InTASC Standard #8- Instructional Strategies
InTASC Standard: Standard 8- Instructional Strategies
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways (InTASC, 2013).
Brief Description of Evidence:
During the Spring 2020 semester in my EDUC 224 Introduction to Scientific Inquiry course, my group and I created a Summer Camp Plan for fifth-grade students. We were not able to implement this summer camp because of the current educational environment created by COVID-19. As a result of the unexpected school closure, the school decided to plan a summer enrichment camp. Some of the requirements for our Summer Camp were to find a place for our camp to be held, create a flyer to get students excited to sign up for camp S.L.E.E.P (Space, Life, Earth, Engineering, and Physical), create a daily schedule, create a menu, and prepare snacks for our potential fifth graders. In addition to those requirements, we were to cover all four science areas within the Indiana Academic Standards (Physical, Life, Earth/Space Sciences, and Engineering).
Analysis of What I Learned:
When I was in school and still to this day, I really have never enjoyed science. In creating this summer camp with my group, I learned I can still make science fun by searching on Pinterest and other educational blogs. Plus, being able to work with my group members who liked science made it nice to bounce ideas off of each other. I also learned how important it is to have a timeline of what and when certain aspects of the summer camp were due. My group and I followed the suggested timeline our instructors put together. This allowed us to complete each task in a timely manner and not rush to get it done at the last minute.
By incorporating a few different instructional strategies, the learners were able to develop a better understanding of materials presented and make connections by the educators incorporating hands-on activities. For example, one strategy was incorporating a s'mores snack that connected to their solar power lesson. The educators also modeled how to construct their own catapult as part of a project-based learning experience.
How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard:
This artifact demonstrates my competence in standard 8 because my group and I were able to apply knowledge for the learners in a meaningful way and by using different instructional strategies as previously described. Our main focus was taking a hands-on approach. We also used critical thinking when they had to construct their own catapult and used scaffolding because each day built upon itself. This was meaningful for students because they were able to construct their own catapult as they determined to be best. On the final day of the summer camp, the learners put their catapult to the test to see how far they could launch a marshmallow. The learners took a field trip to learn how ice cream was made and went to the Ball State planetarium to learn about the solar system and its components.
We applied Lev Vysotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development to our summer camp plan. Some learners might have started out day one and some of day two in the zone of where they felt like they couldn’t do the tasks. By the end of day two or beginning of day three, the learners would move into the zone of where they could start doing tasks by themselves. Day four the learners would move into the zone where they could do the tasks unassisted.
