Cognitive Apprenticeship Lesson for Psychology

Lesson adapted from http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=21500

Place Value (Behaviorism Lesson)

Grade: 3

Objective: (Math Standard 1, objective 1) After classroom experience and homework practice students demonstrate their understanding of place value by representing whole numbers up to 10,000 and identifying relationships among whole numbers using base-ten models and symbolic notation.

1) Observe an expert - a “business owner” of and ice cream shop will talk through and model the process of balancing expenses in a checkbook style register. (It’s not shown here, but in their register and in the example register the columns will have soft lines for each place value.)



Prices:
Cones sold - $2 each
5 gallons ice cream - $15
Cones (1 box of 30) - $10

During the model, certain students will be “plants” in buying cones to make the business model more lifelike, and the more knowledgeable other will demonstrate the record of expenditures and income.

2-4) External Support/Scaffolding/Articulation
– In small groups, students will set up their own business. Each individual will be given a register and will be responsible for keeping their own register. Each business will get 10,000 to start their balance.
- Each group will only have 1 product to sell and 2 expenses
- Half of the class will sell and half will buy for the first ten minutes, then buyer and seller will switch roles for the second ten minutes.
-Students will keep registers of their shops income and expenses. They can work as a group to keep and balance their record, but each individual will be responsible of having their own filled out copy of the register. The register filled out during the model will be left on display to act as a help to those who need it.
-Students will have five minutes at the end to perfect their register and check their balance on a calculator to be sure they added and subtracted correctly.

The more knowledgeable other, who is the teacher, the model, and peers who might find this task easier will provide external support to the students to scaffold their levels of learning and help them as they need help. They will help bridge the gap of what the students could do without help and what they need help to be successful at. Further scaffolding and external support is provided with the specific details of the assignment (set amount of money, 1 source of income and 2 expenses, etc.)
The dialectal relationship is very important at this point as the more knowledgeable other and the learner work together to yield the most learning possibile.

5) Reflect – have a class discussion
-Was it as easy as the MKA made it look?
-Did your math match up with your peers? The calculator?
-How did you know which column to put at item (income or expense)?
-How might you do it differently next time?

6) Give the whole class the following scenario to work on individually and a register to complete the task.

You are the owner of a pizza shop.

Your expenses are:
Pizza - $4
Pizza boxes - $1
Your product/income will be
Pizza - $10

Here is what you need to record and balance on your register:

You start with a $15,000 balance.
Day one you buy 150 pizzas and 150 pizza boxes.
You sell 100 pizzas.
Day two you buy 160 pizzas and 160 pizza boxes.
You sell 123 pizzas.
Day three you buy 192 pizzas and 192 pizza boxes .
You sell 191 pizzas.
Day four you buy 220 pizzas and 220 pizza boxes.
You sell 185 pizzas.
Day five you buy 220 pizzas and 200 pizza boxes.
You sell 201 pizzas.

The zone of proximal development is maintained because once the students have mastered the first task as a group, they are given a harder task to complete individually. The students are always being pushed one step further in their learning.