Development, Learning and Cognition Lauren Young, 110227306

Assignment 2: Lesson Plan Analysis Essay

Health and Physical Education is a vital and relevant subject in the Australian Curriculum
creating a foundation for a student’s knowledge and understanding of health enhancing
decisions, whilst fostering resilience, sense of self and teamwork (ACARA, 2016). In this
Health and Physical Education lesson year 5 students will learn about movement and
rhythm. The lesson consists of three main activities, Picking the Beat, The Name Game
and Get-Up Dance routine. In these activities students will reproduce and create new
dance moves in which their movement, creativity and rhythm will be assessed. The lesson
covers the strands moving our body, understanding movement and learning through
movement covering multiple content descriptors (ACARA, 2016). The most prominent
being to ‘practise specialised movement skills and apply them in a variety of movement
sequences and situations’ (ACPMP061, ACARA, 2016) with the elaboration ‘experimenting
with different music genres when performing creative dances’ (ACARA, 2016).

The education system has changed considerably over the years, with a major move in
teaching practices (Green & Gredler, 2002). Pre-service teachers are taught to avoid the
outdated use of worksheets and rote learning instead focusing on becoming
constructivist educators (Green & Gredler, 2002). The constructivist method of teaching
encourages group based cooperative work, visual learning, problem solving and critical
thinking. It is important that pre-service teachers have an extensive understanding of
how children develop, think and learn (AITSL, 2016). The Australian professional
standards for teachers (2006) highlights the need for teachers to maintain a high quality
of professional knowledge, professional practice and professional engagement. Likewise
the teaching for effective learning framework (2010) stresses the importance of ‘Creating
safe conditions for rigorous learners’, ‘Developing expert learners’ and ‘Personalise and
connect learning’. These guidelines have been created to ensure maximum and
consistent teaching standards across the state and country. To assist in achieving these
standards, pre-service teachers have a strong basis of knowledge concerning the
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psychological perspectives of a child’s development, learning and cognition, enhancing

their ability to understand and teach their future students.

Theorists, in particular, Piaget and Vygotsky, have provided the foundation to

understanding a constructivist approach, highlighting that learners actively construct
their own knowledge along with the importance of social interaction in the knowledge
construction process (Devries, 2000). Piaget described cognitive development to be an
organised, age related process, with his big ideas being the four stages of cognitive
development and the construction of knowledge. Vygotsky’s theory highlights the
importance that social interaction plays in children’s cognitive development, including his
big ideas, zone of proximal development and forms of language.

PIAGET

Stages of Development

Jean Piaget divided a child’s development into four major stages; Sensorimotor (0-2
years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years) and formal
operational (11-adult). The children taking part in this lesson will be around the age of 10
or 11 and would therefore fall into the concrete and formal operational stages. Susan W.
Stinton (1985) stresses that the characteristics of each stage should not be used as a rigid
framework in determination of what and how to teach students. Instead it should be
used as a brief insight of the ideal methods of teaching which must be tailored to suit the
class and individual students.

Piaget suggests that during the concrete operational stage of development, a child can
mentally manipulate objects and events and has the ability to describe why the changes
occur (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016). Once this in this stage the student will have flexible,
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organized and logical thought resulting in the capacity to overcome ego-centrism,

centration, and they will have the ability to use transformation and reverse mental
operations (Stinson S, 1985). Due to their lack of ego-centrism the students will be more
willing to consider other’s viewpoints, allowing for question and information exchange. In
the lesson plan the students are expected to work co-operatively with their peers and
demonstrate positive communication and interaction, reflecting use of a prominent trait
in the students age group.

Student’s in the concrete operational stage allow set rules to govern their behaviour,
leading to more efficient co-operation (Stinson S, 1985). This lesson plan provides clear
instructions to the student’s which facilitates successful collaborative work and helps to
keep them on task. The teacher explains each of the activities and provides structured
tasks, including a choreographed dance, for the students to follow. During the concrete
operational stage students have the ability evaluate their progress in relation to concrete
goals. Providing the students with concise aims and class outcomes in the beginning of
the lesson will foster this progress evaluation (Stinson S, 1985). The students may be
instructed that by the end of the lesson they are expected to know and understand three
traits of hip hop dancing. Children in the concrete stage can successfully decentre and
have a stronger spatial perspective with the use of external reference points (Stinson S,
1985) This knowledge will be appropriately used when the students are instructed to
recreate dance moves, showing a better understanding of how to mirror the exact
movement.

Students who have reached the formal operations stage will find aspects of the lesson
easier than those who are still at the concrete operational stage (Woolfolk & Margetts,
2016, p. 84). They will solve problems through thinking of possibilities, rather than just
observing and acting (Stinson S, 1985). Therefore their movements are likely to be more
planned, although these may be visually robotic in their movement. To prevent this the
teacher stresses the importance of listening and maintaining movement to the beat. At
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this stage the complexity of their work will increase and they can hypothesise about
possible changes (Stinson S, 1985). These students have the chance to use these skills
during the ‘Picking the Beat’ and ‘Name Game’ activities, where they may create
complex, creative dance moves. Students in the formal operations stage can also focus
on multiple dimensions of a task at once (Stinson S, 1985). These students will find
replicating the teachers moves easier and will be more successful at coordinating all
aspects of each movement. They will be more critical of others and their own work and
are more likely to become frustrated if they do not achieve adequate success (Stinson S,
1985). The lesson plan Includes constant encouragement, support and positive
reinforcement which will help to alleviate any self-doubt.

Construction of knowledge

Piaget theorised that when constructing knowledge two basic tendencies occur,
organisation and adaption.

Organising thinking processes into psychological structures provides easier

understanding and interaction with our surroundings (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 82).
Piaget named these structures schemes; ‘the basic building blocks to thinking’ (Woolfolk
& Margetts, 2016, p. 82). They are the students mental systems of categories, created
through their perceptions and experiences (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 82). In the
context of this lesson these schemes are the basis of the child’s understanding of the
movement and dance. Student’s will also have a scheme for the hip hop music used in
the first activity. Although the songs Bali party, Ice ice baby and Whoomp! may be out
dated, they would still recognise the sounds and react to the music as they would other
hip hop music. If the lesson was to use current hip hop music, students may find the
songs easier to follow and dance to.
The children in the class will have varying levels of schemes relative to dancing, this pre-
structure may play a positive or negative role in their interpretation of hip hop dancing
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(Zhiqing, 2015). Some students may have a thorough knowledge set about the specific
hip hop dance, others may have schemes about general dance and others may have no
or very minimal understanding of dance. The lesson plan caters for the students of a
broad ability set. It begins with a simple introduction into dance, focusing on beat and
rhythm incorporating simple movements, clapping and marching. It then gradually
progresses into more challenge activities, where the students may develop their skill set
through forming and following difficult dance moves. With this gradual introduction into
hip hop dance the students will have the opportunity to adapt their schemes.

Adaption consists of two basic processes; assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation

occurs when people use their existing schemes to make sense of situations (Woolfolk &
Margetts, 2016, p. 83). Students may familiarise dance moves with actions that occur in
their everyday life. The teacher uses this assimilating pathway to help the children to
understand and remember the dance moves with less difficulty. In the Get-Up dance
routine the teacher uses descriptive actions to describe most dance moves such as ‘table
thump’, ‘under the bridge’ and ‘low explosion’.

Accommodation takes place when an existing scheme is changed in response to a new

situation (Stinson S, 1985). When something unknown is met and it does not fit with any
pre-existing schemes a new scheme will be developed (Zhiqing, 2015). Children may
create a scheme for hip hop dancing to their system for understanding dance. To help to
create the new scheme the teacher ‘highlights three key elements of skillful hip hop
dancing techniques’. It may also be helpful if the teacher discusses the major defining
features of hip hop dance comparable to other dance styles, so the students can make an
informed and well developed scheme whilst avoiding confusion (Stinson S, 1985). Piaget
emphasizes that accommodation will only occur when the new stimulus arouses interest
in the subject, thus if the student is disinterested they are unlikely to create a new
scheme for hip hop dancing (Zhiqing, 2015).
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Piaget noted that these cognitive changes occurring are complex and need balance, this
is found through the process of equilibration (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p.83). This
occurs when the adequacy of thinking processes are tested through applying schemes to
certain situations and testing its success (Zhiqing, 2015). In the context of the lesson plan,
students will find equilibration through the positive reinforcement provided as they are
reassured that they are correctly dancing hip hop.

VYGOTSKY

Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky introduced a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), this refers to the difference
between child’s individual skill development and their potential skill development with
guidance or collaboration with a more knowledgeable other (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016,
p. 98). Guidance can occur through assisted learning, in the form of temporary and
adaptive support, referred to as scaffolding (Smit, Van & Bakker, 2013). With the
provision of information, prompts and encouragement, scaffolding can successfully
improve the learning ability of a student (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 99). These forms
of scaffolding are regularly apparent in the lesson plan. The teacher provides the
students with information about the elements and dancing techniques apparent in hip
hop within the introduction of the lesson. The teacher will prompt the students with
dance move ideas and provide constant positive encouragement.

A teacher can provide this scaffolding through one-to-one interaction or through a

whole-class scaffolding approach (Smit, Van & Bakker, 2013). In a large classroom it is
unrealistic to provide individual scaffolding to each and every student (Guk & Kellogg,
2007). Therefore a whole-class scaffolding approach is to be applied. This approach is
distributed over a length of time diagnosing student’s knowledge, adjusting lessons and
fostering independence (Smit, Van & Bakker, 2013). In the single lesson, it is evident in
the way the teacher assesses the classes level of ability and continues to teach the
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students gradually, ensuring everybody is understanding the elements as the class moves
forwards, it concludes with group work which fosters independence from the teacher
and minimal individual scaffolding.

The teacher develops the student’s skills individually throughout the lesson, guiding and
assisting their dancing. A teacher aim supplied is to provide better individual feedback, it
also strives the importance to observe and be aware of the struggling and highly able
students thus providing support or challenges where appropriate. The teacher provides
students with individual feedback, helping them to gauge their progress and know where
they can make improvements.

In any classroom there is a large spectrum of students with varying levels of abilities (Guk
& Kellogg, 2007). The students at the upper end of the spectrum may have the
knowledge and ability to help other less knowledgeable students, this is referred to as
student-student mediated scaffolding (Guk & Kellogg, 2007). This lesson plan considers
that there are students who would be more knowledgeable than others, the teacher asks
if any students have experience hip hop dancing. An appropriate strategy to maximise
scaffolding inclusion would be to divide these more knowledgeable students amongst the
groups of less capable students who have not had dance experience before. The teacher
can organise the social environment of learning (Guk & Kellogg, 2007) promoting this
student-student interaction which has high potential for successful teaching as peers are
more in tune with each-others ZPD (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 99).

Language
Vygotsky stresses the utmost importance that language holds in a child’s cognitive
development. A child will use multiple forms of language throughout their learning, social
language when engaging with others, private speech when they talk aloud to themselves
and silent inner speech consisting of internalized thoughts (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016,
p. 97).
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Social speech is encouraged throughout the health and physical education lesson,
students are instructed to demonstrate positive communication and interaction. They
will use their social speech when providing opinions, asking questions and giving
instructions. Social speech is endorsed through the collaborative group work included in
the picking the beat activity. Student speech is regularly prompted in the lesson by the
teacher, through the inclusion of questions ‘Who has done hip hop dancing before?’, ‘Did
you find it fun?’ and ‘What was your favourite move?’. To promote more developed and
interactive social speech the teacher could provide open ended questions which instigate
class discussion and debate (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 453). Questions such as
‘What do you know about hip hop dancing?’ and ‘How did the hip hop dancing make you
feel?’ would be appropriate.

Dale Johnston (2006) highlighted the importance of private speech in developing

dancers, expressing concern for those students who have their private speech repressed
when learning. Vygotsky’s theory highlights that speech and actions unify to develop
higher metal functions and abstract intelligence (Johnston, 2006). Private speech is used
by students to direct their own thoughts and behaviours (Johnston, 2006), unfortunately
the lesson plan fails to promote private or inner speech. It is likely that students will still
naturally use private or inner speech during the lesson, and it is critical that the teacher
does not inhibit this, more preferably it should be encouraged (Johnston, 2006). In the
Get-Up dance routine activity the teacher uses cues and names for movements to help
the students remember them, they may expand on this and encourage the students to
verbalise each movement. Private speech peaks around the age of 9 and then begins to
occur less (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 98). At the ages of 10 and 11 the students may
prefer to use inner speech to maintain track of their dance movements, this could also be
encouraged (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 98). Students may use private or inner
speech when creating dance moves, talking themselves through possible combinations.
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Private speech is also a form of self-scaffolding. A student will use their private speech as
prompts, therefore entering their ZPD (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016, p. 98). Private speech
helps the student to regulate their thinking, understanding their thought processes more
clearly through verbalisation. Tuija Aro et al (2014) established the effectiveness of
private speech use in relation to improved cognitive abilities and results. If the students
facilitate private speech it is possible that they are more likely to succeed and attain
greater results than if they avoid private speech use.

With detailed analysis, elements of Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories are apparent within
the Health and Physical Education lesson plan, proving for a successful social
constructivist method of teaching. The lesson plan was found to appropriately teach
students in both the concrete and formal operations stages focusing on teaching to their
strengths in learning. It considered a student’s ability to organise and adapt information
ensuring the students were well informed about the new skill. The students zone of
proximal development was targeted for maximal learning and social speech was highly
encouraged. Most importantly students are likely to find this lesson fun and engaging
whilst learning and achieving the assessment criteria.

This analysis highlights the importance of a well-planned lesson and the multiple
elements needed to achieve students maximal learning. Pre-service teachers can develop
an extended understanding of these successful teaching strategies through
understanding psychological perspectives explaining the development, learning and
cognition of children. In turn they will continue to develop Australia’s educational system
and teaching practices for the better.

Word Count: 2779

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