Learning Experience Design Through Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction

Leaders of the Legislative Branch - Gallery Walk

** The following is a learning experience model for teaching the leaders of the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government using Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction. All handouts as well as a scoring rubric are attached to the post for further viewing**

Gain Attention:

The learning experience begins with the instructor posing the following question to students: "Who knows what happens if the president is, for one reason or another, removed from his/her position? Who becomes president? What if that person is also not able to fill the position? In other words, what's the line of succession for the Presidency in the U.S.?"

Establish Purpose:

The purpose of this learning experience is two-fold. First, since we will be covering the Executive Branch in the future, its important for us to know who is in line for the Presidency if circumstances necessitate it. More importantly, because the Legislative Branch is suppose to represent its constituents (that's us!), who are the leaders of this group? Who are these people making the big decisions that really affect us and what do they actually do?

Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning:

Discuss with students what we have previously covered about the Legislative Branch. This would include basic facts that they have learned such as the two political parties in the U.S., the differences between the Senate and House of Representatives, and a brief recall of the leadership structure of the two houses of government. This could be done in many different forms, however, questioning by the instructor and recall by the students is a quick and easy way to get the students thinking again about what they already know going in to this learning experience.

Because students will be working in groups and using computers throughout the learning experience it is also important that they are reminded of what they have learned about appropriate behavior for group work and use of computers. Reminders about what constitutes positive group interaction and educational use of the internet must be discussed.

Present Content:

This experience allows for the students and instructor to create and present content in a collective manner. The instructor will provide each student with a "Leaders of the Legislative Branch" worksheet (see attached) and go over directions with the class as a whole. Groups of students will then be given the freedom to create their presentations using the sources provided by the instructor on the worksheet. All the while, the instructors job is to monitor groups and provide assistance where its needed. 

Guided Learning:

As groups continue to work on their presentations, the instructor must be diligent in making sure they are using appropriate sources and that they are on track to finish their products in time. Groups may struggle with how to effectively use the websites provided by the instructor so, guidance in terms of useful searching strategies and help with new vocabulary and/or concepts will be needed. **Note: a second stage of guided learning will occur once the groups have all finished their presentations and the gallery walk portion of the lesson begins. As groups move from one station to the next, the role of the instructor is to monitor students and provide assistance if questions or confusion arise**

Elicit Performance:

This step involves groups finishing their PowerPoint presentations based off the directions provided in the worksheet. Groups have the freedom to do this in numerous ways as long as the final product meets the requirements outlined in the directions. Like the Guided Learning section, the instructor will also Elicit Performance once students have finished their presentation and move to the next stage of reviewing other groups' presentations. Students will be asked to fill out second portion of the "Leaders of the Legislative Branch" worksheet (see attached) as they carry out the Gallery Walk portion of the learning experience. 

Provide Feedback:

Feedback will be a continual aspect of this learning experience, as it is critical that each group produces a final product that other students can learn from. The instructor must be diligent in keeping track of what key information groups may be missing from their presentations as they work and provide assistance/support to groups that may be lacking this information.

Assess Performance:

Assessment will occur both during the Gallery Walk portion of the learning experience and afterwards. As students walk from one station to the next their ability to fill out their worksheets will be a clear sign as to whether other groups did a quality job of creating their presentations. Groups will also be asked to email the instructor a copy of their presentation so that assessment of their products can be done at a later time. At the end of the Gallery Walk students will also be asked to turn in the second portion of the "Leaders of the Legislative Branch" worksheet so that the instructor can see if any information was not successfully delivered or retained by individual students. This second part of the learning experience will not be formally assessed, instead, simply serves as a way for students to have all the information in one place for later use.

Enhance Retention:

This step is made up of that second portion of the learning experience I keep alluding to - the Gallery Walk. Once groups have finished with their PowerPoint slide shows they will move from one computer to the next, filling out their worksheets as they go. Therefor, not only will groups gain knowledge about the leader that they researched, they will also retain information about the other leaders as well. After checking their worksheets, the instructor will hand them back so that students can have them for later use.