements will be combined into a final grade for the course
information about how various tasks are to be weighted and combined into an overall grade
must be provided to students
the provision of feedback
giving feedback to students on how to improve their learning, as well as giving feedback to
instructors how to refine their teaching

4. Plan to sequence the lesson in an engaging and meaningful manner

Robert Gagne proposed a nine-step process called the events of instruction, which is useful
for planning the sequence of your lesson. Using Gagne’s 9 events in conjunction with
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (link) aids in designing engaging and
meaningful instruction.
Gain attention: Obtain students’ attention so that they will watch and listen while the
instructor presents the learning content.
Present a story or a problem to be solved
Utilize ice breaker activities, current news and events, case studies, YouTube videos, and so
on. The objective is to quickly grab student attention and interest in the topic
Utilize technologies such as clickers, and surveys to ask leading questions prior to lecture,
survey opinion, or gain a response to a controversial question
Inform learner of objectives: Allow students to organize their thoughts regarding what they
are about to see, hear, and/or do.
Include learning objectives in lecture slides, the syllabus, and in instructions for activities,
projects and papers
Describe required performance
Describe criteria for standard performance
Stimulate recall of prior knowledge:
Help students make sense of new information by relating it to something they already know
or something they have already experienced.
Recall events from previous lecture, integrate results of activities into the current topic,
and/or relate previous information to the current topic
Ask students about their understanding of previous concepts
Present new content: Utilize a variety of methods including lecture, readings, activities,
projects, multimedia, and others.
Sequence and chunk the information to avoid cognitive overload
Blend the information to aid in information recall
Bloom's Revised Taxonomy can be used to help sequence the lesson by helping you chunk
them into levels of difficulty.
Provide guidance: Advise students of strategies to aid them in learning content and of
resources available. With learning guidance, the rate of learning increases because students
are less likely to lose time or become frustrated by basing performance on incorrect facts or
poorly understood concepts.
Provide instructional support as needed – as scaffolds (cues, hints, prompts) which can be
removed after the student learns the task or content
Model varied learning strategies – mnemonics, concept mapping, role playing, visualizing
Use examples and non-examples

Practice: Allow students to apply knowledge and skills learned.

Allow students to apply knowledge in group or individual activities
Ask deep-learning questions, make reference to what students already know or have students
collaborate with their peers
Ask students to recite, revisit, or reiterate information they have learned
Facilitate student elaborations – ask students to elaborate or explain details and provide more
complexity to their responses
Provide feedback: Provide immediate feedback of students’ performance to assess and
facilitate learning.
Consider using group / class level feedback (highlighting common errors, give examples or
models of target performance, show students what you do not want)
Consider implementing peer feedback
Require students to specify how they used feedback in subsequent works
Assess performance: To evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional events, test to see if the
expected learning outcomes have been achieved. Performance should be based on previously
stated objectives.
Utilize a variety of assessment methods including exams/quizzes, written assignments,
projects, and so on.
Enhance retention and transfer: Allow students to apply information to personal contexts.
This increases retention by personalizing information.
Provide opportunities for students to relate course work to their personal experiences
Provide additional practice

5. Create a realistic timeline

A list of ten learning objectives is not realistic, so narrow down your list to the two or three
key concepts, ideas, or skills you want students to learn in the lesson. Your list of prioritized
learning objectives will help you make decisions on the spot and adjust your lesson plan as
needed. Here are some strategies for creating a realistic timeline:

Estimate how much time each of the activities will take, then plan some extra time for each
When you prepare your lesson plan, next to each activity indicate how much time you expect
it will take
Plan a few minutes at the end of class to answer any remaining questions and to sum up key
points
Plan an extra activity or discussion question in case you have time left
Be flexible – be ready to adjust your lesson plan to students’ needs and focus on what seems
to be more productive rather than sticking to your original plan
your original plan

6. Plan for a lesson closure

Lesson closure provides an opportunity to solidify student learning. Lesson closure is useful
for both instructors and students.

You can use closure to:

Check for student understanding and inform subsequent instruction (adjust your teaching
accordingly)
Emphasize key information
Tie up loose ends
Correct students’ misunderstandings
Preview upcoming topics
Your students will find your closure helpful for:

Summarizing, reviewing, and demonstrating their understanding of major points

Consolidating and internalizing key information
Linking lesson ideas to a conceptual framework and/or previously-learned knowledge
Transferring ideas to new situations
There are several ways in which you can put a closure to the lesson:

state the main points yourself (“Today we talked about…”)

ask a student to help you summarize them
ask all students to write down on a piece of paper what they think were the main points of the
lesson

Forms of Tests in Classroom

Assessment is doubtlessly a very important part of studies and learning. Assessment is done
in order to know what a student knows. This type of information is required for a number of
purposes: for the grading of students, for individual attention required by any student, for
creating merit and so on. Another advantage of assessing students and their learning is that it
tells how to shape the learning methodologies. There are a number of forms of tests that can
be taken in a classroom. The core reason behind taking these tests is that they give insight of
each and every student of the classroom.

Multiple-choice tests:
it is one of the most common forms of tests that are taken in any classroom. These tests are
taken in order to assess the complex concepts as well as the simple understandings of the
student. Multiple-choice tests are specially designed to determine the readiness of a student in
answering a specific question. Since all the possible answers are given, it does not take much
time calculating and devising a new answer.

Matching tests:
Matching tests are another important form of tests that can be seen in any classroom.
Matching tests are designed and taken in order to assess the student's understanding of
relation between events and dates, events and places, and so on.

True-False tests:
True-False tests are specially designed to determine the decision of a student on a specific
question. This is probably one of the best ways to judge the concepts of a student. Technical
terminology is required in order to prepare True-False tests. Most of the true-false tests are
timed so that students can take quick decisions on whatever concepts they have. Some true-
false tests also include 'remarks' or 'explanation' column in the worksheet. This allows the
student to clear out his/her reason why the answer to the specific question is true or false.

Short-answer tests:
These tests include questions, answers of which can be given in two to three lines. These tests
are designed to determine the brief but comprehensive answer to any specific question or
concept.

Problem Tests:
Problem tests are usually prepared in subjects like Mathematics and Sciences. These tests
require several types of calculations on the basis of the conceptual framework and learning of
the student. A very common concept followed in problem tests is: give student ten minutes to
solve a problem which you can solve in two minutes.

Oral Exams:
Oral exams are a great way to assess the conceptual framework and learning of a student.
Written tests may not give a closer insight of the student's conceptual framework and
learning. But when a teacher hears to the concepts and ideas of student, it gives a clearer
result.

Essay Tests:
Essay tests, which are also known as assignments are designed in order to assess the student
capabilities of interpreting objective, collecting material, sorting material, and finally
preparing the conclusion of the assignment.

Performance tests:
Performance tests are devised in order to assess the expertise of a student in a specific
experiment. A specific time period is given to the student in order to conduct the experiment
with maximum proficiency.
There are a number of alternative tests methods too. These tests include take-home tests,
open-book tests, group exams, pair testing and portfolio
 REFERENCES
1. Ambrose, S., Bridges, M., Lovett, M., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M. (2010). How learning
works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey
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2. EDUCAUSE (2005). Potential Learning Activities. Retrieved April 7 2017, from

EDUCAUSE website: https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0547B.pdf.

3. Fink, D. L. (2005). Integrated course design. Manhattan, KS: The IDEA Center.
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