Essay: Prior Knowledge Learning Experience Analysis And Reflection's Effectiveness.

Part 1: Provide a brief description of learning context and the prior knowledge learning task

The description of students and classroom context takes into account student’s backgrounds and learning needs and how the classroom environment is designed and organised to accommodate for learning.

Part 2: Provide an analysis of the effectiveness of the Prior Knowledge learning experience. Discuss student’s understandings based on the data that you have collected, including referencing appropriate literature and annotating of work samples to support your discussion.

The analysis locates what was intended, implemented and why, and how children responded. A detailed discussion of the understandings / alternative views your students demonstrated based on the data that you have collected. Explicit reference made to annotated work samples and to appropriate literature to support your discussion

Part 3: Critically reflect with regard to the Prior knowledge learning experience you implemented. 

1. Discuss how the learning experience revealed students’ initial understandings. Make reference to appropriate professional literature to justify your discussion. 

 Critically discuss how effective the planned Prior Knowledge experience was in identifying the intended student’s understanding. Provide justifications as to either, how and why the strategy was so effective or how you might modify or change the strategy to be more effective in identifying the intended prior knowledge. Discussion supported by relevant literature.

1. Describe an alternative Prior knowledge strategy that may be better reveal your student’s understandings of the task / concept.

The description of students and classroom context takes into account student’s backgrounds and learning needs and how the classroom environment is designed and organised to accommodate for learning.

Part 2: Provide an analysis of the outcome of the introductory prior knowledge learning experience.

The analysis locates what was intended, implemented nd why, and how children responded. A detailed discussion of the understandings / alternative views your students demonstrated based on the data that you have collected. Explicit reference made to annotated work samples and to appropriate literature to support your discussion.

Learning Context and Prior Knowledge Task

It is a general idea that the learning programmes and the tasks related to any kind of learning process is smoothened with the way by which knowledge is imparted. The learning processes are facilitated with the involvement of some of some of the factors such as fun and enjoyment (Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek 2014). The learning programmes designed for the children are designed with a planned learning experience. The aim of this learning experience is focussed towards the introduction and exploration of the measurement in the children’s environment with the use of the open ended activities. The activities on the other hand is focussed towards planning the areas of learning with the construction of the experiences that are in relation to the children environment and drawing on identification, usage of a comparative language for the description and the comparison of the different attributes, repetition of the elements of simple order and continuous sequences, representation and description of the mathematical ideas with objects along explanation of the mathematical thinking, reasoning and purposeful decision making.

This uprising planning presentation is intended to provide the teacher with an opportunity to discuss, communicate, observe, think critically, and reason critically. It also intends to provide an opportunity to reflect and experiment in the classroom that is expected to be filled with long and short model creatures. At the beginning of the planning process the teacher was more involved in the collection of the prior knowledge and topics of interest that were primarily based on the perception of children thinking with the application of certain techniques such as observation, discussion and open ended discussions that are imperative (Goodman 2014).

The effectiveness of the prior knowledge learning experience can be analysed by understanding the different processes like the intention, implementation and understanding of the children’s level of perception. The intention of the programme was to focus on the activities of geometry and measurement. Throughout the learning unit, the children are expected to measure the lengths of the objects that would be according to their choice, create 2D and 3D model creation along with the identification of the geometrical shapes and attributes for the creation of the models (Bryson 2016). The sole intention for this learning unit is to understand and identify the shape, length and the usage of the measurement by the application of the informal units. The prior knowledge learning experience is to establish a relationship between the perceptions of knowledge in class to that of the knowledge in the real world.

Analysis of Effectiveness of Prior Knowledge Learning Experience

According to the intention of the learning programme, the children were subjected to the concepts and the ideas for the identification of the short and long model creatures through a number of applied techniques. The observations made from the responses of the children revealed that the children were eager enough to accept new knowledge, as they were motivated with the provocation about the length of long creatures. The children were found to be sorting, ordering, classifying, comparing, matching and grouping (Van Hoorn  et al. 2014). The activity of measuring the lengths of the creatures portrayed evidences about the children’s use of the Bishop’s concepts, ideas, meanings, conceptual ideas along with mathematical thinking processes. The children were able to find long creatures, compare between objects with non standard units, draw picture of pond and river along with long creatures found in them.

The critical reflection in relation to the Prior Knowledge experience has been divided into two parts that are as follows:

The sequence learning outcomes that were observed for the measurement outcomes portrayed evidences that indicated that the children had prior knowledge in the identification of the attributes ordering and comparing (Appendix 1- Lesson Plan). From the measurement activities it was discovered that the children had an early experience about the measurement and the comparison of the lengths of different creatures. The activity of the construction depicted that the children had the ability to spontaneously estimate and draw comparisons between the different kinds of lengths and the sizes (Nilson et al. 2013). One of the several strategies that were undertaken during the course of the activity included a challenge to emphasise and critically think so that the internal skills of the students are developed and they were able to increase their level of understand on different aspects of measurement. The implementation of the strategies revealed that the students were eager enough to actively participate, count, measure and compare.

The students through the learning programme were able to develop their skills and concepts by using the descriptive comparative language such as longer than or shorter than or of similar length (Murphy et al. 2014). The strategies were successful in making the students to show involvement tin the course by showing eagerness in comparing and having discussions with the peer groups. The activities that were stringently abided during the course have a full potential to generate accession of the prior knowledge, spontaneous interactions, focussed discussions that have the ability to lead to a state where the children would be able to think critically and sharpen their decision making skills in the same span of time.

The strategies that were implemented as a part of the Prior Knowledge experience programme is in accordance with the ACARA standards of achievement and follows the EYLF outcomes. Through the implementation of the effective strategies, the students were able to gather a lot of information and showed signs of keen interest in the activities related to that of the comparison and measurement of different lengths (Driver 1985). Along with the mentioned strategies, one of the strategies that would have added value and would have helped the students think more critically is take suitable decisions is that is the knowledge was tested after every learning activity and the feedbacks of the conducted examinations were shared with them for the better understanding of their potentials and true sense. The feedbacks after any examination helps the candidates to analyse themselves so that they are able to show correct their mistakes and develop themselves thereby with the help of self analysis (Siddiek 2018). The conducted examinations should be conducted in such a manner that the students are able to apply their sound knowledge in the respective fields of study without the involvement of any external pressure.

References

Bryson, C., 2016. Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education.

Driver, R., 1985. Children's ideas in science. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Goodman, Y.M., 2014. Observing Children in the Classroom. Making Sense of Learners Making Sense of Written Language: The Selected Works of Kenneth S. Goodman and Yetta M. Goodman, 197.

Murphy, P.K., Rowe, M.L., Ramani, G. and Silverman, R., 2014. Promoting critical-analytic thinking in children and adolescents at home and in school. Educational Psychology Review, 26(4), pp.561-578.

Nilson, C., Fetherston, C.M., McMurray, A. and Fetherston, T., 2013. Creative arts: an essential element in the teacher's toolkit when developing critical thinking in children. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 38(7), p.1.

Siddiek, A.G., 2018. Evaluation of the Sudan school certificate English examinations.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S. and Zvacek, S.M. eds., 2014. Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. IAP.

Van Hoorn, J.L., Monighan-Nourot, P., Scales, B. and Alward, K.R., 2014. Play at the center of the curriculum. Pearson.