ETEC

512 Lesson Plan Critique

Shane Turner

This lesson plan critique will focus on several lessons in the middle of a CTF (Career
and Technical Foundations) unit or project, a unit consisting of 23 individual lesson that
allow students to develop their thinking around CTF skills by incorporating the Grade 9
science unit on environmental chemistry into their study. The title of the project is Energy
Make Money and it guides students in exploration of the Alberta energy industry,
environmental impact, government regulations and development laws through the creation
of a business in the energy industry. The final outcome for students is the creation of a
business and writing of a business plan. While all lessons are needed to teach this
project/unit, the analysis is focussed around lessons 7-11. These contain use of the
educational theories of Vygotsky, Behaviourism and Constructivism, allowing students to
develop understanding of the intended skills and concepts; while still leaving room for
further improvement and lesson development.
To start a lesson analysis, student tasks and criteria must be considered through the
educational theories of Vygotsky. Vygotskys main principle around group work shares
that tasks function best when each student has specific responsibilities and when they are
all required to attain competence before being allowed to progress (Slavin, 1995 as cited in
Schunk, 2012, p. 246). Through all of these lessons, there is both a group and individual
theme. Students are asked to research individual ideas and concepts to present and discuss
with the larger group or whole class. While this style of information collection and
presentation holds true with initial application of Vygotsky theory, when considered in
depth, students need to be given a specific responsibility to research and gain an

understanding of their own area of expertise to then explain and share with the group.
The tasks in lesson 7, 8 and 11 would be more successful in a Vygotsky sense if they were
modified to separate the main responsibilities by giving each student a role and task. This
would allow students to further their development by giving them a role within their
group, making them responsible for their learning.
Looking forward to lesson 11, Vygotsky theories can be seen through the reflections
and individual student thoughts. Driscoll (2000) states that Higher mental processes are
created when mediation becomes increasingly internal and symbolic. Through Vygotskys
Zone of Proximal Development, students are able to use the reflection time given after
watching the video clips to develop their thoughts and thinking around the issue of energy
and environmental impacts. To strengthen the students use of the Zone of Proximal
Development, modification in the other four lessons is necessary to allow students time to
reflect on their research and with the support of their group continue to develop their
thinking by expanding on the tasks given. This modification can take the place of a whole
class discussion allowing students to progress through the Zone of Proximal Development.
Behaviourist theories are also apparent during these lessons.. Parkay and Hass
(2000) explain that in behaviourist theory, individuals select a response based on prior
conditioning. While there are only a few examples of this theory in these lessons, it can be
seen in both lesson 8 and lesson 11. In lesson 8, students are asked to use a set template
for their research. They have little options for personalization by using a template that
they have been conditioned to use through prior practice and experience. They would have
seen rewards in terms of positive feedback and marks for correctly using the research

template. A second example of behaviourist theory is in lesson 11, where students are
asked to define and discuss the meaning of Environmental Stewardship. This implies that
the students are using a method for defining terms and statements that they have used in
past activities. While the first example leads to a lack of personalization and a
constructivist approach may be better suited to this task, the use of behaviourism in the
second is a quick way to get students to successfully define and statement in a known
format. While behaviourism currently exists in these lesson, there are few areas where
further use of this theory could be added.
Through out the CTF project, the educational theory of constructivism used to assist
students in developing an understanding. According to Jonassen (1999), knowledge is both
individually and mutually constructed among learners in a collaborative learning
environment. Within all of the lessons, students are asked to use a collaborative approach
to learning and are sharing with either a whole class or small group. An example of this is
in lesson 9&10, where questions are given to allow students an opportunity to work in
groups and develop understanding. This approach involves group work, development of
knowledge through questioning and student exploration. A second example of
constructivism is in lesson 7&8, where students are constructing their understanding of
energy across North America through research and exploration. Students are able to use a
variety of sources and references to develop an understanding, allowing them to construct
their knowledge through collaborations and personalized learning.
To increase the constructivist approach within these lessons, modification to
include group work, sharing and collaboration needs to be added to the structure of many

of the activities. Each of the lessons has been modified to allow for collaborative research
and learning. Students have been given an opportunity to develop their thinking with a
partner of small group through scaffolding, creating opportunities to scaffold learning
within their groups, students are able to continue to develop their thinking. This further
addition of scaffolding and collaboration will help students to develop individual thinking
through the increase of constructivism in this unit.
While these lessons demonstrate all three significant educational theories, they
excel in achieving student development through both Vygotskys theory and
Constructivism. Constructivist theory has emphasized that the social aspect of education
assists in the individuals scaffolding of knowledge and is an important part of learning
(Vygotsky, 1978; Jonassen, 1994). The effectiveness of these lessons can be significantly
increased through the intentional use of scaffolding, collaborations and constructivist
development. This will lead to an increase of student engagement, personalization and
further develop student learning and understanding.
References:
Jonassen, D. H. (1991). Evaluating Constructivist learning. Educational Technology,
31, 28-33.

Jonassen, D. H. (1994). Thinking Technology. Educational Technology, 34 (4), 34-37.
Jonassen, D. H. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments. In C. M.
Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional
theory (Vol. II, pp. 215-39). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Parkay, F.W. & Hass, G. (2000). Curriculum Planning (7th Ed.). Needham Heights,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.