A Practical Classroom Report

Stages of learning:

A classroom ready lesson for gifted and talented students

Michael Margerison

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Table of contents

Title page 1

Contents 2

Executive Summary 3

Introduction 3

Background 4

Methodology 4-7

Results 7-9

Recommendations 9

Conclusion 9-10

Reference List 11

Appendices 12

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Executive summary

The following report is an evaluation of a practical classroom lesson that aimed to

teach gifted and talented students about the stages of learning, found in the factors

affecting performance unit from the BOSTES stage 6 PDHPE syllabus. The

evaluation report will look at the background research surrounding gifted and talented

students and their needs in the classroom with specific literature based around the

teaching methods that should be applied with learners of this level. The report will

look at the methodology of the lesson and the reasoning for the teaching methods

applied to create the engaging lesson for the students. The report will then discuss the

results from the lesson and how these results can be used as feedback to develop

recommendations for future lessons based on the stages of learning topic and students

who are recognised as gifted and talented.

Introduction

The Australian curriculum standards ensure that students of all learning abilities have

the same access to further education as each of the students around them. The

following report will have special focus on those students who have been identified as

Gifted and Talented. These students according to the Australian Curriculum (2016)

should have access to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning opportunities that

correspond with their strengths, interest and goals. The following report will take a

short look at the background of student who are gifted and talented and then explain

the methodology of a classroom lesson aimed to target students who are gifted and

talented. The report will discuss the results of the classroom lesson and provide

further recommendations for the lesson to be developed.

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Background

Gifted and talented students are those who excel or work well and a greater pace than

most other students in certain areas of schooling life. These students can excel in one

or more areas but can also have great difficulty in areas that are not of interest to them.

It is important for these students to be catered for when teaching a class. Often these

students can be forgotten about an their talents go to waste as they become bored with

the slow content or speed of activities (Wood, Portman, Cigrand, & Colangelo, 2010).

When developing activities or lessons, it is important to allow room for extra or more

difficult tasks that can be accessed by everyone in the class but especially for those

who work quickly or more efficiently such as those who are gifted and talented, this

will keep the students engaged and give them every possibility to further excel in their

interests.. When a student has been identified as gifted and talented, it is important to

include the teachers involved with the student, the principle and the parents of the

students to help develop a program that will be best suited for the student (Erwin, &

Worrell, 2011).

Methodology

When creating the lesson the main aims were to create a learning space that was

student centred and student directed with the hope to keep the students engaged the

whole lesson. Whilst using these teaching strategies it was also important to have the

ability to teach the content that would allow them to gain an understanding of the

syllabus outcomes (Woolf, 2010).

To begin the lesson, the students were introduced to the syllabus component that was

going to be addressed throughout the lesson. This component was within the core unit

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of Factors affecting performance ad was the first dot point under the critical

question How does the acquisition of skill affect performance?. This dot point

looked at the stages of skill acquisition and aimed for students to examine the stages

of skill acquisition by participating in the learning of a new skill.

Once the students had been introduced to the topic, they were then asked to move into

three groups of 4. Within their groups they were to then mind map the three stages of

skill acquisition on the whiteboards around them. Gurlitt, & Renkl (2010) explains the

use of mind mapping tasks to instigate prior knowledge can help in the process of

completing further tasks with a higher success rate. With the students refreshing their

memories of the three stages of learning, the two teachers were walking around the

room to help instigate thoughts and ideas that the students could add to their mind

maps. After a short amount of time, the class was then brought back as a whole and

each group was designated a stage. They then read out their idea and thoughts for that

stage of skill acquisition and other groups then had a chance to add ideas if needed.

Once each of the stages had been examined, the students were then shown a couple of

short videos to backup their ideas of each of the stages as well as giving them a

differentiated approach to understanding what each stages looked like in a sporting

sense. Lin & Atkinson (2011) explain that through the use of video or visual cues, it

allows students to retain more knowledge of the content they have learnt and allow it

easier for them to associate the knowledge with visualizations in their minds. Thus

meaning when the students need to remember the content during assessments of

during their HSC exams they are able to associate each stage of learning with videos

they were shown.

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From this the students were then introduced to their second activity. This activity

involved the students accessing a Weebly website (Appendix A) on their electronic

devices. Each student was then given three stacking cups each. The site included a set

of instructions along with a YouTube video that they were to watch and follow the

instructions in the learning of a new skill of cup stacking. The video taught the

students the skill of stacking and de-stacking three cups and then adding in another

two lots of 3 cups. This is where the students would work in a group to complete the

task. The students each chose roles within their groups including; a stacker, a timer, a

judge and a recorder. The students were then to have 3 goes of being timed with the

3-3-3 cup formation and their results to be recorded. When every student in the class

had been timed, the class came back as one group and the teacher asked them

questions in relation to their results and how they went. These questions targeted

ideas surrounding what stage of learner they felt they were at and how they justified

their choice of stage. This again reiterated the syllabus outcomes that were being

targeted in the lesson. The use of feedback through questions to assess learning

targets the fifth stand in the Australian professional standards for teachers. The

feedback is timely and specific to the learning activity they had just completed and

help to reiterate their findings.

To further gain an understanding, students were directed to the second page on the

Weebly website (Appendix A) for their second activity. In this activity, students were

learning the new skill of juggling. Instead of the students learning themselves, they

were asked to chose one Coach of the group. The coach would then watch the

YouTube video and explain the instructions to their group. For the group to be

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successful the Coach had to allow for didn't students to learn at different speeds and

implement strategies to allow the associative learners to move forward from two

juggling balls to three and the cognitive learners to progress from one juggling ball to

two.

After this activity was completed, the class came back as a whole group and the

teacher asked the coaches about how they identified their learners and what strategies

they put in place to try and allow for each learner to continue to progress. The

students were also asked about what they could do for future training sessions to help

allow for the different learners.

Discussion of results

The class was structured to flow from one activity to another. This allowed the

students to have a better understanding of what was happening in the classroom and

gain a greater insight into the content being taught. The students we able to easily

follow the of the teachers instructions and complete each activity in the allowed time

frame.

The first activity of mind mapping what prior knowledge the students had was

successful to allow us as the teachers to understand where the students were at in

terms of knowing about the stages of learning. All students were engaged in this task

and through observation, they were all at a gifted and talented level of understanding.

The students then brought their feedback back to the class and added their

contributions to other groups mind maps.

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From this the students then watched a few short YouTubes to reiterate their content

knowledge. For some this gave them a better understanding and put the words they

mind mapped into context along with a bit of humorous laughs which also highlighted

the engaging level of the videos.

When moving into the second activity, the students became instantly engaged. With

the use of ICT in the classroom, the students were able to use their prior skills to

navigate their way to the Weebly page. The teacher instructed the students of what

they needed to do but they also had instruction on the page if they got lost or were

working faster or slower than other groups. This allowed the groups to work at their

own pace and was successful in keeping the students engaged. With the activity

involving the students stacking cups in a competitive game, it ensured each student

prepared well for their go and had some friendly competition in learning the new skill.

The interactive classroom activity was successful in the way it was student centred

and student directed, they had to learn through watching a video and then practice

through their own mode of transferring knowledge. This knowledge was then

confirmed through the teacher asking questions about what they had just completed

and how they deemed each students skill acquisition.

When moving into the third and final activity, students had the ability to quickly

switch to the next page on the Weebly and instantly get to work on the next task. This

was a successful transition that caused little to no disruption in the classroom and kept

the students engaged. The next activity was also new to some students, which helped

in the ability to keep them engaged in the learning process. This Took a different

approach with their learning and had the students teach each other the new skill. This

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helped to mould their understanding by giving them an approach from a coach or

teaching perspective and allowed them to see different students at different levels of

skill. It also allowed the students see how they had to change their teaching methods

for each students at different levels.

Recommendations or future directions

In review of the lesson, a few things to work on for future classes include the way the

questions and tasks were set out to the students, and the timing of each activity. When

reviewing the layout and structure of the activities descripted in the Weebly, the

instructions could have been structured better and worded differently to help make it

easier for the students to understand the task. A few students were a little lost during

the first activity and this could have been due to the way the instructions were given.

In terms of timing, as the teacher, an observation of the class can give you direct

feedback as to whether a task is going well and the students are engaged or not. In this

case, the students were very engaged and were enjoying the learning process when we

decided to move from one activity to another. Although the second activity had the

students highly engaged as well, the first activity could have been prolonged to give

the students a second go at increasing their times with the cup stacking or ensuring

everyone had a fair go at the cup stacking.

Conclusion

Overall the lesson was a success. Through the use of student centred and student

directed activities it allowed the students to take control of their learning and help

each other to gain knowledge of the tasks they were asked to do as well as gain a

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better understanding of what the content that was being taught to them. The were able

to understand this content through physically performing real life skills and we able to

gain a personal understanding of the stage of learning that they were at with cup

stacking and juggling as well as how other students can also be at different levels.

With the implementation of the recommendations the lesson can be further adapted to

create an even more successful learning environment.

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Reference list

Woolf, B. (2010). Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors (1st ed., pp. 14-17). Elsevier

Science.

Erwin, J., & Worrell, F. (2011). Assessment Practices and the Underrepresentation of

Minority Students in Gifted and Talented Education. Journal Of

Psychoeducational Assessment, 30(1), 74-87.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0734282911428197

Gurlitt, J., & Renkl, A. (2010). Prior knowledge activation: how different concept

mapping tasks lead to substantial differences in cognitive processes, learning

outcomes, and perceived self-efficacy.Instructional Science, 38(4), 417-433.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11251-008-9090-5

Lin, L., & Atkinson, R. (2011). Using animations and visual cueing to support

learning of scientific concepts and processes. Computers & Education, 56(3),

650-658. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.10.007

Student Diversity - Gifted and talented students - The Australian Curriculum v8.3.

(2016). Australiancurriculum.edu.au. Retrieved 12 April 2017, from

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/studentdiversity/gifted-and-talented-

students

Wood, S., Portman, T., Cigrand, D., & Colangelo, N. (2010). School Counselors

Perceptions and Experience With Acceleration as a Program Option for Gifted

and Talented Students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 54(3), 168-178.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0016986210367940

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Appendices

Appendix A

www.stageoflearning.weebly.com

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