Aaron Natonski

4/26/02

Professor Mueller

 

Lesson Plan One Analysis

 

www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20020225monday.html

 

Jean Piaget

 

 

Jean Piaget and Lev Semionovich Vygotsky, two of the world’s most influential and well known psychologists, have made a profound impact on today’s education system.  Teachers have intertwined their concepts into original lesson plans and have used them to maximize the time that they share with students.  An example of this can be seen in a lesson plan, entitled Freedom Fighters, written by Elyse Fischer and Javiad Khan.  Throughout the lesson plan Piaget and Vygotsky’s approach to education is imitated and applied to the classroom.

Jean Piaget, born in Switzerland in 1896, is the most well known child psychologist in the world.  Most noted of all his works is his theory of cognitive development which states that “ a child’s  intellect, or cognitive abilities, progresses through four distinct stages, each categorized by the emergence of new abilities and ways of processing information.”(Slavin, 30).  In short, Piaget asserts that people develop by assimilating new ideas and then modifying and incorporating them into their existing schemas, as they grow older.

Lev Semionovich Vygotsky viewed cognitive development differently.  He viewed cognitive development “as an outgrowth of social development through interaction with others and the environment” (Slavin, 43).  Essentially Vygotsky put forth the notion that people’s experiences and interactions with others help evolve them into individuals that can think for themselves and problem solve.  When assessing the Freedom Fighter lesson plan one can distinctly see the ideas and concepts of each being applied to the classroom.   

The goal of the lesson plan is to teach students about the different branches and Special Forces of the United States military.  At the beginning of the lesson, in the Activities/ Procedures part of the lesson plan, a planed warm-up is initiated.  The teacher asks questions such as, “How do you think being a soldier has changed since your grandparents were your age?” and “What qualities do you think characterize a good soldier in all generations?” and asks the students to brainstorm possible answers, and write them down in their personal journals.  This is an effective way to start a lesson because it helps the students focus and tune in to what they are about to learn.  It is also an effective way of organizing thoughts and outlining what ideas are in the students’ heads.  In doing this the teachers are applying Piaget’s theories, recognizing his notion of several distinct developmental stages through which students must pass.  The lesson in question is intended for students in Piaget’s “Formal Operation Stage”, and as such requires students to think critically and abstractly, exploring ideas to their fullest extent.

After the students completed writing in their journals, they shared and discussed their answers with the class, building and adding to schemas already in place.  Questions like those above also help students focus on the lesson because they may be able to relate material to family and other life experiences. According to Vygotsky, a teacher must teach to a student at the students’ level, or zone of proximal development, in order for the students to comprehend the information.  By asking questions and guiding the discussion the teachers have effectively used Vygotsky’s theory in their lesson plan.

The next step in the lesson is to read and discuss the article “New Incentive to Join Army: Direct Sign-Up in Green Berets” as a class  While reading this the students were asked to keep in mind a series of questions that can be found in the Activities/ Procedure section of the lesson plan.  The answers to these questions may be found within the reading.  By asking questions and telling the students they must read and find out what the answers are, the teachers are encouraging students to learn independently.  The concept that children play an enormous part in their own learning is another integral facet of Piaget’s doctrine.  After analysis of the article students were encouraged to discuss and share their opinions about what they have read and found.  Additionally, visual aids such as the article, combined with discussion make it easier to process the information being learned.  This combination of discussion and finding the answers independently is a mixture of theories from both Piaget and Vygotsky.

After this visual section of the lesson is completed, the teachers then go on to divide the students into groups and assign each group a different branch of the military for detailed study.  The students are asked to cooperatively research their topics and examine qualifications, jobs, roles, and different methods and tactics used by each service branch.  The information that the groups collect will then be used to create skits that will be performed for the class.  By presenting the children with a new “problem” that needs to be solved, the teachers have made sure that the children learn the information well enough to teach it to others.  Therefore, the students presenting have in fact become tutors and are engaging in critical thinking when developing a way to present the material. 

Another concept that was used during this class period was an idea that was derived by Vygotsky, called scaffolding.  Scaffolding typically means providing a great deal of support during the early stages of learning and then lessening that help as time goes on, enabling the child to take on more responsibility.  Throughout the course of the class period the teacher has done this.  At the beginning of this lesson the teachers were the only educators within the classroom.  The teachers guided the students by using questions, examples, and helping the students relate to the topic by making it relevant to their lives.  As the lesson progressed, the teacher became less involved, letting the students educate themselves and allowing them to grow into independent thinkers.  Finally, at the end of the class, the teachers held the students responsible for understanding and communicating the material to their peers; they had to understand it well enough to teach it to the class, essentially becoming educators themselves.

Piaget and Vygotsky, two renowned psychologists, influenced the modern classroom in many ways.  Group discussion, self discovery, and learning with diminishing assistance are all concepts developed many years ago by these two individuals.  Without their ideas of cognitive development the modern classroom would be a very different place.   

 

 

www.crystalinks.com/piaget.html

http://classweb.gmu.edu/awinsler/ordp/theory.html