Educ 891: Instructional Outcomes and Strategies

Stuart Mitchell
March 25, 2017
Introduction

The intention of this project is to address the gap in knowledge defined through

our Needs Assessment paper which is the comprehension of fractional measurement in

a meaningful way. During interviews with teachers and through informal classroom

testing and experience as well as through available literature we discovered that

students do understand the concept of a fraction and understand how to use a ruler in a

simple way. The gap in knowledge revealed was that students have difficulty using a

fraction as a basis of comparison, or scale, which was revealed by 22 of the 48 teachers

who reported that their students could not use a tape measure. This problem is further

increased by a lack of understanding of how to use a ruler or scale physically. We have

designed a website that will allow students the opportunity to manipulate concrete

objects on the screen in a way that will bridge the gap between procedural knowledge

and a deeper understanding of the process of fractional measurement. The website will

also create the opportunity for students to work away from the computer in an

interactive setting. The students will apply the knowledge gained online in a physical,

hands-on environment in collaboration with other students. We also found that some

teachers also struggle with the same concept; they are unsure of how to present the

material and are unprepared to address the needs of students who demonstrate

difficulty. The website will provide the opportunity for teachers to share resources and to

learn the process alongside the student in a meaningful and constructive way.
Instructional Outcomes

By using this resource, students will be able to demonstrate a deeper

understanding of fractions and fractional measurement. During our surveys and testing

in the needs assessment, we found that most students had achieved a base knowledge

of remembering a procedure and to be able to apply that procedure to measure objects.

We hope that students will be able to demonstrate a higher level of understanding,

according to Bloom's taxonomy, the ability to use the learned material and translate it to

new situations and to differentiate and draw connections between the acquired

knowledge. By applying the knowledge in new situations and to draw connections

between different measuring situations, the students will be able to confirm

understanding of the concept. The website also provides students the opportunity to use

the acquired knowledge and, if challenged, to be able to explain their decisions in a way

that shows true understanding. Using Larson and Lockee’s KASIs model, students will

specifically:

-Use concrete objects as a base of scale.

-Use portions of the concrete objects to measure with increasing accuracy.

-Apply a scaled unit (standard, or imperial scale) to measure objects from less

than one inch to several feet.

-Use portions (fractions) of an inch to an accuracy of ⅛” of an inch.

-Be able to demonstrate the skills required to accurately use a ruler.

-To extend the skilled use of a ruled fractional linear scale to other skills such as

liquid and circumference measurement.

 -To be able to demonstrate an ability to work with other students to learn from

and teach other students the concepts in a enjoyable environment.

This resource is structured in a way to be most meaningful to students in grades 6 to 8,

although we believe the learning could be easily adapted and applied to younger and

older grade levels.

The website is designed in a way that a student could use most of the material

outside of the classroom environment. By making the resource available outside of the

classroom we hope to allow students the opportunity to reinforce learned curricula,

perhaps even create a venue which would allow students to share the ideas with family

or students outside of the classroom. The website is designed to be a bit silly and fun, in

a way that would encourage students to want to show the material to others. Hopefully

this approach will create a strong learning experience for students as they teach others

how to measure in an unconventional and fun way. By giving students the chance to be

engaging with others and extending their learning by sharing and teaching others, we

hope to reinforce the Constructivist and Connectivist ideals of learning design.

The learning will be worthwhile and “need to know” (Larson, Lockee pg 118) as

students will be able to apply the knowledge gained to their own life in a meaningful

way. For example, students will be able to use a tape measure with an imperial,

fractional scale to find the length of a piece of wood in a project, or to use a set of

measurements to determine where to make cuts in a piece of wood. Another example of

applying skills gained could be that learners will also be able to decide where to make

divisions in material as they extend their comprehension of fractions.

 Another learning outcome of the website would be to teach students how to use

a ruled scale. During our needs assessment we found a few common errors made by

students in the use of a ruler. Common areas of difficulty included:

-Counting “hash marks” rather than spaces to measure.

-incorrectly using units ie: the “broken ruler” experiment”

-Difficulty understanding start points on the ruler.

Many of the difficulties arise during the use of a ruler because of an incomplete

understanding of the fractional division of the ruler. Students typically learn the

procedure to use a ruler and when they cannot rely on the procedure, for example if the

ruler is labelled differently or if the starting point is changed, they experience confusion.

The needs assessment paper focused on the details of the confusion if clarification is

needed. The website has been constructed in a way that gives students the opportunity

to learn the basics of fractional scale, than gradually working into using the scale with

hash marks and traditional units.

Teachers will be given the opportunity to learn and be part of a learning

community as well. The instructional outcomes include the opportunity for teachers to

demonstrate understanding by guiding students through the process, and to be able to

offer struggling students the opportunity to learn the material in a meaningful way. The

website provides classroom activities that will reinforce learning, as well as a forum for

teachers to share resources and ideas. We would hope that as teachers contribute and

become involved in the teaching and learning process, the resource would grow and

become more effective as a teaching and learning tool. The website also allows

instructors with limited time and resources to teach fractional measurement . The
concept can be difficult to teach in a class setting because often students require one

on one time with the teacher to fully understand and learn. By combining the online

environment with the classroom, the challenge of limited time will be alleviated as

students gain base knowledge and comprehension independently. The opportunity for

students to learn from one another is also a potential learning outcome of this resource.

Assessing student progress is simple because students cannot move on without

choosing the right answer. Students can create a “work around” by repeatedly picking

answers until the correct one is found. Teachers who suspect this, if it becomes an

issue, can of course check the web history. Further assessment could be constructed

by the teacher when students reach the points in the process that are classroom

interactive. As the website develops, features such as extra classroom activities that

could be traditionally assessed will be introduced.

Instructional Strategies

The website is structured to address the learning outcomes through interactive,

concrete and structured activities. The resource can be used individually or in small

groups by students and as a classroom activity. It is our personal experience, however,

that if students must work in small groups, it is best to avoid groups of more than two

students. Three students is adequate but more than three students tends to lead to at

least one student being disengaged.

The intention of this project is to create a resource that reflects the “situated

learning” style suggested by Clancey (1995) and Stein (1998), in that it allows students

to be involved in learning that is realistic and problem-centered as well as gaining

knowledge that is applied outside of the learning environment. The learning “is

grounded in the actions of everyday situations” Clancey (1995) and allows learners the

opportunity to use common and available objects as learning tools. The use of an object

as benign as a banana is intentional; it is a strategy of removing the typical “academic”

and procedural feel that often accompanies math. We have also used the possessive in

the language of the website, using phrases such as “How many of my heads does it

take to measure a T-Rex?” The intention is to create a personal atmosphere that

hopefully is unintimidating and amusing as well!

Using Larson and Lockee’s defined learner interaction strategies the website will

address the key areas outlined on pages 116-117:

Learner-to-Context Interaction

Students will be able to access online video demonstrations to clarify questions

that arise. The process of using the resource is also very interactive as the student

physically moves objects on the screen to learn about scale and fractions. Available

technology in most classroom settings are more than adequate to use the website

without difficulties. An offline version is not available.

Learner-to-Instructor Interaction

While the website is designed to be used primarily with little input from an

instructor, there are several checkpoints that allow for student/teacher interaction such

as classroom organization and learning checkpoints.

Learner-to-Learner Interaction

There are stop points in the process that allow for students to work together to

solve measurement problems. It is assumed that as a student reaches this point that the
required base level of knowledge will be gained. This assumption is valid because the

students are not able to move forward in the process without accomplishing tasks

designed to build and scaffold the learning process. Ideally, students will be working at

about the same rate and will be able to find a partner. If the website is being used as a

classroom exercise the students will naturally all be at the same point and the

measurement challenges could be set up by the teacher as a fun challenge between the

groups. Throughout the process, students will read comments such as “Why not use

your friends’ arm to measure with?” or, “If your measurements are very different from

your class results, find out why!” This learning strategy intentionally provides the

opportunity for students to be in a situated learning environment.

Learner-to-Self Interaction

The website asks the learner to reflect on the process as they progress.

Questions are posed which allow the opportunity for the student to think about the

“challenge” they have just accomplished and to apply the learned material to their own

experience.

As students move through instruction, the first steps are very basic and require

little or no fraction based learning. The steps become more involved and complex as the

learner progresses and becomes more confident with the material. Knowledge is being

built upon previously gained knowledge as the learner progresses through a

Constructivist approach of design and learning. Each step is reinforced by review before

the learner progresses. The reviews also ask the student leading questions to

encourage more thought, such as, “Think about this… what if the T-Rex is a bit bigger

or a bit smaller than my head?” This sentence seems like complete nonsense out of
context but it is intentional; it makes complete sense in the learning environment of the

website. The intention is that the learning is not procedural, students are not required to

have an academic “math” language to learn. While the students are becoming familiar

with the use of fractions and fractional measurement, the degree of understanding

allows the student to focus on the process of comparing objects to a known, divided,

object. Issues that are common with rulers, ie: counting hash marks, confusion from

units and incomplete understanding of starting points become less pervasive as

students understand measurement and fractions conceptually rather than as a

procedure. When problems arise as a procedure is challenged, students will be less

likely to experience confusion and setbacks.

The design of the website is task centered and exhibits the “pebble in the pond”

concept proposed by Merill (2007). As the students move through the challenges they

are given the opportunity to apply and integrate what they have learned in previous

steps. Each step is “able to stand on its own” but has relevance to the whole learning

process and builds on each subsequent step. Checkpoints are included that allow for

students to apply the gained knowledge and experience in a practical way.

Instructional Technologies

Please refer to the website at stumitchell.org to get a clear picture of the (almost)

completed project. The website is setup as a series of steps that begin with a very basic

premise; to click and drag a banana around the screen. An amusing photo is included to

start the process on a light note. The addition of an unrelated image also is a way to

gain attention, as suggested by Gagne and something I learned as a new teacher; I

start each lesson with a personal story or a question and answer time to gain student

attention. Once the student is ready, they can choose to click a button labelled “Let’s Do

This!” that starts the learning. I have included a short video in the first step to explain the

process and why one might use a banana to measure with. The idea is that the steps

are formatted as “Challenges”. Completing each step moves the student towards a

more complex level. The first official challenge is to drag bananas over a train. The

bananas are sized so the answer is a whole number. An incorrect answer will give an

option to start over or try the last step again. The next step introduces a problem, which

is that the object to drag do not match up to whole objects, but a number “close” to a

whole. The challenge pages often have a small comment box that prompts for prior

learning and personal experience to help solve the problem presented. A correct

answer leads to the next page which offers an explanation to clarify and encourages the

student to keep moving. Gagne again suggests “informing the learner of the objective”

which initiates the “internal process of expectancy”. At this point I have linked another

video which explains the next idea, which is to break whole objects into parts. The

challenge is to drag ½ sections of the banana over a biplane and choose the best

answer. Subsequent steps move into the introduction of a scale and later, smaller

objects of reference with the eventual elimination of known objects and the introduction

of an inch. At this point the student would have a basic knowledge of how to use the

inch scale to a degree of a ½” inch.

The steps to this point have all been on the computer. While this is an

effective way to start the process of learning and to create a solid procedural and

conceptual framework it is lacking in both hands-on practice and a more connectivist

instructional format. This gap will be filled by giving students the opportunity to practise

in the classroom, away from the computer and in a social setting with other students.

The learner is asked to trace a ruler on the screen once the example ruler has been

scaled to match the size of a quarter. Having the ruler be traced has a few advantages:

-The teacher will not be required to supply a class set of rulers, which greatly

simplifies the process as not all classes will have a class set of imperial rulers.

-The measuring scale will be consistent throughout the class and will not change

as students bring in different scales, complicating the process.

-The scale of the ruler is set to a maximum accuracy of ½” inch. This is very

important for the learning process because most rulers are far too fine in scale, such as

1/16” or even 1/32” of an inch. We have found that without the proper scaffolding

through learning a larger scale first, such as ½”, students become very confused in

short order.

-Tracing the ruler provides a learning opportunity as the student takes a mental

image and transfers it to a physical object.

The students are presented with several objects that are common to the

classroom and asked to measure and record the results of the measuring. At this point,

the teacher could offer more objects to trace and suggest challenges, such as

measuring objects that are outside of the small size of the ruler. The process of

measuring objects larger than the ruler provided is an opportunity for the students to

move from Blooms LOT thinking to HOT thinking as the learned task must be

transferred and applied to a new setting. This step also corresponds loosely to Gagnes’
7th step of “Rule learning”, where the learner takes a known, learned condition and

applies it to a new environment.

Having students work in groups gives the opportunity to create a situational

environment as the students work together to achieve a common goal. Students who

are struggling, can use this opportunity to elicit peer help as well as giving the

opportunity for students who are excelling to reinforce the learned material by teaching

it to others.

A potential issue of computer access is recognized although most schools do

have class access to web-based technologies through the booking of labs or

“Computers with wheels” (COWs). Another potential issue could be student familiarity

with the technology, which is easily overcome by a teacher or partner student peer with

computer familiarity. During informal testing of the website in 8 different groups of

students, the website was easily accessed and used by all students. The interface is

very easy to use; it is well explained and intuitive.

References:

Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive

Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.

Merrill, D. M. (2007). A task centered instructional strategy. Journal of Research on

Technology in Education, 40(1), 5-22

Clancey, W. J. (1995). A tutorial on situated learning.

http://methodenpool.unikoeln.de/situierteslernen/clancey_situated_learning.PDF

Oregon

Gagne R, Briggs L, Wager W, editors. 3rd edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston;

1998. Principles of instructional design.

Technology in Education Council (OTEC) (2007). Situated Learning (From: Theories

and Transfer of Learning.

http://otec.uoregon.edu/learning_theory.htm#SituatedLearning

Stein, D. (1998). Situated learning in adult education.

Mitchell, Silva, Thomas (2017) EDUC 891 Needs Assessment “Educational Gap in

Teaching Linear Fractional Measurement

Wang, Qiyun(2008)'A generic model for guiding the integration of ICT into teaching and

learning',Innovations in Education and Teaching International,45:4,411 — 419

Miriam Larson & Barbara B. Lockee (2014). Streamlined ID: A Practical Guide to

Instructional Design. Routledge.