Secondary learning

3.3 Drawing together the key ideas

This course has introduced ideas about knowledge and learning, and how these are brought together to create a student-centred classroom. In the final activity in this course, you will draw together the ideas raised in each section in order to analyse a lesson and to think about how it might be improved.

Activity 9 Analysing lessons

Allow about 1 hour

For this activity you will need a lesson plan in your subject or a set of detailed notes on a lesson you have observed. Some examples are provided, which you can use if you wish. If possible, work with a colleague.

Example lesson plans

Geography

Mathematics

Modern foreign languages

Music

Science

Read through your chosen lesson plan and then answer the following questions:

  1. What knowledge is covered during this lesson? Think about what the students will learn and classify it according to the ‘types of knowledge’ described in Section 1. Was each type covered? Could the lesson be changed in any way to cover a broader range of knowledge?
  2. Analyse the lesson in terms of the learning theories described in Section 2. How could the lesson be changed or developed to take into account a different learning theory?
  3. Analyse the lesson in terms of Schweisfurth’s ‘minimum standards’. Was the lesson ‘student-centred’? Did it involve ‘active learning’?
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