RIZT Task One | Academic Papers Help

RIZT Task One

Learning theory provides instructors with an educational framework of how students learn. With the advancement in learning theories, instructors are advised to integrate learning theory and instruction in the development of curriculum. This paper examines the grounds of such integration and certainly, suggests that it is noteworthy in curriculum development. In order to achieve this, the paper is divided into three parts. The first section provides a lesson plan using the format provided. The lower section answers pertinent questions directly related to improvement of lesson plans for curriculum development.

LESSON PLAN
Name:
Competency Number(s):
GENERAL INFORMATION
Subject(s): Science
Topic or Unit of Study: Diseases
Grade/Level: 6th Grade

Instructional Setting:
The learners will be in a group of six and all the teachers and learners’ activities will be conducted in the science laboratory. This lesson plan integrates Standard 4 of the 6th Grade Health Core (HIV and viruses) with Standard 5 of the 6th Grade Science Core (microorganisms). The lesson involves the causes of diseases and more particularly the negative impacts of pathogenic microorganisms on living things. During the lesson, the teacher provides notes on the effects of microorganisms on living things, a reinforcement activity is provided as well as an evaluation of the students’ understanding.
STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES
Your State Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s):
In the first place, the student will acquire ample knowledge in health thereby; apply the skills in real life. Secondly, the student will get scientific knowledge directly related to health issues. Lastly, the student should appreciate the role of science in solving most of the problems facing human beings.
Lesson Objective(s):
i. The student to name the negative effects of micro organisms.
ii. The student to identify the causes of HIV/ AIDS in human bodies.
iii. The student to understand how HIV virus is transmitted from one person to another.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES
Instructional Materials:
The materials needed for the lesson are; sodium hydroxide solution, a clear glass per student, a colorless liquid- water, phenolphthalein indicator, PowerPoint, and a white board.
Resources:
Any Science textbook for this level will act as a reference material for both the teacher and the learner.
INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN
Instructional Procedures
First Day
i. The teacher to revise the previous lesson with the learners about the different micro organisms including viruses, bacteria and fungi.
ii. The teacher to evaluate students’ understanding about the positive effects of micro organisms.
iii. At the end of the introduction, the learners should be able to highlight some of the negative effects of micro organisms by using their previous knowledge of micro organisms.
iv. Ensure the learners write notes on the effects of micro organisms in the living things
v. The teacher to go through the learners’ notes so as to ensure they write the correct words and that they write accurate notes in their books.

Second Day
i. Write short notes on viruses and more specifically the viruses causing HIV/AIDS.
ii. Demonstrate the symptoms of HIV and AIDS and explain the causes of HIV/AIDS.
iii. Demonstrate how the HIV virus spread from one person to another.
iv. The teacher distributes the liquid to learners. He ensures that in some liquids, there are a few drops of sodium hydroxide while in others, the Sodium hydroxide is absent.
v. The idea behind this is the assumption that liquids with sodium hydroxide refer to people who are infected with the HIV virus.
vi. Allow the students to exchange their liquids all over the class in a random manner.
vii. Make the learners understand that some of the cups distributed contained sodium hydroxide while others contained merely water.
viii. Add some drops of the indicator to each glass. If the glass contains Sodium Hydroxide, the solution will automatically change color.
ix. A change in color indicates an infection of the virus while those glasses with no color change indicates no infection.

Third Day
i. Allow the learners to ask questions and ensure the students’ questions are accurately answered.
ii. The teachers to give an assignment on diseases and ensure the students choose a disease which they should research on.
1. Identification of Student Prerequisite Skills Needed for Lesson:
Before the start of the lesson, the students should have prior knowledge of the various micro organisms from a unit covered earlier on. In line with this, the teacher asks learners to provide the positive effects of micro organism before discussing with the learners, the negative impacts of micro organisms. The teacher to allow the learners appreciate the fact that micro organisms causes diseases on human bodies.
2. Presentation of New Information or Modeling:
In the introduction part, the teacher revisits the previous lesson on micro organisms. In line with this, the teacher asks the learners to name the various negative effects of micro organisms. The aim of this is to enable learners to have a clear understanding of the current lesson. It also assists the teacher to assess the learners on the previous work earlier on done. The teacher then introduces the current lesson on the causes of HIV and AIDS.
3. Guided Practice:
The teacher uses questions and answer technique so as to assess the students’ understanding. Questions and answers assists in lesson development. In line with this, the teacher responds to students’ questions if any and also ensures that the learners answer the questions that he asks more accurately.
4. Independent Student Practice:
The teacher goes through the students’ notes and gives out written assignments, which he marks and corrects in class. This is a form of students’ assessment.
5. Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event:
The teacher concludes the lesson by restating the key points earlier on discussed in class. In addition, the teacher gives out a written exercise that he marks and corrects in class.
Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies):
The instructor gives clear instructions that are followed by the learners in the various groups. In line with this, the teacher reinforces the learners’ responses so as to aid learning.
Differentiated Instruction:
The teacher caters for individual students with different needs. The groups include the hearing impaired and the physically disabled students. For those with hearing problems, signs are used which convey the same information to all learners.
Student Assessment/Rubrics:
The teacher gives out written exercises which he marks and corrects in class. In addition, he uses oral questions that assist in students’ evaluation (UEN, Diseases, 2002).
The lesson plan was retrieved from http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=400 on 22nd June 2012.
Questions
Discuss how the teacher could modify the lesson plan provided so as to incorporate behaviorism.
The main principle behind behaviorism is the fact that behavior is influenced by the environment and could be improved through reinforcement. Behaviorism makes teaching and learning more positive. Firstly, in the lesson provided the teacher gives instructions which are followed by the learners. This ensures there is a terrific student/teacher relationship. The teacher, however, should ensure there is a conducive environment for learning. A conducive environment so developed ensures that learners can freely interact with the teacher hence facilitating the learning process. This is attained when the teacher asks questions which he expects to be answered by the learners. The questions ensure that learners’ understanding is enhanced. The use of oral questions also enables the teacher to assess the students.
Secondly, the lesson could be subdivided into smaller parts where the learners are able to give clear responses and that the teacher reinforces these responses adequately.
In fact, the lesson plan provided has already incorporated behaviorism since, the lesson is divided into smaller parts that the learners are able to understand. The teacher starts from known to unknown. He already understands that learners can recall the positive effects of micro organisms. The teacher then introduces a new concept of HIV and AIDS and even uses demonstration in class to show how HIV virus can be spread from one person to the other. The demonstration further enhances the learners’ understanding.
In addition, instructional strategy has also been widely used where the teacher gives clear instructions to the learners which are followed. If the instructions are followed to the letter, then teaching and learning takes place. Instructions are widely used when the teacher guides the learners through the demonstration.
Analyze the Effectiveness of Incorporating Principles of Behaviorism in the Lesson Provided.
Behaviorism dates back to the early works of Aristotle where he proposed that behaviorism can be more effective in small classes and for short lessons and more preferably, lessons taking twenty minutes. As earlier on indicated, behaviorism entails reinforcing of students responses in a positive manner. Reinforcement is believed to strengthen the response, and this motivates the learners. In fact, behaviorism can be used to stimulate the learners’ understanding. Through reinforcement of the learner’s responses, learning takes place more effectively.
Behaviorism could be incorporated in the lesson plan provided. Firstly, the teacher could use questions and answers strategy for lesson development. As noted earlier on, behaviorism can be more effective if the students’ responses are positively reinforced by the teacher.
Analyze the Effectiveness of Behaviorism in Addressing Specific Learning Behaviors in Instructional Setting
Behaviorism explains learning in terms of observable behavior. Since this is science lesson plan, the teacher could ask the learners to observe the various changes in the samples provided in the experiment. In fact, this is clear instructions given out to the learners and should continually be followed and reinforced so that behaviorism plays it crucial role in both learning and teaching (Drisson, 2000).
The importance of behaviorism in learning is to ensure that the learning objectives are adequately achieved. In line with this, the teacher assesses the students’ progress in class by use of oral questions or written exercises. This enables the teacher to move forward in case the majority in class has mastered the content. In case, the learners have not understood the lesson, the teacher goes back and revisits the difficult areas.
In line with this, the teacher instructs the learners to do an exercise in class which he/ she marks and corrects. The chief goal of the exercise is to ensure that learners have adequately understood the content of the lesson. It is also quite important to ensure that progress records for the pupils are well kept maintained and regularly up dated.
The last step is to provide a summary of the lesson. This is done by highlighting the key points as discussed in class. The conclusion provides an overview of the lesson. The teacher may conclude the lesson by giving written exercise or oral questions. A good teacher marks and corrects the exercises in class so as to assess the learners. Certainly, behaviorism assists the teacher to meet all the lesson objectives. It should therefore, be incorporated when lesson planning.
In conclusion, it is reasonable to suggest that lesson planning is of value to teachers since it assists them to properly time the lesson as well as ensure that lesson objectives are adequately achieved. On the other hand, lesson plans could be modified if behaviorism is incorporated in the lesson. Besides, behaviorism could be more effective in addressing specific issues in a lesson. In line with this, the teacher gives clear instructions while the learners provide responses which are reinforced by the teacher in order to facilitate learning. Indeed, behaviorism assists the teacher to achieve the set objectives within the set time. It should therefore be incorporated in lesson planning in virtually all subjects.

References
Drisson. (2000). Psychology of Learning for Instructions. Needham Heights, 2-5.
UEN. (2002, 07 29). Diseases. Retrieved from http://www.uen.org/lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=400.