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14/04/2016 - Day Four - Professional Placement - Berserker Street State School

Today we had Science in the afternoon. The lesson was on pushes and pulls
and how this affects how objects move. The lesson consisted of a
demonstration in front of the class on how a toy car moves. The students
were engaged and excited about the lesson. The students were then required
to form a group and pick a toy of their own (from the toys provided at the front
of the room). Then the students were asked to play with the toy, noticing how
the object moved and the pushes and pulls that made the toy move. Students
were required to write their findings on a worksheet. I observed this lesson in
the attempt to compare it to the dimensions of learning. The following is my
observations under the headings of the dimensions of learning.
Attitudes and Perceptions:
Miss Walker provided and established a positive learning environment by the
way she delivered the lesson/ talked to the students. She was happy and this
transferred onto the students. The use of the toys as a resource was another
way Miss Walker provided a positive learning environment.
Acquire and Integrate Knowledge:
A demonstration was provided at the beginning of the lesson with a toy car to
engage students to listen to the information being presented. Miss Walker
scaffolded the lesson as she went along for knowledge to be embedded to
students.
Extend and Refine Knowledge:
When students were asked to form their group they were asked to compare
the demonstration that they just saw with the toy car to the toy that they have
now. (additional toys are either skateboards, trikes, balls and boats) Students
were then asked to classify the movements of the toy and write down their
findings. This could include patterns that they have recognised between the
toy car and the toy that they have now. Students also made generalisations
between the information that they had acquired between the two objects. The
classroom management system is used to deal with unacceptable behaviour.
All the students are engaged and excited to be investigating pulls and pushes
with the toys, no students were off task or spoken to.
Use Knowledge Meaningfully:
As noted above, students make decisions, solve problems, generate and
test, investigate and analyse parts of a system when they are in their groups
looking at their toy they are investigating. A method of formative assessment

used in the lesson was when students were asked as a group to come up in
front of the class and present their findings. The grouping techniques that
Miss Walker used in this lesson were;
Within class grouping performance: Sorting of subject by topic or
subject provides differentiated learning for each group.
Cooperative grouping with like-ability learners: Groups of learners are
organised in three- to four member teams and the group task is adjusted
accordingly.
In this grouping strategy Miss Walker accommodated to different levels of
achievement and learning styles by placing a year three student with two
year two students or a year three student with a year two student and a low
level year three student. This enabled the groups to have an equal level
opportunity as the other groups to provide an equal learning experience.