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Need help coming up with a lesson plan design for my final project. Please see attached documents for further information. Willing to pay $25-$50 for help! Curriculum Development and Implementation Will give $50 total: $25 up front and $25 when complete Need By: Wednesday, 9/15/2021 Scenario for the Three Assignments: Please reference the scenario created in the previous assignments attached: Curriculum Inception Curriculum Foundations Assume that you are the curriculum designer for a school district. The school board has requested that several teams develop proposals for new curricula to meet newly established state standards. You and your team must develop the first proposal as a pilot or model for the other teams. You have to first identify a specific curriculum area not currently used in the school district that would greatly benefit the students in the district. Use the Internet to develop a pilot curriculum for a specific discipline area such as reading, math, or science or grade level (K–12) at a local school district. Instructions: Curriculum Development and Implementation Write an 8–10 page paper in which you: Summarize the following aspects of the Curriculum Inception and Foundations assignments. (a) Describe the specific curriculum area and grade level(s) for the pilot curriculum. (b) Describe at least four core instructional goals for the curriculum. (c) Review the various approaches to be used for the planned curriculum as well as potential cultural influences. (d) Review the strategy for incorporating critical thinking skills into the planned curriculum using Bloom’s Taxonomy. Develop at least three student learning outcomes for each of the core instructional goals in the planned curriculum. (Note: Student learning outcomes must support accomplishment of their respective core instructional goal and be stated in a manner that is observable and measurable. The student learning outcomes must also support development of critical thinking skills consistent with Bloom’s Taxonomy. A brief article on writing student learning outcomes or objectives is provided: Writing learning objectives: Beginning with the end in mind . Outline a least one instructional lesson or exercise that could be used to facilitate mastery of one of the three student learning outcomes listed. - (Note: The instructional lesson outline should include instructor activities to promote mastery of the learning outcome and develop critical thinking skills. - The outline should also include student activities that promote critical thinking and accomplishment of the learning outcome.) Propose at least one way the students for which the lesson is designed will use technology as part of the lesson, providing a rationale for the technology. Propose at least one way in which technology will be used to deliver the lesson, providing a rationale for the technology. Create an implementation plan for the curriculum in the form of a PowerPoint presentation of at least eight slides. Include (a) a summary of the development process (the first two assignments), (b) the instruction lesson outline, (c) an implementation timetable, (d) the human and capital resources needed for successful implementation. (Note: The PowerPoint, which is not part of the page count, will be presented to the district school board.) Use at least three relevant, scholarly references published in the last seven years. (May use references already used from previous assignments.) (Note: Wikipedia and other non government websites do not qualify as scholarly resources.) PROFESSORS NOTES You will build from the previous assignments. Note that you would need to summarize Assignments 1 and 2 with this submission. Don’t copy the previous assignments. I would like to see at least 5-6 pages of NEW content for Assignment 3. This equates to about 1500 – 1800 words. A PowerPoint is required as a separate document. DISCUSS ALL REQUIREMENTS: Note, do not skip a section. In the previous assignments, I noticed that some submissions did not include ALL the requirements below. You MUST discuss, describe, explain the specific assignments. You have to mention/use the sources in the body of your paper. USE OF QUOTES/IN-TEXT CITATIONS. Again, your paper must only contain 10-15% quotes. You cannot have quotes after quotes. In addition, if you are using direct quotes, you must give credit to where credit is due. Quotation marks are needed for direct quotes. When you paraphrase, you cannot simply change one word or two from the original quote. You must use your own words and ideas to provide an interpretation of what you read. In addition, when you paraphrase or summarize, you need to include in-text citations. A PowerPoint is required in addition to the paper. The assignment is worth 300 points, which is 30% of your grade. Please be as detailed as possible in your explanation. Curriculum Inception Taya Hervey-McNutt Dr. Teresa Lao EDU 555: K-12 Curriculum Design & Development July 27, 2021 Introduction Farrell School District is a rural public school located in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It has been ranked as one of the worst-performing schools in the state. This poor performance is linked to the low level of education among the adults, only 16 % of the adult population have a bachelor’s degree (Stebbins & Sauter, 1). 43.9% of the school children live below the poverty line, explaining the poor performance in schools. The most problematic subjects in the schools are math and reading. The percentage of students who are proficient in math and English are 16 and 31 % respectively (Stebbins & Sauter, 1). I, therefore, believe it would be important to develop a pivot curriculum that improves the math performance in the school. ● Geographical Location Farrell School District is located in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It serves a population of 6,798 in Farell, Wheatlands, and Sharon, Pennsylvania. ● Demographic of the Student population The school has currently enrolled 700 students in pk-12 with only 60 teachers. It operates an elementary school and a high school. According to Niche, the ratio of students to teachers is 12:1 which is below the statutory requirement of 15:1. The average spending per student in the district is $26,975 (Farell, 2). ● Cultural Influences Mercer county has different racial and ethnic compositions. 90.2% of the population is non-Hispanic white,5.6 % non-Hispanic African Americans,1.04 % Hispanic whites, and 0.677 % non-Hispanic Asians. 90% of the students speak the English language at home while the rest speak other languages such as Spanish, Asian, Indio-European, ect (Farell, 2). ● Regional accrediting body standards for curriculum development The accredited body standards for curriculum development in Pennsylvania include academic standards on different subjects which must be covered in the curriculum. The body responsible for this is the Pennsylvania Board State of Education. The other standards include assessment anchors for the different disciplines and eligible content that is regulated by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). The state education department has also issued early learning standards that must be incorporated into the curriculum for elementary students (Pennsylvania, 3). ● State and Local policies on curriculum development The policies on curriculum development are contained in Title 22, Chapter 4 of Pennsylvania’s code (Pennsylvania, 3). The code requires that the basis for curriculum development of all students be based on the accredited academic standards. The curriculum should instill critical thinking skills in the students, communication, developmental writing, and literacy skills. The discipline and grade for which the curriculum will be developed The pilot curriculum will address the poor performance of math by 4th grade students. Most students within and outside Feral county dislike math. They feel that it has a lot of complex numbers that are difficult to understand and requires a lot of memorization. Also they find it frustrating having to repeat the same problems to get the hang of it since math requires making lots of mistakes. Also, they feel that math limits their creativity compared to other disciplines such as English and science. There is a fixed way of solving math problems that require memorization which they find burdensome and boring. According to a survey conducted by the National Centre for Education, most of the students have developed stereotypes in math because they heard their parents saying math is boring and difficult. Despite this, some still believe that math is a great discipline that requires the students to put in the extra effort. The discipline is ranked among the worst performed subjects in the US. Farrell school area ranked among the bottom 50 schools in Pennsylvania. Only 16% of its students are proficient in math with grade 4 registering the least performance. In 2018, the level of poor performance of math in grade 4 was at 58 % compared to other grades that scored below 50% (Farell, 2). Math is a vital discipline that can benefit students in various ways. It enhances their problem skills, helps them to understand the world better, and equips them with skills that they can use to solve real-world problems (Sammons, 4). These skills are very essential for the students in this area since poor performance is also linked to the poverty levels in the country. Farrell school district is in a poverty-stricken area with a high teacher turnover rate. The ratio of students to teachers is 15:1 which is below the statutory recommendations (Stebbins & Sauter, 1). The schools lack a well-structured curriculum that can help improve the student’s performance. Additionally, most of the parents are not educated and fail to support the children, and the teachers increase the performance gap. Benefits of pilot curriculum to the students A pilot curriculum is essential for determining the areas that need improvement and how to best attain the desired educational goals. It is essential for schools like Farrell school area district that is based in a poverty-stricken rural area with limited access to resources. The curriculum will help in mitigating the problems associated with the obsolete curriculum that may arise in the future. Before design a pilot curriculum, the stakeholders need to address the following questions ● The specific areas that need improvement ● What are the required resources per student ● Can the school afford the resources ● What learning theories will be adopted ● Will the learning theories apply to all the learners ● How will the curriculum cater for the learners with learning disabilities ● What are the anticipated learning outcomes ● How will the new curriculum help change the perception of the students about math This program enables the stakeholders to determine how satisfied the students are with the old curriculum and use it to develop the pilot curriculum. They will be able to identify the areas that need improvement and facilitate the effective allocation of resources. This is achieved through standardized tests which enable the teachers to identify the students that need specialized care and areas where they need to allocate more time and resources. This eases the planning process and increases the outcomes of the curriculum development. The benefits that will accrue to the students are as follows ; ● Higher performance This will be achieved through standardized testing. Taking part in the standardized tests will enable the students to identify their areas of weakness that require improvement. They will then communicate this to the teachers and stakeholders who will incorporate their needs into the new curriculum. The students, with the help of the teachers, will begin working on their weaknesses which will be enhanced with the inception of the new curriculum improving their performance. The teachers will also be able to identify the students with learning disabilities before the onset of the implementation of the curriculum and issue instructional goals to help increase their performance ● Increased Motivation Students feel motivated when they are engaged in the curriculum development process. They will be willing to change their perception about the discipline when they realize the administration wants to address their concerns. One of the causative factors of the student’s negative perception of mathematics is lack of motivation. This is achieved through issuing test-based incentives where the students are given a target and rewarded when they achieve it. The students are therefore motivated to work harder to qualify for the incentives increasing their learning outcomes. ● Increased Learning Outcomes Setting targets and rewarding students for achieving them increases their learning outcomes. Once a student hits the set target, the bar is set higher and the number of incentives also increased. The student’s learning outcomes will gradually increase over time as they strive to reach their targets to attract the incentives. In the process, they will identify their weaknesses and communicate them with the curriculum developer or their teachers who will ensure that the inception of the new curriculum addresses their needs. Instructional goals Instructional goals are the desired learning outcomes from the inception of the pilot curriculum. The four instructional goals include; critical thinking, problem-solving, understanding the mathematical language, and increased mathematical confidence ● Critical thinking The first instructional goal for the curriculum is critical thinking that deviates from the old approach of memorization to an advanced way of tackling numerical problems. Critical thinking skills are important when solving math problems as it makes learning to be more significant and purposeful (Toh & Chua, 5). It will enable the students to internalize the problems and take predetermined steps without just guessing hence increasing their performance. The new curriculum will issue guidelines on the activities that the students will be engaged in to improve their performance. This includes issuing open-ended questions on areas such as addition and subtraction of fractions and letting them attempt the problems before stepping in. The teachers will also utilize tools such as Bloom’s Taxonomy and Maths300 to improve critical thinking among the students. Given the economic nature of the Farrell district, the school will need to apply for more funds from the state to implement these strategies which I believe will be useful in improving the student’s learning outcomes ● Problem Solving Problem-solving is another instructional goal that will improve the student’s learning outcomes. The concept of problem-solving is based on the fact that math should be understood and not memorized. Most of the 4th-grade students at Ferrell fail mathematics because they tackle it the same way they handle other disciplines. Problem-solving enables the students to internalize the problem, analyze it and be able to explain the procedure if given similar problems (Liljedahl & Santos-Trigo, 6). This concept applies to the topics of measurement conversion and decimal notations. ● Understanding the Mathematical Language The other instructional goal for the new curriculum is to ensure the students comprehend the mathematical language. Understanding math vocabulary is vital for achieving proficiency in the discipline. The students can utilize critical thinking and problem-solving skills if they apprehend math vocabulary. The pilot curriculum requires the teachers to start teaching math vocabulary such as the different symbols, where and how to use them as early as grade one. The students will be conversant with the symbols when they get to the 4th grade hence improving their performance. ● Increased Confidence Students who lack confidence will never attempt to answer mathematical questions in class. They always keep their heads and avoid making eye contact whenever the teacher asks a question. This is the leading cause of poor performance because the students fail to challenge themselves hence retarding their learning process. A confident student strives to learn new ways of solving math problems by attempting advanced problems. They are not afraid to make mistakes which increases their math skills. To achieve this goal, the teachers should always praise the students whenever they get a problem right, however simple it may be, and encourage them to attempt advanced ones (Toh & Chua, 5). Also, the pilot curriculum requires the teachers to listen to the student’s needs. They can utilize this to understand the student’s areas of weakness and develop ways of boosting their confidence and improving their performance. This can be done by issuing rewards whenever a shy student attempts to solve a question during class. References 1. Stebbins, S., & Sauter, M. B. (2020, March 11). Making the grade?: In these school districts, students are less likely to succeed. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/03/11/school-districts-50-us-where-students -least-likely-succeed/5000094002/. 2. Farell Area School District. (2021). Farrell Area School District. https://www.farrellareaschools.com/. 3. Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2021). Regulations & Policy. State Board of Education. https://www.stateboard.education.pa.gov/Regulations/Pages/default.aspx. 4. Sammons, L. (2018). Teaching students to communicate mathematically. 5. Toh, P. C., Chua, B. L., & Association of Mathematics Educators (Singapore). (2018). Mathematics instruction: Goals, tasks, and activities. 6. Liljedahl, P., Santos-Trigo, M. (2019). Mathematical problem solving: Current themes, trends and research. Curriculum Foundations Taya Hervey-McNutt Dr. Teresa Lao EDU 555: K-12 Curriculum Design & Development August 16, 2021 Curriculum Foundations Introduction Math is disliked by the majority of students both inside and outside of Farell County. This experimental curriculum will target 4th-grade kids' weak math performance. A vast percentage of the students understand math to be complex numbers that are tough to comprehend as well as memorize. Some students may also find it frustrating to have to repeat the same tasks over and over again in order to grasp the concept, as math necessitates making numerous mistakes. Math can also be a subject that possibly inhibits their creativity when compared to other subjects like Science or English; more hands on creative thinking. According to a National Center for Education poll, most students have adopted math stereotypes as a result of hearing their parents say math is difficult and boring. Notwithstanding this, some people believe that math is a fantastic subject that pushes pupils to work hard. The discipline is one of the least well-performing subjects in the United States. The Farrell school district was listed among Pennsylvania's bottom 50 school districts. Approximately, 16% of its kids are proficient in math, with grade 4 students performing the worst. In 2018, the percentage of students who performed poorly in mathematics in grade 4 was 58 percent, compared to 50 percent in other grades (Farell, 1). Math is an important subject that can help pupils in a variety of ways. It improves their problem-solving abilities, assists them in better understanding the world, and provides them with skills that they can apply to real-life situations (Sammons, 2). These abilities are critical for students in this field, as poor results are linked to the country's poverty levels. The Farrell school district is located in a low-income neighborhood with a high teacher turnover rate. The student-to-teacher ratio is 15:1, which is lower than the recommended ratio (Stebbins & Sauter, 3). The schools do not have a well-structured curriculum that can help students enhance their grades. Furthermore, the majority of parents are uneducated and fail to help their children, while teachers contribute to the achievement disparity. The anticipated learning results from the start of the pilot program are known as instructional goals. Problem-solving, critical thinking, enhanced mathematical confidence, and understanding the mathematical language are the four teaching aims. Behavioral Curriculum Approach A curriculum approach depicts the various perspectives on curriculum design and development, as well as the roles of teachers, students, and curriculum specialists in curriculum planning. It also contains the curriculum's aims and objectives. A methodology to curriculum represents a person's perspective of the world, including what he or she considers to be true, the values that are important to him or her, and the level of information that he or she knows. It also shows a comprehensive viewpoint or meta-orientation, embracing curriculum foundations, domains, and practical and theoretical principles of curriculum (Botvin, Baker & Filazzola, 4). The behavioral method is based on Frederick Taylor's idea of efficiency, which is founded on behaviorist principles. Setting goals and objectives based on a blueprint are regarded as crucial factors in curriculum implementation with its corresponding activities and content. The student performance is assessed based on a change in behavior as a measure of success. Human behavior can be unlearned and replaced by new behaviors since it is learned. The focus of behaviorism is on the measurable and observable qualities of human behavior. As a result, undesired behaviors can be unlearned when they arise. According to behaviorism, development is considered a continuous process in which children play a primarily passive role. It's also a broad technique that's applied in a range of areas, including therapeutic and educational settings. The only things that are real, according to behaviorists, are those that we can see and observe. It's impossible to read people's minds or unconsciousness, but we can watch how they behave, react, and act. Although we can infer something about people's brains and minds from their behavior, this is not the investigation's primary objective. To understand the reasons for anomalous conduct, the behaviorist does not rely on the brain or the mind. He considers the conduct as the result of acquired habits, and he tries to figure out how they are learned (Botvin, Baker & Filazzola, 4). For instance, your goal is to improve students' attitudes: by the end of your target period, students should be punctual, academically competitive, and well-disciplined. However, your goal was not met during the evaluation, thus there was no accomplishment. As a result, as a teacher, you must seek out new techniques or strategies to reach your goal. As a result, the behavioral perspective is the ultimate view, which emphasizes the requirement for behavioral objectives to function as instructional guides and to judge whether the desired outcomes are achieved. Realism as a Philosophical Approach to Curriculum Development Curriculum development is centered on philosophy. It aids teachers in the formulation of arguments, beliefs, and assumptions, as well as the formulation of value judgments. Philosophy fosters a broad perspective and aids in determining how students should learn, why schools exist, what courses are important, and what resources and methods should be employed (Gwele, 5). The realism philosophy of education can be traced back to another important Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Matter or objects that we see, according to this theory, exist by themselves, that is, they exist utterly with or without mankind. To put it another way, the matter is not a mental construct. As a result, the following principles are upheld: the concept of matter's independence, the idea of the world's orderliness underlying its organization, which indicates that law and order reign supreme in the world, and the premise of the world as true as revealed by scientists. As a result, an objective understanding of the world is achievable. Our perceptions are a source of information as well. Values, according to philosophy, exist objectively; they are pure and eternal. The educational implications of realism are: the ultimate educational goal is to gain an understanding of nature and the underlying functioning of the earth, education is primarily the transmission of hereditary culture from one generation to the next, students should learn disciplines to improve intellectual abilities to discover theoretical insights and key principles, and curriculum disciplines should consist of particular cultural elements (Gwele, 5). Psychological Approach to Curriculum Development Educational psychology advances teaching and learning ideas that influence teacher-student behavior within the setting of the curriculum. This is due to psychology's role as a unifying factor in the learning process. For instance, renowned professor John Dewey recognizes that psychology is the study of how a learner interacts with people or objects in his or her environment. The amount and type of learning are determined by the quality of this contact (Garcia & Lewis, 6). The unifying element of the learning process is psychology, which serves as the foundation for learning methods, resources, and activities. Psychology has an impact on the curriculum (Garcia & Lewis, 6). Psychology is a branch of science that studies the learning and teaching process. It also provides insights as to how a curriculum should be structured to maximize students' learning, as well as how much knowledge they can absorb when studying the different curriculum components. Cultural Influence and Impact The racial and ethnic makeup of Mercer County is diverse. Non-Hispanic whites account for 90.2 percent of the population, 1.04 percent of Hispanic whites, 5.6 percent of non-Hispanic African Americans, and 0.677 percent of non-Hispanic Asians. 90% of pupils speak English at home, while the remainder speaks other languages such as Spanish, Asian, Indo-European, and so on (Farell, 1). Cultural diversity in the classroom is becoming an increasingly important topic for teachers across the education systems as American schools get more diverse each year. It is not a wise approach to ignore the growing diversity. Teachers, on the other hand, are promoting equality and diversity and developing culturally responsive classrooms to help all kids succeed. Demonstrating a personal desire to be culturally aware can help to foster a culturally inclusive classroom. A schoolteacher could urge learners to share their stories and make connections between their different cultures and the lessons being taught. Some students will be more open about their diverse cultures than others. Before assuming a student is sluggish or incapable, consider how cultural diversity may be influencing their study habits and learning, and how you may adjust your techniques or provide accommodation. Strategies for Incorporating Critical Thinking Skills Memorization This is a lower level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Memorization is widely criticized as a waste of time that stifles student learning and a sure sign that teachers aren't up to the task. However, the larger and more diverse a student's intellectual background and schema are, the more easily they will be able to shift between Bloom's stages. Memorization can lessen a student's cognitive load as they digest knowledge, allowing for quicker recall and application rather than breaking down the thinking process into steps, such as locating material, evaluating its trustworthiness, and then progressing to the cognitive main course. In other words, the more a student has ‘instant access' to information, the more unconsciously they can not only implement that knowledge at higher levels of thinking, but also trigger these sorts of actions on their own, making individual connections, recognizing their misconceptions, and seamlessly transferring knowledge to new and different situations (Rahman & Manaf, 7) Use Bloom’s Spiraling Bloom's Spiraling is the method of beginning at the basic levels of Bloom's–defining, recalling, explaining, and so on–and gradually raising the degree of thinking. In this way, Bloom's Taxonomy is a learning framework that acts as a blueprint. Define a right triangle, then describe its properties, compare it to other geometric shapes, argue for or against a right triangle-related theory, and finally suggest a creative usage of the right triangle in design or structure, for example (Mulcare & Shwedel, 8). All students begin at the same level–recognizing and defining–and then ‘move up' Bloom's Taxonomy, with the ‘Make' level serving as a helpful ceiling that can expand to suit the demands of even the most sophisticated understanding while still serving as a goal for students who may struggle. Conclusion Overall, if the district could shift its focus over to developing strategies to enhance the four teaching aims listed above, it is a strong possibility that the students and staff would increase its students’ testing scores as well as confidence by the end of the school year. I believe that the focus on these four main areas would not only help raise their score and confidence, but after further analysis of the district’s failing scores, it's always best to start with the root of the problem, in this case the lowest test scores and hope that this helps keep the tree alive. Oftentimes many school districts have had their backs turned on by their own state due to the inadequate testing of their students, resulting in the school suffering as well as the students & staff placing the blame and causing unnecessary tension. I do believe that this pilot curriculum that I have strategized could be the help this school district needs to turn around those low test scores in math. References 1. Farell Area School District. (2021). Farrell Area School District. https://www.farrellareaschools.com/. 2. Sammons, L. (2018). Teaching students to communicate mathematically. 3. Stebbins, S., & Sauter, M. B. (2020, March 11). Making the grade?: In these school districts, students are less likely to succeed. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/03/11/school-districts-50-us-where-students -least-likely-succeed/5000094002/. 4. Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Filazzola, A. D., & Botvin, E. M. (1990). A cognitive-behavioral approach to substance abuse prevention: One-year follow-up. Addictive behaviors, 15(1), 47-63. 5. Gwele, N. S. (2005). Education philosophy and the curriculum. Curriculum development in nursing: Process and innovations, 1-20. 6. Garcia, J. A., & Lewis, T. E. (2014). Getting a grip on the classroom: From psychological to phenomenological curriculum development in teacher education programs. Curriculum Inquiry, 44(2), 141-168. 7. Rahman, S. A., & Manaf, N. F. A. (2017). A Critical Analysis of Bloom's Taxonomy in Teaching Creative and Critical Thinking Skills in Malaysia through English Literature. English Language Teaching, 10(9), 245-256. 8. Mulcare, D. M., & Shwedel, A. (2017). Transforming Bloom’s taxonomy into classroom practice: a practical yet comprehensive approach to promote critical reading and student participation. Journal of Political Science Education, 13(2), 121-137.