ETEC 512: Lesson Plan Critique

By Nicholas Graves

The lesson plan Canada in WW2 & Propaganda is designed for Social
Studies 11 in British Columbia. This critique will focus on the ways in
which the lesson plan reflects constructivist learning, the theories of
situated learning and distributed cognition, and ideas developed by
Lev Vygotsky. It will also provide suggestions for how it could be
modified to better reflect these theories and be a more effective lesson
plan overall.

Concepts and Design

Canada in WW2 & Propaganda is a three-day lesson plan that
explores Canadas role in WW2, key Canadian figures, and how
propaganda was used to influence the home front. The first day the
students are asked to respond to an inciting question followed by two
lectures and a film clip. The next day the students review the previous
day and then an inciting question is asked. The question leads into a
lecture and a reflective writing assignment. The lesson plan concludes
with a lecture on propaganda and then an activity where the students
work in groups to analyze and create their own propaganda.

This lesson plan has its strengths however it also has some major
limitations. The core of the lesson plan is very teacher centered with all
three days having between 25 to 30 minutes of teacher led lecture.
The students have little opportunity to apply what they are learning,

and the opportunities they do have are short and disconnected. Overall
the lesson plan suffers from being disorganized and a lack of studentcentered activities.

Constructivist Approach
Constructivism is a theory that tries to build on students previous
knowledge through hands on learning. (Gulati, 2008) This lesson plan
does attempt to utilize some constructivist ideas but does not give
them the time or space to be effective. Beginning each class by
reviewing the previous days knowledge is a good way to elicit what the
students know, and following this with an inciting question provides the
opportunity for a student centered approach, but the many long
lectures fail to engage the students in the knowledge. The reflective
writing activity gives the students an opportunity to build on their
initial ideas with their new knowledge, but could strongly benefit by
being accompanied by a class discussion. The closest this lesson plan
comes to constructivism is in the third day when the students engage
in the analysis of propaganda from the Second World War and then the
creation of new propaganda. This activity gives the students the
chance to explore propaganda in world war two, however it is
disconnected from the content of the previous days and as such loses
some of its effectiveness.

Situated Learning & Distributed Cognition.

The theory of situated learning sees the world as a combination of
communities of practice, with each community possessing its own
culture and environment. To better educate students it believes that
lessons should provide authentic activities and that mimic these
cultures while also escaping the culture of the school. (Brown, Collins &
Duguid, 1989) This lesson plan does not provide any examples of
situated learning. Almost all of the learning and activities are more
reflective of a school context than anything that would be done in a
real world environment. The analysis of World War Two propaganda
does provide some elements of situated learning, however this is just a
small component of the overall activity. A big problem with the lesson
here is that all of the information tends to come from the textbook and
as such is being taught in the context of school. To enhance this
knowledge the lesson plan should move away from the textbook and
try to provide expert sources.

Distributed cognition sees knowledge as not just existing in the mind

but as being created by our context, this includes not just our
environment and community but also the tools we use. (Brown, Collins
& Duguid, 1989) This lesson does have some features that represent
distributed cognition, however they are a minor influence and not used

effectively. The best example of distributed cognition is again the

propaganda theory on the third day. This activity encourages the
students to look at the symbols and design elements of the
propaganda and examine how it communicates its message. Overall
though there is a definite lack of group discussion in this lesson plan
with only 20-30 minutes of the entire three-day lesson designated for
class discussion. To improve this lesson using distributed cognition
there needs to be more community involvement and a greater
recognition of the complex ways in which knowledge is created

Lev Vygotsky
Vygostky had many theories about education but this critique will focus
mainly on his ideas on the social-cultural construction of knowledge
and the zone of proximal development. Vygotsky believed that the
context we are born into plays a role in the way we construct
knowledge and that to maximize learning students should work at a
level just beyond their ability but not so far that they cant accomplish
it with support, in other words the learning must be scaffold.
(Glassman, 1994) It is difficult to know exactly how much this lesson
plan integrates the social-cultural construction of knowledge with out
knowing the exact content being covered, however as previously
stated the lesson is lacking extensive group discussion. The lesson plan

does try to connect the learners cultural experiences with the cultural
context of the time. This can be seen in the inciting question asked on
the first day and the follow up reflective writing assignment. It is also
difficult to determine if the lesson positions students in the zone of
proximal development, however there does not appear to be much
scaffolding in the activities. Both the reflective writing and the
propaganda activity could be enhanced by constructing an example
with the class and by providing them with an exemplar to critique.

Modifications
This lesson plan has room for a lot of modification. Social Studies 11 in
BC is a provincially examinable course that covers a lot of content, and
this lesson plan provides a good example of how classes in this course
can become information dumps. Working in this context I attempted to
keep the focus on information, while at the same time trying make the
information easier to digest and process.

The first major change I made was in sequencing. The propaganda

activity seemed tacked on at the end with little connection to the other
content. I moved it from the third day up to the first day and used it as
an extended activity over the three days. I also removed the lecture on
propaganda and instead will introduce propaganda through a
discussion and introduce the activity through an exemplar. In this way I

hope to provide more scaffolding to support the students and to situate

the information in a greater social and cultural context, supporting the
theory of distributed cognition and Vygotskys theory on knowledge
construction.

To try and move the lesson away from being heavily reliant on the
teacher I have changed the two lectures in the first class to a Jigsaw
activity. Students will now collaborate and build notes off the
information in their textbook. These notes will be hosted on a
collaborative word processing site like Google docs. This helps situate
the learning in a more real world context, and also allows for more
community interaction in the learning process. In making these
changes the lesson also utilizes constructivist principles and allow the
students to build their knowledge collectively.

The second day will focus on consolidating the information from the
previous day and building on it. The main focus of this day will be in
activities that utilize primary sources of evidence. Situated learning
seeks to develop authentic activities so that students are learning in
the classroom the way they would apply the knowledge outside the
classroom. Analyzing primary evidence is not an easy task however
and the students will need a lot of scaffolding to do so effectively. To
get them into the zone of proximal development the teacher will first

walk the class through a couple of examples, then the students will
work in groups and finally in pairs. A focus in this activity will be put
on propaganda and how the primary evidence being examined tries to
convey its message.

The final day has been modified to allow for more time to present and
discuss students work from the propaganda activity, as well as a quick
final activity to consolidate what the students have studied. This day
will strongly focused on assessing what students have learned from the
past three days and then expanding on it.

Conclusions
This lesson plan reflected a traditional approach to schooling and
though it touched on ideas established by Vygotsky and built on
through constructivism it did not use these ideas effectively. The
rationale behind my modifications was to make the lesson more
student-centered and to give the students authentic activities wherein
they could build their knowledge as a community. By doing so the
lesson now reflects the theories of situated learning, and a Vygotsky
influenced constructivism. The lesson is now cleaner and sleeker with
less focus on lectures and more on discussion and activities in which
students apply the knowledge they have learned.

Canada in WW2 & Propaganda: A 3-day lesson

Original Lesson Plan
Objectives:
Students will be able to identify Canadas numerous contributions to
the war effort, both at home and overseas.
Students will be able to identify some key Canadian figures in the war
effort.
Students will be able to explain why Canada joined the Second World
War.
Activity: Students will be asked to write a -1 page response on what
their concerns would be if Canada and the world were engaged in a
Third World War. They will be given five minutes to discuss their
thoughts with a partner than 10-15 minutes to write down their
thoughts.
Time: 20 minutes
Lecture 1: Canada declares War
This lecture will discuss the initial stages of the war in Canada; the
process of declaring war, mobilizing resources for the war, British
Commonwealth Air training plan, total war.
Counter Points pg. 101-105
Time: 15-20 min
Film: Canada a Peoples History.
Time 10-15 min max.
Lecture 2: Canada Fights
This lecture will focus on the role of Canadian combatants; the Dieppe
Raid, the Battle of the Atlantic, Canadas role in D-Day, the impact left
by Canadians on the places that they liberated and the role of the
Royal Canadian Air Force.
Time: 20-25 min (if this lecture goes long it will be stretched over to
the next day)
Day 1 Ends and Day 2 Begins
Review: We will go over some of the basics of last class, and if needed
finish up the lecture on Canadian soldiers.
Time: 5-10 min. 15min max
Brainstorm: As a class we will brainstorm how the war might have
affected the home front, and changes that needed to be made on the
home front as the war progressed.

Time: 5 min. 10 min. max

Lecture 3: The Home Front
This lecture will discuss measures taken in Canada to assist with the
war effort; specifically dealing with turning Canadas economy into a
war economy, the demand for social change, the impact of the war on
women, the conscription crisis and the treatment of enemy
populations in Canada.
Counter Points pg. 122-125
Time 20-25 min.
Activity: Students will be given back their responses that they did on
the first day, they will now be asked to review them and comment on
whether their feelings have changed, is there other stuff that would
concern them more now that they have some idea of what Canadians
in the second World War went through. Both these reflections will then
be handed in and marked for completeness, accuracy (only in the
second response) and originality
Time: 20-25 min.
Left Over Time:
Any time left the students will be given to complete their notes on the
chapter
Closure Lecture:
Time: 5 min.
Day 2 Ends and Day 3 Begins
Lecture: Propaganda: What is it and why is it important?
This will be a power point lecture or something along those lines; it will
consist of explaining what propaganda is, how it was used, the
different reasons why it was used, various examples of different types
(radio, films, posters, songs), and examples of pop culture figures in
propaganda.
Time: 20- 25 minutes
Activity: Examine and Reinterpret Propaganda from the Second World
War
Students will be split up into groups of 3-4 and given a slip of paper
with a type of propaganda, such as home front, economic, etc. they will
also receive a packet of posters from WW2 with various forms of
propaganda. They are to find five examples of their type of propaganda
from the posters, find five commonalities between the posters, and
then create a reinterpretation of the theme of the propaganda, using

these posters as a guide. The groups can make posters, songs, skits,
etc. anything they want as long as it reflects their theme.
Time: 20-25 minutes
Presentations: Each group will then be given 5 min. max to present
the five posters they selected, the five common elements in their
posters, and their form of propaganda.
Time: 20-35 minutes (if not all the presentations are completed they
can be carried over to the next class.)
Closure Lecture:
Time: 5 min.

Canada in WW2 & Propaganda: A 3-day lesson Modified

Objectives:
Students will be able to identify Canadas numerous contributions to
the war effort, both at home and overseas.
Students will be able to identify some key Canadian figures in the war
effort.
Students will be able to explain why Canada joined the Second World
War.
Discussion: Propaganda: What is it and why is it important?
This will be a power point discussion and will consist of asking what
propaganda is, how it was used, and talking about the different
reasons why it is used. We will then look at a few examples of different
types and analyze how the spread their message.
Time: 10 - 15 minutes
Activity: Examine and Reinterpret Propaganda from the Second World
War
Students will be split up into groups of 3-4 and given a slip of paper
with a type of propaganda, such as home front, economic, etc. they will
also receive a packet of posters from WW2 with various forms of
propaganda. They are to find five examples of their type of propaganda
from the posters, find five commonalities between the posters, and
then create a reinterpretation of the theme of the propaganda, using
these posters as a guide. The groups can make posters, songs, skits,
etc. anything they want as long as it reflects their theme.
Time: 20-25 minutes
Jigsaw

Students will be split into groups and use their textbooks to examine
the initial stages of the war in Canada; the process of declaring war,
mobilizing resources for the war, British Commonwealth Air training
plan, total war. They will also focus on the role of Canadian
combatants; the Dieppe Raid, the Battle of the Atlantic, Canadas role
in D-Day, the impact left by Canadians on the places that they
liberated and the role of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Each group will
be responsible for taking notes on one or two sections and then they
will collaborate and put these notes online using a Google docs or a
similar software.
Counter Points pg. 101-105
Time: 15-20 min
Day 1 Ends
Day 2 Begins
Review: We will go over some of the basics of last class, and if needed
finish up the lecture on Canadian soldiers.
Time: 5-10 min. 15min max
Film: Canada a Peoples History.
Time 10-15 min max.
Brainstorm: As a class we will brainstorm how the war might have
affected the home front, and changes that needed to be made on the
home front as the war progressed.
Time: 5 min. 10 min. max
Activity: Primary Source Evidence
Students will look at various examples of primary evidence and
analyze their importance and meaning. They will specifically deal with
turning Canadas economy into a war economy, the demand for social
change, the impact of the war on women, the conscription crisis and
the treatment of enemy populations in Canada. This activity will
begin as a class activity, then students will work in pairs, and then in
groups. At the end of the activity the groups will share what they
learned and the importance of two or three documents, pictures, etc.
Time 30-40 min.
Left Over Time:
Any time left the students will be given to finish up their propaganda
presentation
Closure Lecture:

Time: 5 min.
Day 2 Ends
Day 3 Begins
Review Discussion: Canadas role in WW2 and propaganda
Class will go over the key ideas from the previous day and then
examine what the changes at home in WW2 meant. The discussion will
focus around three questions
1- How did Canada respond economically and politically to WW2?
2- How was life at home changed for minorities?
3- In what ways did propaganda influence Canada in WW2?
Time: 20- 25 minutes
Presentations: Each group will then be given 5 min. max to present
the five posters they selected, the five common elements in their
posters, and their form of propaganda.
Time: 20-35 minutes (if not all the presentations are completed they
can be carried over to the next class.)
Closure Lecture: Review the key ideas presented in the class and
comment on the presentations
Time: 5 min.

Works Cited
Brown,J.S.,Collins,A.&Duguid,S.(1989).Situatedcognitionandthecultureof
learning.EducationalResearcher,18,3242.
Glassman,M.(1994).Allthingsbeingequal:thetworoadsofPiagetand
Vygotsky.DevelopmentalReview,14,186214.
Gulati,S.(2008).Compulsoryparticipationinonlinediscussions:isthisconstructivism
ornormalisationoflearning?InnovationsinEducationandTeachingInternational,45,
183192.