Project, Part 1
Analyze Learners |
Instructor: Caitlyn Bledsoe |
Grade: 7th Grade
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Subject Area: Science
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General Characteristics:
I have a total of 105 students and their ages range from 11 to 13 years old. There are 11% of students who are considered Special Education, meaning they have an IEP. Last year my current students took the SC PASS for Science and 59% met or exceeded the expectations made by South Carolina's Department of Education. The students come from moderate to low income socioeconomic statuses and 88% of them are white. There are very few influences from other ethnic backgrounds, which is typical of a rural setting such as Aynor. The students are well behaved, however, they lack interest and motivation towards material that require them to read and write, therefore perform poorly on such activities.
Entry Competencies:
The students possess the knowledge and skills to do the following:
- access Google Classroom and open assignments
- Plants perform Photosynthesis
- Navigate available tools within games such as the settings, difficulty levels, hints/tutorial, etc.
- identify connections between games and the content being taught
Learning Styles:
The students appear to learn best from activities that involve interactive technologies. I have discovered while teaching 7th grade Science, that students, both strong and weak learners, achievement levels increase when the learning experience involves a tactile or kinesthetic learning approach. Both groups of learners also prefer these types of learning experiences. According to Gregorc's Mind Styles Model, my students perceive new information in a concrete manor that requires the use of their five senses rather than requiring them to understand a deeper meaning within the context. I have found that 7th grade students are also able to adequately process the learned information when it is presented in a sequential order. Therefore, activities that allow them to process the information easier include structured labs, technological games, simulations, VR, interactive technologies, etc. If the learning experience is structured, students are able to slowly decrease dependency on the teacher. However, for my extremely high learners, they are able to acquire and process new information in an Abstract Random and/or Sequential manor independent on the teacher.