Pedagogical Approach Analysis

This assignment will critically analyse the teaching and learning styles used within the four week medium term plan. It will discuss what teaching and learning styles and what pedagogical choices are used to address the four misconceptions within the plan helping children to understand and develop their knowledge about electricity. The pedagogical choices used are constructivist methods looking at the use of practical activity and how the teacher gains understanding of children’s ways of learning. Another pedagogical choice within the plan is the use of whole class discussion and how this benefits the children’s learning and understanding. The final pedagogical choice is questioning, of how open and closed questions are used effectively within

Allowing children time for controlled whole class discussion enables them to feel safe as it gives a stimulating open environment (De Boo 2004), helps them feel valued for their ideas when they share them (Wood 1998) also helping the teacher become respected by the children for allowing this (Alexander 2004; Pollard and Bourne 1994). Vygotsky (1986) argued that children perform at a more advanced level when working with their peers, in the plan there are multiple opportunities for children to work with other children to boost their self-confidence and develop their scientific thinking. Planning for class discussion helps teachers decide where to use it to benefit children the most (Devereux 2000; Harlen 1985). Cockburn and Handscomb (2011) agree that whole class discussion should take place at the beginning of a lesson using it to discuss what has previously been accomplished by the children and before any activities begin, but Edwards and Westgate (2005) argues that this would be irrelevant if children have no previous knowledge to discuss. In the plan whole class discussion in used at the beginning of weeks two, three and four to bring all of the children together (De Boo 2004; Harlen 1985) to discuss what they already have ideas about, also linking it to what they previously learnt in the last session (Mercer 2008). This is why in week one there isn’t a whole class discussion to start it is a whole class activity used (Turner, Keogh and Naylor 2011) to gain new interests from the children also inviting new ideas about circuits before any discussion linking to previous learning is