Marsha Veal

Assignment- Learner Analysis

September 22, 2009

Introduction:
This Learner Analysis was conducted in a 7th grade Science classroom. The school is a
low-income public school in south Georgia. The school consists of 6th, 7th, and 8th grades but the
high school is also connected to this school. The standard that will be used for this project is

S7L2 Students will describe the structure and function of cells, tissues, organs, and organ
systems. b. Relate cell structures (cell membrane, nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplasts,
mitochondria) to basic cell functions.
c. Explain that cells are organized into tissues, tissues into organs, organs into systems, and
systems into organisms.
d. Explain that tissues, organs, and organ systems serve the needs cells have for oxygen, food,
and waste removal.
e. Explain the purpose of the major organ systems in the human body (i.e., digestion, respiration,
reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control, and coordination, and for protection
from disease).

The information in this Learner Analysis was received by the use of surveys.

Demographics:
To determine the demographics of my learners, I used a survey that I created. After studying the
surveys, I chose 10 students with demographics that would give me a wide variety of
characteristics. The exceptionalities were determined by looking at previous CRCT scores and
the students’ IEPs.
Student Age Gender Race Lunches Exception- Learning Favorite Least First
Number ality Preference Subject Favorite language
Subject
1 12 F B Free/red. None Auditory Math Soc. St. English
2 13 M B ADD Kinesthetic Science Soc. St. English
3 12 F H None Kinesthetic Math Reading Spanish
4 12 M W None Visual Math Reading English
5 13 F W Free/red. ADD Kinesthetic Science Math English
6 12 M H None Visual Math Reading Spanish
7 13 M B Free/red. None Auditory Soc. St. Math English
8 12 M W None Visual English Science English
9 13 F W Gifted Auditory Reading Soc. St. English
10 12 F B Free/red. ADD Kinesthetic Science Reading English
*Survey can be found at the end of this document.

Entry Skills & Prior Knowledge:

The students’ prior knowledge of the content that is covered by Standard S7L2 was received by
giving the students a pretest over the subject. The results were:
 Student # Passed Failed
1 X
2 X
3 X
4 X
5 X
6 X
7 X
8 X
9 X
10 X
*Pretest is at the end of this document.
This is a table showing the actual results that were received from the pretest.
Ques- Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student
tion # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 C B A B B B B a B C

2 B B A B A A B B B B

3 A C B C C B C A C C

4 B A A B B B B A B B

5 B C C A C A C C C A

6 A A B A A B A B A A

7 A A B A A A B A A A

8 A B C B B B B B B B

After reviewing the results from the pretest, I found that students lack the most knowledge about
the formation of cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems than that of cells and the different
systems.

Academic Motivation:
As an educator and having taught Life Science for many years, I have found that students
become motivated to learn the content and complete projects if they know they will be able to eat
their work. They love completing edible projects because they are able to share their creation
with their classmates. Middle school aged students also love making projects and becoming
involved working in groups. They are also motivated by the fact that they may be working on
computers. These factors contribute to the motivation in my classroom.

Motivational Strategies:
*Attention- The students’ attention will be gained by having the students look at cells using a
microscope. This is perceptual arousal. The students will also have to answer a few questions on
how an individual starts out as a cell and becomes a human. The students will then draw what
they saw and inquire about it by creating questions. This will allow the teacher to see what the
students want to know about the subject.
*Relevance- The students and teacher will have a discussion over the importance of GPS S7L2.
The discussion will involve how the standard relates to the lives of the students and others. The
discussion will explain why students have to learn about cells, tissues, organs, and organ
systems. The class will also give examples of times in their lives that it will be important to
know about the human body and its composition.
*Confidence- The students will gain confidence at the beginning of the unit through the use of
clearly defined goals and understanding the standards and guidelines. The teacher will show an
example of a finished product at the beginning of the unit so that students will know what they
are to complete during the course of the unit. The teacher will provide positive feedback and
reinforcement strategies throughout the unit to ensure all students possess the confidence
required from beginning to end.
*Satisfaction- Students will be given the opportunity to satisfy their desire to demonstrate what
they have learned through the completion of the final assessment. The content that is presented
to the class will be assessed so that the students will show that they have mastered the content.
The students should then be able to apply their knowledge to real-world applications.

Learner Characteristics:
Students were given a Multiple Intelligence test to determine the learner characteristics. The test
was designed as a list of questions to show individuals how they learn best. These are the results
from the tests:
Student Visual Verbal Logical Natural- Kines- Inter- Intra- Musical
Number ist thetic personal personal

1 X X

2 X X

3 X X

4 X X

5 X X

6 X X
 7 X X

8 X X

9 X X

10 X X

*X= indicates the highest scores on the test

*The multiple intelligence tests that were distributed can be found at the end of this document.
The students seem to learn in a variety of ways. The information that was attained shows that
most of the target students enjoy kinesthetic activities and visuals. This is not surprising for
middle schoolers. They love working with their hands, doing projects, and having visuals. The
teacher must use a variety of teaching strategies to reach all of the target students. Students with
different cultural and ethnic backgrounds will also appreciate the different teaching strategies.
Out of the ten target students, two of the students were Hispanic and have trouble with the
English language. These students are visual learners because they are able to understand pictures
and models rather than verbal discussions. There are several methods that teachers could use to
help students with different cultural or ethnic backgrounds. These methods were mentioned by
Allison and Rehm, Ginsburg, and Lynch in their articles and books about teaching students of
different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. These references are cited in the Reference section.

3 Methods that will help meet the needs of learners with different cultural and ethnic
backgrounds:
• Visuals- Students whose primary language is not English, have trouble in an American
classroom. The use of visuals aids these students in comprehending the concepts in a
more meaningful way.
• Peer Tutoring- Placing the students with a peer of a different background can also help
the student learn. The students will be able to teach each other and help each other
understand the concepts better.
• Cooperative Groups- By placing the students in cooperative groups, they are able to
share their ideas and elaborate on others. They may come to understand the concept by
listening to others. They may also have more confidence working in a small group than
in a large group.

Accommodations:
I reviewed the IEPs of my students to gain this information. The following table summarizes the
individual criteria for students.

Student Number Science CRCT Score CRCT Scoring Special needs

Criteria
1 822 meets
 2 801 Meets ADD
3 795 Does not meet Struggling reader
(remedial)
4 823 Meets
5 798 Does not meet ADD
6 801 Meets Remedial reading
7 807 Meets
8 832 Meets
9 901 Exceeds
10 800 Meets ADD

The following are accommodations that were made to aid in meeting the students’ needs. These
methods were mentioned by Allison and Rehm, Lloyd, and Seeley in their articles and books
about teaching students with special needs. These are referenced in the Reference Section.
Type of Special Need Teaching Strategies used
Students 3, 6 Interactive demonstrations, shortened notes,
Remedial Readers Give oral and written directions, repetition of
directions, Provide many visuals

Students 2, 5, and 10 Interactive demonstrations, shortened notes,

ADD Give oral and written directions, repetition of
directions

Student 9 Higher level questioning, more complex

Gifted hands-on activities that include abstract
thinking
*Books that were referenced are listed in the Reference Section.

Peer Review Feedback:

The suggestions that were given were very helpful and I followed the advice of my peer
reviewer. I added the elements that my unit will be covering, and I told the specific areas that
my learners were weak in according to my pre-test. I cited my references for the special needs
children and the culturally different children. I also corrected the indention errors in my
reference section.

References:

Allison, B., & Rehm, M. (2007). Effective teaching strategies for middle school
learners in multicultural, multilingual classrooms. Middle School Journal, 39(2),
12-18. Retrieved September 19, 2009, from
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019
b/80/36/29/23.pdf
Chapman, A. (n.d.). Multiple Intelligences Test - based on Howard Gardner's MI Model.
 Retrieved September 20, 2009, from
http://www.businessballs.com/freepdfmaterials/free_multiple_intelligences_test_y
oung_people.pdf
Ginsberg, M. (2005). Cultural diversity, motivation, and differentiation. Theory Into
Practice, 44(3), 218-225. Retrieved September 18, 2009, from the EBSCOHost
database.
Lloyd, J., Kameenui, E., & Chard, D. (1997). Issues in educating students with
disabilities. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lynch, S. (2000). Equity and science education reform. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Seeley, K. (2004). Gifted and talented students at risk. Focus on Exceptional Children,
37(4), 1-8. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from the Academic Search Complete
database.

Appendix A

Demographics Survey
Please answer the following questions about yourself.

1. What is your age? _______

2. What is your gender? __________

3. What is your race? ______________

4. Which way do you learn best?

a. hands-on activites (labs) b. visual activities c. listening

5. What is your favorite subject? _____________

6. What is your least favorite subject? ____________

7. What is your first language?

a. English b. Spanish c. other_______________________________

8. Do you receive free or reduced lunch? Yes or no

Appendix B

Pre-test
Circle the letter beside the best answer.
1. A ___ is the smallest part of a living thing that carries on the functions of life.
a. organ b. cell c. tissue
2. Tissues are made up of organs.
a. true b. false
3. The _____ system is in control of supplying your body with the oxygen and food that
it needs and getting rid of wastes.
a. urinary b. nervous c. circulatory
4. Organ systems are made of cells.
a. true b. false
5. A group of cells working together make up a ____.
a. cell b. organ c. tissue
6. The _____ system is responsible for sending and receiving messages.
a. nervous b. digestive c. respiratory
7. Cells are made up of many parts.
a. true b. false
8. The _____ system breaks down food to be used by the cells.
a. endocrine b. digestive c. respiratory
Appendix C