Importance of the Learning Intentions - Assignment Example

Interpreting, using and justifying a curriculum plan Affiliation PART Early childhood plan option 1.Are the learning intentions and the learning experience an effective and appropriate response to the scenario? Explain your response. The learning intentions are the objectives the teacher aim to attain after taking the learners through a particular learning process. Learning experiences on the other hand, are the class activities the teacher takes the learners through to help them grasp the intended concept (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority(ACARA), 2014). Therefore, for the teacher to achieve the aimed objectives, he must choose careful the learning experiences that would enable the learners to understand the concepts easily hence, effective learning. From the given scenario of early childhood curricula of making a seesaw on a twin tree, both the learning intentions and class experiences chosen by the teacher were on point. In the teaching and learning process, it is advisable that teachers should start from known concepts to unknown concepts. This means that the teacher should start teaching the learners right from prior knowledge the learners know before introducing them to new knowledge and experiences (Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), 2014). This is exactly what the teacher did; he wanted the learners to apply the skills they have on playground seesaws and make their own from natural materials outside the school playground. Thus, the learners just transferred the knowledge and skills they use on playground seesaw to make another seesaw. These experiences promoted the spirit of creativity and confidence in the learners; the two are vital components of the learning process. 2. Are the learning outcomes, principles and practices entirely appropriate to the learning experience created? Is there any missing that is appropriate? Explain your response. The learning outcomes are the real results that emerge from the learning process, on the other hand, the learning principles are the guideline that guides teachers to provide an effective learning (Susan, 2004). Indeed the learning outcomes were appropriate to the learning experiences since the learners started to develop a sense of autonomy and inter-dependence. EYLF, (2014) states that autonomy helps learners to work with little assistance from the teacher on the other hand inter-dependence aids in sharing their ideas of one another hence, collective teaching. The two skills lead to faster learning unlike where the learners are over-dependent on the teacher. However, for these skills to develop fully, the teacher should have used various scenarios that would expose these learners to a variety of experiences. 3. To what extent does the designer of the curriculum plan understand the philosophy and aims of the Early Year Learning Framework? Explain your response The curriculum designer should be more practical than being theoretical during the learning process (EYLF, 2014). Young learners need to be exposed to learning experiences that are more practical in nature for them to understand well. This is because they have little cognitive domain for grasping theoretical knowledge (Ewing, 2013). Learning through play is another philosophy that ought to be applied to early childhood learning. The teacher should plan the lessons in a way that they include games to make the learners remain active (ACARA, 2014). In addition, there should be an enabling environment for the learners to have an interactive learning process (McLachlan, Fleer &Edwards, 2004). From the given scenario, the curriculum planner tried to the level best by engaging the learners in outdoor environment where they would still learn. Furthermore, this curriculum planner developed these lessons in a form of a play, thus learners enjoyed it. Primary curriculum plan option1 1Are the learning objectives and the learning experience an effective and appropriate response to the scenario? Explain your response. The learning objectives in this scenario are that the young learners develop persuasive language techniques that they can use to argue and convince other people to accept their ideas. This objective is very crucial to young learners in primary level. Therefore, the learning intentions of the curriculum planner were accurate in applying the given scenario. The learning experiences in extent also are appropriate to the scenario since the experience tends to cultivate the spirit of active participation in the learners (EYLF, 2014). This makes them to remain alert and generate creativity in their minds hence; learning processes take place. However, the learning experience seems advanced compared to the level of the learners. The idea of giving the learners the websites to browse through on their own information related to persuasive speech appear more advanced. In addition, the primary learners can actually watch the video however; they have little skill for interpreting and applying in their learning process. Psychology provides that an individual should be taught concepts that their cognitive minds are ready to accommodate (MacNaughton, 2003). Therefore, there is no need to introduce advanced ways of learning to young learners; their cognitive domain may not be ready to grasp such concepts. Thus, the curriculum planner used appropriate learning experiences but appeared more complicated to the learners targeted. 2. Are the learning objectives, curriculum content descriptions, and the achievement standards entirely appropriate to the learning experience created? Is there any missing that is appropriate? Explain your response. The learning objectives and content are well tailored to meet the expectation. When these objectives are made through exploring all the content, learners would certainly improve their persuasive writing skills. On the other hand, the achievement standards for extent are correct but it would be hard for the curriculum planner to achieve them. From the given scenario, the class consists of learners whom English is not their first language. This means that those learners who have mastery of the English language would learn faster than their counterparts would. Thus, the achievement standards would not be reached as expected. In connection with this observation, the given learning experiences therefore do not suit well objectives and achievement standards. The curriculum planner could have used more of discussion to improve verbal persuasive speech of every learner rather than persuasive writing. Another thing is that this unit ought to have been given enough time for the learners to master the concepts; this means that they have to be exposed to various experiences that would enhance their learning. 3. Identify and explain any strengths and/or weaknesses of this plans use of the objectives approach to curriculum planning? One of the strength of this plan is that it is wide; it covers every aspect of the content that primary learners are expected to be taught. Secondly, this plan is practical in its approach; it promotes the learning process. Lastly, the plan is systematic; learners learn simple concepts as they advance gradually to complicated concepts (Arthur, Beecher,Death, Dockett &Farmer, 2012). The first weakness is that the plan assumes that all learners in the class are from same backgrounds. It ignores those learners who are a disadvantage of their language and cultural backgrounds. Another weakness is that some of the objectives are unrealistic; one cannot assume that at the end of the unit all learners would have reached the expected standards. Part 2 Learning experiences Scenario 6 (culture and ethnicity) Learning intentions -Children to respect and appreciate other people around -Children becoming more social and interactive as they learn -Children to understand that they need one another to survive -Increase learners’ ability of understanding -Promotion of peace among the learners -To eliminate discrimination and hatred Principles -Hand on learning -Child oriented experiences -Inquiry based learning -Natural environment as a resource Resources -Books, households items, picture magazines and natural environment Practice Plays Recitation Singing Writing Assessment -Recalling -Questions -Discussions - Outcomes -Increase in friendship amongst themselves -Positive comments for other people 1. Engage Prior to the introduction to this topic, the teacher would ask the learners this question. “Are all of the goods we normally use in our daily lives made in Australia?” The learners will be engaged in an open discussion to give their thinking over this issue. The teacher would give the learners a homework in which they would list household items found in their homes. They would list them; then check the country or the place of manufacture of the listed items. Examples of these items include kitchen wares, food-packaging bags, electronics, foot wares, textbooks, pens, geometrical sets and many others materials. Students will identify goods, which were locally manufactured in Australia and separate from the others. The teacher would instruct them to make tables with some columns where each column will represent a particular country then below they would list the items imported from those countries. Students would be able to identify the locally manufactured and the imported ones. At the point, the teacher would raise a class discussion posing a question like “in case the imported goods was not available or were abolished, what would be the effect on the society? The class would have an interactive discussion where learners would give their views and arguments. This learning experience enables the learners to discover that there are many items they use in their day-to-day activities that were manufactured far from Australia. This would make them start appreciating the importance of other people who are not of their own origin. These lessons focus on cultivating young generation of growing up to being socially active individuals in the societies. It would help them overcome their society’s negativity 2. Explore This learning experience is all about trying to eliminate the spirit of ethnicity among the young generation of Australia. The world has become a global village where people ought to learn the virtue of acceptance and respect of other peoples’ culture. Students would also be asked to explore from their library and sort out all the books that were written by Australian authors and separate them from those written by foreign authors. This experience is done to emphasize the fact that most stuff people use in daily activities in our homes even in schools are manufactured in various parts of the world. 3. Explain This learning experience is aimed at trying to deduce what the learners would like to learn about other people’s culture. The teacher would create groups of five students; each group will be given a particular country or region of the world for them to investigate the imports and exports of those particular countries. The students would even ask their families to help them find out what commodities other countries produce and import. The teacher would explain to the class that some countries are good at producing certain goods because the conditions in those countries allow. 4. Elaborate In class experience, the teacher would come with three or four videos and each video would be about the history of particular famous companies around the world. Some of the companies include; Google, Coca Cola, Nokia, Nestle and many other multinational companies. The students would watch these videos; write down the initiators, and the company profiles. The teacher will elaborate to the learners that they cannot survive on those goods manufactured within Australia alone, most of the goods are imported and there others that are exported too. Moreover, learners would concentrate on finding out the countries of origins of different people who live in Australia. Statistics reveal that that 44% of the current Australian population came from other foreign nations (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011). This means that Australian population is a multicultural society that demands virtues of respect and understanding of other. 5. Evaluate Through this experience, students would analyze the differences in similar products that are produced by different countries. They would discuss why some countries tend to manufacture or produce certain kinds of goods in bulky than others. They would also discuss some reasons why some countries manage to produce some goods and others do not. This experience would enable the learners to find out the reasons why certain communities exhibit certain characters. The experience would reveal to them that factors such as social, climatic and religious influence greatly the behaviors of societies around the world. In their former groups, the learners would discuss generally, what they have learned in the whole of this unit. Each group would choose a representative and present their findings in front of the class. The teacher would again ask learners to write poems relate to the importance of multiculturalism and present them during the music festival competition that would be held in the schools in two weeks time Part 3 1. When creating curriculum plans, educators should interpret and understand the learning context (or learning scenario). Explain your interpretation of the scenario of your chosen curriculum plan. In early years curricula, learning scenarios should put its emphasis on the appreciating the natural surrounding as a source of learning (EYLF, 2014). My learning experiences are well tailored to suit the environment in which my learners are exposed. This means that learners would be taught using scenarios that they are often used to. This will enhance faster interrelationship skills where the learners would be able to relate what they learn in class with the given scenario. Secondly, the learning scenarios are child-centered rather than curriculum-centered (ACARA, 2014). The scenarios I would use would be the environment of the urban schools. I have chosen urban environment since my class is made up of learners from different backgrounds unlike in rural where nearly all learners tend to come from same environment. Thirdly, I would ensure that the curriculum would promote hands-on learning (Dockett,S. et al, 2007). In simple terms, the scenario would lead to learning experiences that are practical in nature. Children learn effectively when they are exposed to practical lessons rather than theoretical lessons (EYLF, 2014). Moreover, the educators should choose a scenario that would allow plays. Children learn well through plays; the scenario should have fun to make every learner to be active and participate fully as expected (Ewing, 2013). A play-oriented scenario would enable the young learners to have an interest and concentrate on the play but on the other hand, the teacher would be achieving learning objectives. 2.How did your interpretation of the scenario shape the design of your curriculum plan? The above interpretation of the learning shaped the curriculum in the following ways. First, the curriculum design was molded in a way that it was an intentional teaching curriculum. This means that the planner had these learning intentions in the mind in that when the learners go through these learning experiences, they exhibit certain specified behaviors (Dockett,S. et al, 2007). Given the fact that the learners are young, the curriculum planners should have in mind what exactly they want the young learners to know. Thus, they ought to develop a curriculum design that would intentionally aim at attaining these objectives (Brady, &Kennedy, 2007). Secondly, the curriculum designed was tailored to work in partnership between families. Children practice what they see in their families; therefore, a good curriculum should consider the issues of families at large to make these young learners feel comfortable (Bowes, 2012). Another way the curriculum design of the early years can be affected is that it ought to respect diversity (EYLF, 2014) When young learners are enrolled in schools, they meet new people from different cultures. Therefore, they should be prepared on how to cope with each other regardless from where they come from. The curriculum design was also affected in a manner that it was made responsive to the young learners’ strengths, weaknesses and even interests. In other words, the curriculum should be inclusive and recognize individuals’ strengths (Bowes, 2012). This way, every learner would be in position to learn comfortably and effectively. 3.What other factors shaped the design of your curriculum plan? Other factors that shaped the design of the curriculum plan include; multiculturalism of the learners. The curriculum should not be biased; it should consider the cultural aspects of all the learners (Bowes, 2012). Australia is a multicultural nation; therefore, the curriculum planners should ensure that learners enjoy both the experience and scenarios (EYLF, 2014) Another factor that assisted in shaping the curriculum design is the issues of class gender. In preparation of the learning experiences, the teacher should keep in mind that the learners are of both genders (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011). Therefore, the experiences should not partial since the other gender would be discouraged or feel that they are being discriminated. This applies especially in mixed a mixed genders class. The educator should be impartial and encourage every one to participate actively in class activities (ACARA, 2014). Children should grow in a way that they respect each other regardless of the gender. Moreover, the family background of the learners was another factor that helped to shape the curriculum design. The educator should study the backgrounds where these learners come from to come up with an effective curriculum (Arthur, et al, 2012). Some of the learners come from poor families that find it hard to meet the basic needs are even hard to come by; others come from well off families. Therefore, learning experiences should suit all the learners; this is a delicate exercise but it should be done in orders to enhance learning of all the students. References Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority. (2014). Foundation to Year 10 Curriculum: Language, Language for Interaction (ACELA1428). Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/english/Curriculum Arthur, L. Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S &Farmer, S. (2012). Programming and planning in early childhood settings. 5th Ed. (pp 177-181).Melbourne: Cengage publisher Blaise, M & Nuttall, J. (2011). Learning to teach in early years classroom. Sydney; Oxford University press. Bowes, J. (2012). Children, families and communities; contexts and consequences. 4th ed. Melbourne; Oxford University Press. Brady, L&Kennedy, K. (2007). Curriculum construction. (PP 161-175). French Forest; Pearson education publishers. Dockett,S. et al (2007). Early years learning and curriculum continuity project. Office of early childhood and statewide services. Adelaide. Early Years Learning Framework. (2014). Outcome 4: Children are Confident and Involved Learners (p. 35). Retrieved from https://www.coag.gov.au/sites/default/files/early_years_learning_framework.pdf Ewin, R. (2013). Inequity of education opportunity: Never ending story. Curriculum and assessment. Ch 5. Pp 73-100. Oxford University press. Marsh, J. (2010). Batman and badwoman go to school: Popular culture in literacy curriculum. International journal of early years education. Sheffield Hallam University; Routledge publisher. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ciey20 McLachlan, C, Fleer, M &Edwards, S. (2004). Early childhood curriculum planning assessment and implementation. Ch 5 pp63-76. Cambridge University press. MacNaughton, G. (2003). Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and contexts. Maidenhead; Open University press Susan, L. (2004). Endangered species: play and creativity. Consuming kids: Hostile takeover childhood. Ch 4. PP66-74. The new press. Read More