1) The document describes a scenario where a teacher, Miss Rita, had difficulties effectively teaching her students about tsunamis. She made assumptions that her students had prior knowledge on the topic and that showing pictures and videos would be enough to engage them. 2) The problems Miss Rita faced are analyzed through various learning theories including Piaget's, Vygotsky's, and information processing theory. Suggestions are provided on how to better understand the students' cognitive levels, provide scaffolding, stimulate prior knowledge, and give constructive feedback. 3) The document recommends ways for Miss Rita to overcome the problems, such as incorporating collaborative learning activities, ensuring new information builds on what students already know, and providing

1. Educational
Psychology
PBL Scenario 3

5. Student’s first lesson on Tsunami.
Miss Rita is an inexperienced
teacher.
She scaffolds her teaching
through higher order questions.
She assumes that the students
have prior knowledge.
She thought pictures, videos and
news report were sufficient to
trigger the student’s thinking.
Problems in the scenario

6. Problem Statement:
Understanding our
students
1. We need to understand the learner’s
behavior and needs
2. We need to apply the appropriate
theories to the leaner’s learning behavior
and needs to enhance the learner’s
thinking for the 21st Century.

7. 21st Century Skills

8. How can we
help her?

9. Cognitive level:
Piaget’s Theory
Understand our
student’s
intellectual level
Secondary two
students are in
concrete
operational level
Accumulate
concepts and
logical structures
based on concrete
references

10. Piaget’s Theorem:
Understanding the Learner
Students are able to
link the destruction
shown in the video
to other natural
disaster.
Students will
accomodate the
new theories and
build onto existing
knowledge.

11. Piaget’s
Constructivism
Learning is an active process.
Based on self discovery,
students will be able to learn
more in a meaningful context.
Learning should be whole,
authentic and real.
Children are limited by their
own experience, so Ms Rita
should actively involve
students in her teaching.

12. Problems surfaced during
introduction
I showed them pictures and video clips of
the devastations before the lesson. Wasn’t
that more than enough?

13. Overcoming the
Problem
using Piaget’s Theory
Simulation and Animation
Self-discovery through
research

14. Understanding Social
and Cultural Context
Do not assume
that the students
have the general
knowledge with
regards to
Tsunamis
Lack of
understanding
breeds
negligence

15. Importance of
Scaffolds:
Vygotsky’s Theory
Awareness of
the importance
of scaffolds
Lack of
understanding
breeds
inflexibility

16. Problems surfaced
during development
Aisha usually reads up before the lesson.
She said that it’s due to volcanic
eruptions, but could not elaborate.

17. Overcoming the problem
using Vygotsky’s theory
Scaffolding through guiding questions
Eg With regards to Aisha’s question,
she could have asked, “Oh, what do
you think might happen when the
volcano erupts?” “What are the
possible effects?” “Does it only affect
its immediate environment?”
Collaborative learning through interaction
Eg Group discussion or group learning.

18. Overcoming the
problem using
Information
Processing model
Assessment of
understanding
through
constructive
feedback

19. Consolidation
Retention of
information
Concept map

20. Qualities of Good
Teachers
Flexible
Patience
Reflective

21. Introduce New
Information
Identify the
prerequisites of
the students
Tap on their prior
knowledge
Introduce new
information

22. Encourage students to
organise information
Problem
Stimulus was not good enough to
gain student’s attention. She only
showed the effects of Tsunami
Solution
Show the causes of Tusnami first
before showing them the effects of
Tsunami. (Information-processing
Theory)

23. Problem
She did not stimulate the
recall of students’ prior
learning.
No meaningful learning took
place as students were
unable to make sense of what
Miss Rita was teaching.

24. Solution1. Find out the prerequisite for the topic,
Tsunami.
2. Tap on the students’ prior knowledge on
other natural disaster like Volcanoes and
Earthquakes.
3. Introduce new information on Tsunami.

25. Construction of
Knowledge
Learning Guidance was not provided
Problem: Only higher order thinking
questions were asked during lesson.
Solution: She could provide more
guidance to the students by asking
knowledge-based questions before
proceeding to ask higher order thinking
questions.
Construction of knowledge should be
done in a systematic manner.

26. Constructive
Feedback
Assessment of students’
understanding was not properly
conducted
Problem: She was in disbelief when
students gave the wrong answers
Solution: She should give
constructive feedback to the students
and help them to understand why
their answers were incorrect.

27. Problem
Retention and transfer of information was
not enhanced.
No task was given to the students to
ensure the retention of information.

28. Solution
Allow information
to be retained in
long-term
memory.
For example,
student can be
asked to draw a
concept map
based on what
they have learnt.

29. PBL learning Task
Interesting learning task to excite the
students.
Students will drive the learning of task.
They can generate their own questions
such as..
What causes a Tsunami?
How are Tsunamis and Earthquakes
related?
What should we do during a Tsunami?
Students can draw their own links from the
assignments.

30. Motivation
Motivation creates intentions and
goal-seeking acts. (Weiner’s)
Achievement can be attributed to.
Effort
Ability
Level of Task Difficulty
Luck

31. Task Difficulty
Problem: Students may think that the
assignment is difficult.
Solution: Students need to know that it is
easy to study the formation of Tsunami.
Miss Rita can provide an intermediate level
of difficulty for the PBL assignment for the
students.
Something that is within the capability of
the students.
Change their mindset.

32. Ability
Confidence in one’s
own ability
Students can ask
questions on Tsunami
and do their own self-
directed research to the
answers.
It can increase the
confidence level of the
students.

33. Future Actions
Act, reflect and learn
Confidence and Experience

34. The End.
Special Thanks to A/P Jessie Ee