18807325 Bevan De Vries

Assignment 2
Evaluation Report

Contents

Table of Contents
1)Executive Summary
2) Background
3) Methodology
4) Results
5) Recommendations
6) Conclusions
7) Reference List
 Executive Summary
This report will include an evaluation of a lesson designed for Gifted and Talented Students.
The Report will clearly examine the pedagogical approached used to cater to gifted and
talented students in the lesson, supported by academic resources with links to the Australian
Professional Standards. The aim of the lesson is to engage and cater to the needs of Gifted
and Talented Students through a range of pedagogical strategies in a 20-minute lesson. The
report will also include the background, methodology, results and discussion of the lesson.
Within these features of the report, the use of pedagogical strategies and activities will be
explained and analysed in the effectiveness for Gifted and Talented Students. The topic area
of the lesson, Health Priorities in Australia, is a core subject of the stage 6 HSC PDHPE
syllabus. In this topic area, students examine the health status of Australians and the current
health priority issues in the Australia, where students also learn about the concepts of health
inequalities and diseases.

Background

Gifted and Talented students require different learning needs from their peers, they are
entitled to a curriculum provided at a level that correlates with their abilities so that the
learner can achieve to their potential (Ioney, 2011). Often teachers will have learners in the
classroom with exceptional skills and ability, who may progress through their education
without much challenge. Therefore, teachers who have Gifted and Talented Students in their
class need to become acquainted with teaching strategies and activities to meet the
intellectual needs of these students. According to Siegle (2015), Gifted and Talented Students
require differentiation of the regular curriculum. Differentiation includes modifying the pace,
content and level of teaching or learning in class activities (Siegle, 2015). Differentiation can
be implemented in many ways including the differentiation of the content, learning process
and learning environment. This also includes an understanding of the students’ knowledge
and abilities to modify the regular curriculum (Siegle, 2015). As the Gifted and Talented
students progress through their education easier than regular students, it is important for
teachers to learn to identify students who are Gifted and Talented. Teachers and schools can
identify Gifted and Talented students through a range of sources including, academics and
school records, formal assessments and analysis of classroom observations (Siegle, 2015).
 Methodology

The strategies and activities used in the lesson was aimed to address the needs of Gifted and
Talented Students, whilst also achieving the outcomes of the PDHPE syllabus in the topic
area of Health Priorities and the Australian Professional Standards of Teaching (APST). In
this lesson students reach specific outcomes in this area of the syllabus including, H2, H3,
H15 and H16. Through reaching these outcomes in the lesson, students learn to analyse and
explain the health status of Australians in terms of current trends and groups most at risk,
analyse the determinants of health and health inequities and devise methods of gathering,
interpreting and learn to communicate information about health through a research activities
and web based tools. The teaching strategies used in the lesson were used to differentiate the
learning to tailor the needs of Gifted and Talented students.

Learning
Canva
Intentions

Presntaton Poster
of Posters Scaffold

Co-
operative
learning
acvtity
Figure 1.1: Flow chart of the lesson

The lesson starts with the teachers introducing the learning intentions of the lesson. In the
topic area of health priorities, students in this lesson learn to research and analyse the chronic
health diseases and mental health problems. The students are also shown a mind map created
by the class in the previous lesson to familiarise themselves with the major chronic disease
and mental health problems. When teachers establish the learning objectives of the lesson,
students can make a connection between what they are supposed to learn and what they are
doing in the classroom (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). The APST 3.1, Establish challenging
learning goals, also states that by setting the learning goals of the lesson, students of different
abilities can achieve these challenges, such as the Gifted and Talented Students of the
classroom.
Once the learning intentions of the lesson had been established, the teachers then introduced
‘Canva’, the web based tool where the students will present their research task. Canva is a
graphic design website tool that allows the users to be creative in providing information.
According to Moyle (2014), teachers are working towards achieving differentiated and
personal learning through the use of ICT. Through ICT tools such as Canva, teachers can
personalise students learning opportunities where they are in control of the pace and style of
their learning (Moyle, 2014). This teaching strategy is consistent with APST standard 2.6, by
implementing teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum opportunities for
students.To show the students how to use canva to design their poster on the topic of Chronic
Health Diseases, an example was prepared on Cardio Vascular Disease for scaffolding (
Refer to figure 1.2). To assist the students in designing their posters for the research task, the
scaffold poster had information in the nature, extent, risk and protective factors, groups at
risk socioeconomic, sociocultural and environmental determinants. The teacher goes through
each component of the poster to provide students with temporary support to help students
develop higher levels of comprehension that they would not be able to achieve without the
scaffold example.

Scaffolding is an effective teaching strategy for Gifted and Talented students to assist them in
learning in consistent with their abilities (Ioney, 2011). The support of scaffolding
differentiates the learning process to tailor the needs of the students to achieve their full
potential. Differentiation for Gifted and Talented Students through scaffolding is supported
by APST in standard 1.5, Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of
students across the full range of abilities. By going through the Canva poster scaffold with the
class, the teacher is demonstrating an understanding and knowledge of strategies for
differentiating. A list of selected Government Accredited Websites was also handed out for
students to use on their allocated health disease. Providing the students with these resources
also complies with standard 3.4 of the APST, demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources,
including ICT, that engage students in their learning.
Figure 1.2: Scaffold provided for student research task

Once the students are familiar with canva and have been allocated into their groups and
health diseases, each group work then works collaboratively in the research task.
The aim of the task is to present their information of their allocated health disease on the
Canva website tool. During the task, each group member may be allocated a different role,
for example, one group member researches the information using the provided websites,
whilst the other creates the Canva poster. According to Eyre (2007), students of different
ability levels learn more effectively and have better attitudes when they learn and work
together in a group. Cooperative learning activities such as this research task can help Gifted
and Talents students from avoiding boredom by assisting regular students and promote peer
learning. Cooperative learning and group tasks is also relative to the APST standard, 4.1,
Support Student participation. Strategies such as cooperative learning supports the need of
Gifted and Talented students, and supports inclusive student participation.
 Results

The scaffolding of the research task worked well as it gave students a sense of direction and
ideas in designing their posters. The posters that the students designed were very creative
with the relevant information. The students could start their posters without questions as the
scaffold provided clear examples and useful tools. The government websites provided by the
students were also a useful scaffold as the students could use these sources to find their
information quickly to create their posters.

The allocation strategy used with the coloured papers was very effective. The strategy
allowed a smooth transition of grouping as the students immediately knew where to sit and
who they were working with. This strategy also encouraged student based learning which
allowed the teachers to attend to other groups, manage the classroom to prepare for the next
part of the lesson. This strategy also allowed teachers to monitor student’s understandings
through informative assessment, as they walked around the room to attend to different groups
who needed assistance. The classroom was quiet which was a sign of student engagement and
interest in the task. This observation may also be a product of the mixed groups through the
allocation strategy that was used with the coloured papers. Students seems to enjoy the idea
of creating their Canva posters with other students whom they would not usually work with
in class. As the groups were small students could allocate areas of their task to group
members which seemed to promote student participation.

During the task, the teachers found that some students were unsure of some of the terms of
the components of the Canva poster. There was some uncertainty around students
understanding of the extent of the health disease which is a required component on their
poster. This meant that the teachers had to explain to the students what the extent of the
health disease meant and what information to put under that component. The teachers also
found that students were spending a lot of time designing the features of the Canva poster
instead of finding the research, this also led to the teachers explaining to the students that the
main objective of the activity was to research information and present what they had learnt,
rather than the visual aspects of the poster.
 Recommendations

Through analysing the results future recommendations can be made in some of the activities
and teaching strategies of the lesson. The results found that students were unsure about some
of the terms used in the components of the poster, as the teachers then had to clarify with the
students during the task. A future recommendation for this area of the lesson would be to
provide a glossary of terms for the components of the Canva poster. By providing a definition
for each research component, students can design their poster without confusion of the task.
In addition to the glossary of key terms provided to the students, the teachers should read
through each term prior to the scaffold example to clarify any uncertainty of the students.
Understanding the key terms used in this activity is also important in the topic area of Health
Priorities in Australia, as students learn about the nature of Health issues in Australia.
Outcome H2 of the PDHPE syllabus, clearly states that students learn to analyse and explain
the health status of Australians in terms of current trends and groups most at risk, therefore it
is essential for students to have a deep understanding of these key terms used to describe the
health priorities in Australia. The last two pages of the PDHPE syllabus provide a glossary of
key terms that is relevant to the topic area also. Using the curriculum and syllabus content to
sequence the lesson is an example of standard 2.2 of the APST.

As a pre-service teacher, it is important to be prepared to teach students of a range of abilities

and learning backgrounds. Learning about the different ways teachers can implement
strategies to tailor the needs of students is essential in designing an effective lesson in a
diverse classroom. As a future teacher, I understand that all students are different in terms of
their learning and cognitive styles, therefore I will use differentiation to cater to diverse
learning needs. I have also learned that implemented strategies such as cooperative and
collaborative learning, are useful tools for engaging classrooms of mixed abilities. Further
research by Eyre (2007), also states that students of diverse learning levels learn much more
effectively when they participate in collaborative learning activities. This is particularly
useful for a classroom with Gifted and Talented students as it promotes peer mentoring,
motivation and engagement of all students in the classroom.
 Conclusion

In conclusion, the lesson demonstrated a range of strategies used to tailor the needs of Gifted
and Talented students, whilst also implementing the APST. Students who are gifted and
talented are entitled to relevant and engaging activities from a challenging curriculum to meet
the needs of their individual learning abilities. By analysing the report, including the
background, methodology and results, it is evident that teachers can modify the Australian
Curriculum to enrich student learning by providing opportunities for students to learn the
content in more depth. Differentiating the curriculum for the Gifted and Talented can be
implemented by changing the learning process, pace and learning environment of the
classroom
 References

Eyre, Deborah. "Structured Tinkering: Improving Provision For The Gifted In Ordinary
Schools". Gifted and Talented International 22.1 (2007): 31-38. Web.
Hattie J & Timperley H. The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 2007
77:81.
James, Ioney,. "The Use Of Metacognitive Scaffolding To Improve College Students
Academic Success". Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC) 7.11 (2010): n. pag.
Web.
Moyle, Kathryn. "Technologies, Democracy And Digital Citizenship: Examining Australian
Policy Intersections And The Implications For School Leadership". Education Sciences 4.1
(2014): 36-51. Web.
Siegle, D. "Using QR Codes To Differentiate Learning For Gifted And Talented Students".
Gifted Child Today 38.1 (2015): 63-66. Web.