Issues in

Instructional
Design – JOT2
Task 2
Samantha Yarborough
June 20, 2019
 The Three
Learning Theories
 Learning Theories Benefits
Constructivism • Student centered
learning
• Real-world setting
• Exploration
Behaviorism • Creates observable and
measurable behaviors
• Uses consequences and
reinforcement of
behaviors
• Lectures can easily be
used
• Teacher centered
Cognitivism • Use of visual aids
(demonstrations, mind
maps, pictures, graphs,
etc.)
• Links to students prior
knowledge
• Encourages learner to
take some ownership of
the learning process
Adopted from Learning Theories and Instructional Strategies
When to use
• Building new knowledge
• Field trips
• Research projects
• Group projects
• Acquiring new, fact
based, knowledge
• Need a clear answer
(yes/no, true/false)
• Building fluency
• Organizing new
knowledge
• Story mapping
• Character charts
• Historical Timelines
A. When do I use Constructivism

 Beneficial at the end of a unit to solidify

the learning.
 Best used on field trips or in mock real-
world circumstances.
 Money management
 Building bridge to hold objects
 Economics
 Creating and running a government
 A. When do I use Cognitivism?
 ELA
 Creating story or character maps
 Using graphic organizer to visualize Greek or Latin root words
 Math
 Use a interactive notebook to record take notes on concepts, create visuals
examples, record real-world examples.
 Science
 Parts of plant visual with a word bank
 Social Studies
 Organize cases and effects of wars
A. When do I use Behaviorism?

 Recalling facts:
 Sight words
 Math multiplication facts
 Historical dates
 Elements on the periodic table
 Math formals
B.Learning theory used in the Pete the Cat
and His Four Groovy Buttons lesson plan
(Nancy Branch).

Lesson Objectives:
• After listening to a story, students will answer questions about
details in the story, with 80% accuracy.
• After listening to a story and given picture/sentence cards about
the story, the student will retell story events using beginning,
middle, and end.
B. Learning Theory Reflected in Lesson
Plan
 Cognitivism is used in this lesson
• Teacher stimulates prior-knowledge by reviewing pervious
Pete the Cat books they have read.
• Students are guided in their learning of applying their
knowledge of beginning, middle, and end of stories.
• Teacher uses visual aids:
 Construction paper cat, coat, buttons
 Sentence strips
C. Explain how you would adapt the original lesson plan
(e.g., activities, assessment) to reflect a different
learning theory.
● To adapt the lesson to fit the behaviorism theory, I would remove the
visual aids and have students simply recall the story after it was read
to them.
● I could use a multiple choice or matching exam.
● To adapt the lesson to fit constructionism theory, I would expand the
lesson to include students writing a story with similar rhymes.
● Students would be graded on a rubric and required to make a physical
book or comic strip.
D. Most Beneficial Lesson Plan and
Justification
● The current lesson is the most beneficial for the
students in my separate setting classroom.
● It provides activation of prior knowledge, visuals my
students can manipulate throughout or after the story,
and sentence strips.
● I would only add photos to sentence strips for my
students who can not read.
E. Benefits of Following a Design
Theory

● Following a design theory allows for

teachers to follow research based
practices when creating lessons and
activities.
● By following a design theory the
educator will be sure that each
component of the lesson is useful for
the unit objective
● Students will understand what is
expected of them
F. Strengths of Backwards Design

 Look at end goal: what should the

students know or do
 Create assessments based off this
information
 All learning tasks are aligned to end
goal
 Can plan the year in advance so
that learning builds on itself
F. Limitations of Backwards Design

 Assessments or End-of-grade exams are the focal point

to instruction
 Once learning beginnings data might call is more time
allotted to a unit that throws off the remainder of the
year.
 More time give to reworking and recreating units based
on results
F. Strengths of Gagne’s Events

 Easy for unexperienced teachers to

follow
 Builds on students prior-knowledge
 Students understand the
goal/objective
 Gives modeling for visual or
kinesthetic learners
 Allows for retention after
assessment

Cunningham, Donald, Corry, Michael. 1996

F. Limitations of Gagne’s Events

 Ridge formula
 Can lead to students becoming
disengaged
 Teacher-centered
 Little room for re-teaching before
assessing

Cunningham, Donald, Corry, Michael. 1996

F. Strengths of Teaching for
Understanding
 Increases student involvement in the learning
process
 Students work together
 Gives many chances for students to show what
they know
 Students know the criteria for which they are
assessed

Wiggins, Grant. 2004

F. Weaknesses of Teaching for
Understanding

 Sometimes time consuming to

prepare and deliver

 Hard to accommodate students

transferring in or out of school

Wiggins, Grant. 2004

G. Most Appropriate Design Theory
for middle school separate setting
classroom
 Backward Design
 Through backward design I will be able to
make sure learning activities align with
NCEXTEND Content standards and students IEP
goals.
 By first looking at the big ideas I want my
adaptive classroom students to know, I can
utilize their “breaks” and free play time to
support the big ideas for the year. This will
increase their exposer to the content
throughout the year.
G. Example(s) of Most Appropriate
Design Theory in My Instructional
Setting
● After looking at a students IEP goal of
increasing sight word recognition, I
research an appropriate assessment. Next,
I plan learning activities to teach the
needed skills.
● After looking at the NCEXTEND math
standard for graphing I create an
assessment that will clearly show if
students have mastered creating a graph
from given data. Next, I plan various group
and hands-on activities that aligning with
the final assessment.
H. References

● Wiggins, Grant. 2004. Understanding by

design.
www.grantwiggins.org/documenets/mtunio
ntalk.pdf
● Cunningham, Donald, Corry, Michael.
1996. Gagne’s Theory of Instruction
H. References

 Learning Theories and Instructional Strategies Matrix.

Retrieved from WGU 6/11/2019. Summary of Ertmer, P.
T. & Newby, T. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism,
constructivism: Comparing critical features from an
instructional design perspective. Performance
improvement quarterly, 6(4), 50–72.
 Branch, N. (n.d.). Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy
Buttons [PDF]. Share My Lesson.
https://sharemylesson.com/system/files/lesson_materi
al/SITEUSER/2013/3/29/c39468a8066643788f185ead623
9ca3b.pdf