Portfolio Project

EDUC 765: Trends and Issues in Instructional Design

By: Rachel King

Submitted June 2018

 Project Proposal

PROJECT TITLE
Unit Study: Early Native American Cultures

SPONSORING ORGANIZATION
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, parents of homeschooled daughter, Jane Smith.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jamaican parents, have enrolled their 12-year-old daughter, Jane,
in an online academy based in the United States for the academic year beginning in Fall
2018. The Smiths want Jane to be prepared to engage with the content of the new
school’s American history curriculum and have requested that the topics that she will be
introduced to in her first semester be integrated into her homeschool social studies
lessons for the remainder of the current academic year.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Jane’s chances of success with the social studies curriculum at her new school will be
greater if she has some knowledge of American history before she begins her first
semester. However, having received all of her education thus far in the Jamaican
education system, and not having done any independent reading or study on American
history, Jane is almost completely unfamiliar with the subject. Her future history teacher
has emailed her parents a list of the topics that will be covered in the curriculum and
requested that Jane be exposed to some of the content during the summer. The first
topic on the list is ‘Early Native American Cultures’. This project is centered on creating
a unit study that will introduce Jane to this topic and get her started on the path of being
prepared for her future lessons.

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AIM
Prepare Jane Smith to begin her future American history class by ensuring that she is
familiar with major concepts related to the first topic on the curriculum: Early Native
American Cultures.

TARGET AUDIENCE
The target audience is Jane Smith, a homeschooled student, aged 12 years. Jane
experiences learning challenges and was taken out of her grade 6 year in a Jamaican
school to be tutored at home, using a mostly grade 4 curriculum. She will be attending
an American online school for the academic year 2018-2019, before transitioning to an
American boarding school. Jane is a motivated learner and wants to do well
academically. Due to processing challenges, she performs best when she has ample
opportunity to absorb new material to be learned.

DELIVERY OPTIONS
The content will be delivered in a face-to-face format as this is how the homeschooling
situation has been arranged. The student and homeschool teacher live in the same
locality, so distance learning is not necessary. The student also works best when
supported by an instructor in person – or as will be the case in the future, with a learning
facilitator to reinforce online lessons.

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 Front-End Analysis: Instructional Need

INSTRUCTIONAL NEED

The instructional need was initially identified when Jane’s parents requested that
lessons on American history be added to the current homeschool curriculum in order to
prepare her for her new school. According to Rossett (1999, cited in Morrison et al.,
2013, p. 29), this instructional need would be classified as ‘new product’ since Jane has
never studied American history before and topics in this subject area are largely
unfamiliar to her. The planned instruction is therefore necessary to prepare her for
successful engagement in a new situation – classes at her future school.

Jane’s parents and homeschool teacher are all aware of her educational background,
and therefore can feel confident in accepting that an instructional intervention is
necessary. However, to further confirm the need, a front-end analysis in the form of an
informal interview with the student and a pre-test was carried out. To design the pre-
test, the homeschool teacher consulted reference sources on the instructional topic
(Early Native American Cultures) and developed test questions that would be aligned
with the instructional content.

The interview revealed that Jane does not have an extensive schema related to early
Native Americans. In fact, she was unable to give an accurate definition of who a Native
American is. When asked to share her knowledge related to Native Americans, she
spoke briefly and some of her observations were based on Native American
stereotypes. On the 10-item multiple choice pre-test (Sample question: What does
‘Wakan Tanka’ mean?; Response: Sun dance/Great Spirit/Bright Moon), she scored
30%. At least one of the correct answers was likely a guess.

Based on the needs assessment, it is evident that a gap exists between what Jane
currently knows about the subject and what she will be expected to know and needs to

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know in order to not be at a disadvantage compared to her future American classmates.
Since the need falls within the cognitive domain, an instructional intervention which will
increase Jane’s knowledge seems most appropriate.

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 Front-End Analysis: Learner Characteristics
LEARNER ANALYSIS

Primary Audience
 The primary audience is a homeschooled, female Jamaican student, aged 12
years and in the 6th grade.

Secondary Audience
 In the future, this learning unit could be re-used with other students with
similar instructional needs.

General Learner Characteristics

 Female
 12-year-old 6th grade student
 Jamaican

Entry Characteristics
 No previous American history education
 Exhibits processing challenges; learns best when teaching and learning
activities target multiple learning styles (e.g. visual, auditory and kinesthetic)
 Positive attitude towards learning

The learner characteristics that will be most relevant to the content and delivery of the
instruction will be the student’s educational background, learning profile and future
needs. Her gender will not affect the design of the instruction. The fact that she is
homeschooled means that the instruction can be tailored to her specific needs and
abilities.

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CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Orienting Context
 The instruction is related to the learner’s goal of being prepared for the American
history curriculum at her future school.
 The learner is aware that she has no background in this subject and understands
that the instruction is necessary to prepare her for her future studies.
 The learner knows that she will be expected to demonstrate mastery of the
instructional content (through completion of graded activities and assessments),
both as a part of her current academic requirements as well as for her classes at
her new school.
 One misconception that the learner has already voiced concerning the
instructional topic is that she thinks it represents remedial work which she should
have previously been taught (as have her younger cousins who live in America).
It has been explained to her that Jamaican social studies curricula do not cover
this subject. She may have additional misconceptions about the subject,
especially concerning who Native Americans are.

Instructional Context
 The room where instruction will take place is reserved for the student’s
homeschool lessons and is available for all her classes.
 The school room has more than adequate lightning.
 There are generally no noise-related disruptions to lessons.
 The school room is cooled by an air conditioning unit and the temperature is
conducive to learning.
 There is adequate and comfortable seating for the student.
 The student lives at the location where instruction will be delivered.
 The equipment that will be used during the learning unit (mostly technology tools)
is readily available. Any material needed for completion of activities will be
available locally and able to be procured by the student’s parents.
 The student does not need to travel to classes.

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Technology Inventory
 The learner has access to a laptop computer with up-to-date software, a tablet, a
large screen television and a printer. There is also Wi-Fi access in the school
room.

Transfer Context
 As the learner is aware of the utility of the instruction and the role that it can play
in her future academic success, it is likely that she will be motivated to transfer
what she learns in this unit to the context of her new classes.
 The student will be required to apply the knowledge she gains from this learning
unit in her future social studies classes. Since the instruction is taking place at
the end of this academic year, the time period between delivery and application
in the new context will not be too great.
 During the learning unit, the student will complete assignments and revision
material that can be used at her new school.

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 Instructional Impact Based Upon Learner Characteristics

APPLICATION OF LEARNING THEORIES

Elements of various learning theories will be applied to the design of this unit study.
 The student will complete a pre-test and an advance organizer (anticipation
guide) so that she can be aware of her prior knowledge, or existing schema,
related to the topic. In the unit introduction, she will also be given an overview of
the content. Both cognitive and constructivist learning theories state that these
kinds of activities enable the student to better process new information and
integrate it with existing knowledge.
 Throughout the unit, the student will be provided with graphic organizers that will
guide her comprehension and analysis of the information. This is in line with
Bruner’s (cited in Wheeler, 2017) concept of ‘scaffolding’ and Vygotsky’s (cited in
Tracey and Morrow, 2012) ‘zone of proximal development’ which are based on
the idea that students need to be supported to go beyond their present level of
skill and ability.
 Instead of merely reading assigned texts, the student will also be required to
extract and write down specific information from the passages. This will help to
direct the student’s focus and attention, which should result in deeper processing
of the information according to Craik and Lockhart’s (‘Levels’, n.d.) ‘Levels of
Processing’ theory.
 Based on Gardner’s (‘Multiple Intelligences’, n.d.) theory of ‘multiple
‘intelligences’, the instructional material (print, graphics, multimedia) will be
appropriate for different learning styles, and having a choice of format for her
final project will allow the student to work using her strengths.
 Behaviourist theories will be reflected in the reinforcement that the student
receives through feedback and grades.

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APPLICATION OF MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES
 The student desires to learn and her goal is to do well academically; therefore,
she is intrinsically motivated to do well on this unit study.
 Extrinsic motivation for the student will be in the form of grades earned and the
expectation of her parents that she will work hard and demonstrate mastery of
the instructional content.
The following aspects of course design conform to Keller’s (cited in Clark, n.d.) ARCS
Model of Motivational Design:
 The anticipation guide completed at the beginning of the unit will be a form of
‘inquiry arousal’ which will help to engage the student’s interest and attention.
 The student knows that the unit study is relevant and useful for her future
schooling, so she can connect her learning now to later success at her new
school.
 The student will be allowed to choose some of the instructional material that she
uses as well as the topic and format for her final assessment, which should help
her feel that she has some control over her learning.
 In order to build the student’s confidence and sense of self-efficacy, the
requirements of the course will be made very clear, most assignments will be
completed in stages with feedback given along the way, and rubrics for
coursework will show the student how her degree of effort in completing
assignments is related to her performance.
 To foster satisfaction, learning activities will provide the student with opportunities
to apply her knowledge to completing relevant tasks, and she will receive
appropriate feedback that encourages the productive learning behaviours that
she exhibits.

IMPACT OF A DIVERSE AUDIENCE ON INSTRUCTION

The instructor and student share a similar cultural background and speak the same
language. With only one student receiving the instruction, diversity is not a significant
issue. However, the instruction will take into account the fact that the student has
learning needs that might not be experienced by a typical 6 th grade student.

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Accommodations for the student will include selection of appropriate instructional
material and one-to-one support from the teacher in comprehending the content.

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 Task/Goal/Performance Analysis

TASK ANALYSIS METHOD

A topic analysis was chosen as the task analysis method for this project as it seemed
most appropriate for the learning content. According to Morrison et al. (2013, p. 87) a
topic analysis works best for ‘concrete content’ that is ‘easily analyzed’. As the student
will be learning mostly facts and concepts related to the topic, as opposed to mostly
procedures, or learning how to carry out a specific task, a topic analysis instead of a
procedural or critical incident analysis was applied to this project.

TASK ANALYSIS

Topic Analysis for Early Native American Cultures

I. Terms related to Native American cultures
A. Native American
B. Culture group
C. Cultural region/area
D. Tribe
E. Clan
II. The First Americans
A. When they came to North America
1. Ice Age
B. How they came to North America
1. Migration
2. Bering Strait land bridge
C. Why they came to North America
1. Hunting woolly mammoths
D. Who they were

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 1. Ancestors of early Native Americans
a. Hopewell
b. Anasazi
c. Inuit
III. Geographical regions in which early Native Americans lived and examples of
culture groups that lived in each
A. The Great Plains
1. Sioux
2. Comanche
B. The Northeast Woodlands
1. Iroquois
2. Wampanoag
C. The Northwest Coast
1. Chinook
2. Nootka
D. The Southeast
1. Cherokee
2. Seminole
E. The Southwest
1. Hopi
2. Apache
IV. The way of life of early Native American tribes
A. Family Life
1. Roles of men and women
2. Life as a child
B. Dwellings
1. Longhouse
2. Tepee
3. Adobe houses
4. Wigwams
C. Clothing

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 1. Type
a. Males
i. Breechcloths
ii. Leggings
iii. War shirts (Plains Indians)
b. Females
i. Skirts
ii. Leggings
iii. Tunics
iv. Buckskin dresses (Cherokee, Apache)
2. Material
a. Deerskin (Cherokee, Iroquois)
b. Buffalo skin (Plains Indians)
3. Footwear
a. Moccasins
D. Food
1. Methods of acquiring food
a. Farming
i. ‘The Three Sisters’ – squash, corn (maize) and
beans
b. Hunting
i. Nomadic tribes
ii. Buffalo (bison)
c. Fishing
i. Practiced by tribes living near the coast or lakes
d. Gathering
i. Practiced by most tribes
ii. Fruit and nuts
E. Religious beliefs and ceremonies
1. Wakan Tanka (The Great Mystery/The Great Spirit)
2. Sun Dance

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 3. Vision Quests
4. Totem poles
5. Dreamcatchers
6. Pow-wows
7. The medicine man (shaman)
F. Travel
1. Walking
2. Canoes
3. Horses
V. Factors influencing early Native Americans’ way of life in different geographical
regions
A. Climate
B. Natural resources
C. Topography
D. Water bodies
VI. Examples of well-known early Native Americans
A. Squanto
1. Wampanoag Indian
2. Assisted Pilgrims of the Plymouth colony
B. Pocahontas
1. Daughter of Powhatan chief
2. Rescued John Smith, leader of Jamestown colony
C. Sequoyah
1. Member of the Cherokee tribe
2. Invented writing system for the Cherokee language
D. Sacagawea
1. Member of the Shoshone tribe
2. Guided Lewis and Clark during their expedition
E. Sitting Bull
1. Leader of the Lakota Sioux
2. Defeated General Custer’s army in the Battle of Little Big Horn

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VII. Evaluating textual material about Native Americans
A. Texts about Native Americans should be accurate and culturally sensitive
B. Some criteria for recognizing culturally acceptable literature about Native
Americans
1. Absence of stereotypes e.g. portrayal of Native Americans as
savages
2. Recognition of distinct Native American cultures
3. Illustrations are accurate and faithful to the specific Native
American culture being represented
4. Absence of loaded words such as ‘primitive’ and ‘warmongering’
5. Authors and illustrators have a background that qualifies them to
write with authority about Native American cultures

GOAL ANALYSIS
(Based on Goal Analysis Tool and Template)

Step 1 – Original goals:

The student will become knowledgeable about Native American culture, think critically
about information about Native Americans and create a culturally accurate learning
artefact that reflects the student’s learning and research ability.

Step 2 – Everything a learner would need to say or do for you to agree the learner
has achieved the goal.

 Define terms related to Native American cultures e.g. ‘Native American’, ‘culture
group/cultural region’ and ‘tribe’.
 Explain how people first came to North America and their relationship to early
Native Americans.
 Identify on a map of North America five main geographical or cultural regions
inhabited by early Native Americans (the Great Plains, the Northeast Woodlands,

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 the Northwest Coast, the Southeast and the Southwest) and associate them with
the culture groups that lived there.
 Describe the way of life (family life, clothing, food etc.) of Native Americans living
in different geographical regions.
 Compare the way of life of different culture groups.
 Explain how factors such as climate, natural resources and topography
influenced life in different geographical regions.
 Identify various well-known early Native Americans and their contributions to the
Native American community and/or the wider community of North Americans.
 Evaluate textual material about Native Americans using given criteria.
 Create a project on a Native American topic that synthesizes information learned
during the unit with information from independent research, and which is an
accurate reflection of Native American cultures.

Step 3 – Sort the items listed in step 2.

Content Area (social studies) Knowledge:

 Define terms related to Native American cultures e.g. ‘Native American’, ‘culture
group/cultural region’ and ‘tribe’.
 Explain how people first came to North America and their relationship to early
Native Americans.
 Identify on a map of North America five main geographical or cultural regions
historically inhabited by Native Americans (the Great Plains, the Northeast
Woodlands, the Northwest Coast, the Southeast and the Southwest) and
associate them with the culture groups that lived there.
 Describe the way of life (family life, clothing, food etc.) of Native Americans living
in different geographical regions.
 Compare the way of life of different culture groups.
 Explain how factors such as climate, natural resources and topography
influenced life in different geographical regions.

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  Identify various well-known early Native Americans and their contributions to the
Native American community and/or the wider community of North Americans.

Critical Literacy Skills

 Evaluate textual material about Native Americans using given criteria.

Research Skills
 Create a project on an early Native American topic that synthesizes information
learned during the unit with information from independent research, and which is
an accurate reflection of Native American cultures.

Step 4 – Write a complete sentence to describe each of the items on your final
list.

Sentence describing content area knowledge goals: The student will demonstrate
knowledge of early Native American cultures.

Sentence describing critical literacy goal: The student will use critical literacy skills to
evaluate textual material about Native Americans.

Sentence describing research skills goal: The student will create a learning artefact
about Native Americans that incorporates and expands on information from the unit of
study.

Goal
Upon successful completion of a unit of study on early Native American cultures, the
student will demonstrate knowledge of early Native American cultures, use critical
literacy skills to evaluate textual material about Native Americans and produce a
culminating project on a self-selected topic related to early Native Americans.

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 Instructional Objectives
INSTRUCTIONAL GOAL
Upon successful completion of a unit of study on early Native American cultures, the
student will demonstrate knowledge of early Native American cultures, use critical
literacy skills to evaluate textual material about Native Americans, and produce a
culminating project on a self-selected topic related to early Native Americans.

TERMINAL OBJECTIVES AND ENABLING OBJECTIVES

 The student will demonstrate knowledge of early Native American culture and
history. (Cognitive domain)
o Define terms related to Native American culture. (COGNITIVE – REMEMBER)
o Explain how people first came to North America and their relationship to
early Native Americans. (COGNITIVE – UNDERSTAND)
o Identify five main geographical regions inhabited by early Native
Americans. (COGNITIVE – REMEMBER)
o Analyze the impact of environmental factors such as climate and natural
resources on the way of life of Native Americans in different geographical
regions. (COGNITIVE – ANALYZE)
o Compare the way of life of Native Americans from different culture groups.
(COGNITIVE – UNDERSTAND)
o Identify well-known early Native Americans and summarize their
contributions to the Native American community and/or the wider
community of North America. (COGNITIVE – REMEMBER/UNDERSTAND)

 The student will demonstrate the ability to evaluate the accuracy and cultural
acceptability of texts about early Native Americans by applying given criteria and
comparing them with authoritative sources. (Cognitive domain)
o Based on assigned readings, identify the criteria for selecting and
evaluating texts about Native Americans. (COGNITIVE – REMEMBER)

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 o Analyze a self-selected text about early Native Americans to determine in
what ways it does or does not meet the requirements for culturally
acceptable portrayals of Native Americans. (COGNITIVE – ANALYZE)
o Compare the content of the self-selected text with authoritative sources to
determine the degree of accuracy of the text. (COGNITIVE – UNDERSTAND)
o Draw an evaluative conclusion about the text that is clearly connected to
the criteria and analysis. (COGNITIVE – EVALUATE)

 The student will demonstrate the ability to carry out independent research and
apply learned knowledge by creating an artefact that exemplifies some aspect of
early Native American cultures. (Cognitive domain)
o Review sources of information about early Native Americans in order to
select a research topic. (COGNITIVE - REMEMBER)
o Present a rationale for the chosen topic and presentation format.
(COGNITIVE – UNDERSTAND)
o Evaluate possible information sources for the research and compile a
bibliography of reference material. (COGNITIVE – ANALYZE/EVALUATE)
o Create and present the artefact according to presentation guidelines.
(COGNITIVE – CREATE)

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 Enabling Objectives Matrix

Title of the unit/module: Early Native American Cultures

Target audience: Homeschooled, grade 6 student
Terminal Objective: The student will demonstrate the ability to evaluate the accuracy
and cultural acceptability of texts about early Native Americans by applying given
criteria and comparing them with authoritative sources. (Cognitive domain)
Pre-Instructional Strategy: The student will complete an anticipation guide to identify
prior knowledge and beliefs about early Native Americans

Enabling Level on Bloom’s Learner Activity Delivery Method

Objective Taxonomy (What would learners (Group
do to master this presentation/lecture, self-
objective?) paced, or small group)
Based on Cognitive - The learner will read Individualized instruction,
assigned Remember two articles and but not self-paced. The
readings, complete a table listing student has to complete
identify the the characteristics of assignments during the
criteria for texts that are culturally time frame determined by
selecting and acceptable and ones the instructor.
evaluating that are not.
texts about
Native
Americans.
Analyze a Cognitive - The learner will identify Individualized instruction,
self-selected Analyze at least four features of but not self-paced. The
text about a self-selected text student has to complete
early Native about Native Americans assignments during the
Americans to and apply the given time frame determined by
determine in criteria to decide the instructor.
what ways it whether each feature
does or does would be culturally
not meet the acceptable or not.
requirements
for culturally
acceptable
portrayals of
Native
Americans.

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 Enabling Level on Bloom’s Learner Activity Delivery Method
Objective Taxonomy (What would learners (Group
do to master this presentation/lecture, self-
objective?) paced, or small group)
Compare the Cognitive - The learner will list four Individualized instruction,
content of the Compare pieces of information but not self-paced. The
self-selected from a self-selected text student has to complete
text with about Native Americans assignments during the
authoritative and state whether they time frame determined by
sources to are accurate or not by the instructor.
determine the consulting authoritative
degree of sources.
accuracy of
the text.
Draw an Cognitive - The learner will write Individualized instruction,
evaluative Evaluate two paragraphs but not self-paced. The
conclusion evaluating the self- student has to complete
about the text selected text for assignments during the
that is clearly accuracy and cultural time frame determined by
connected to acceptability on the the instructor.
the criteria basis of the given
and analysis. criteria and analysis.

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 References

Clark, D. (n.d.). John Keller’s ARCS model of motivational design. Retrieved from

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/id/arcs_model.html

Levels of processing (F. Craik & R. Lockhart). (n.d.). In InstructionalDesign.org.

Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/levels-processing/

Multiple intelligences (Howard Gardner). (n.d.). In InstructionalDesign.org. Retrieved

from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/multiple-intelligences/

Tracey, D. H., & Morrow, L. M. (2012). Lenses on reading: An introduction to theories

and models (2nd ed.). New York and London: The Guilford Press.

Wheeler, S. (2017, Nov. 22). Learning theories: Jermone Bruner on the scaffolding

of learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/learning

theories-jerome-bruner-scaffolding-learning/

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