Activity 1

Procedure:
Students will complete a goals worksheet in the beginning of class that incorporates
SMARTs curriculum for goal planning. (5-7 Minutes) Then students will participate in
an activity called Helium Hoop where they will be provided the following rules: The
object of this exercise is to lower the hula hoop to the ground. Sounds easy, right? This is
a lot harder than it looks, and it is because of the rules. Rule #1 You may only use your
forefingers to touch the hoop. Rule #2 Everyones fingers (both of them) must be
touching the hoop at all times. (5-7 Minutes) After students will complete a worksheet of
how their goals and motivation relate to the previous activity and go over learning theory
concepts via a worksheet. (5-8 Minutes)

Goals:
Goal #1 Students will be able to accurately explain goal based learning and motivation in
their own words
Goal #2 Students will understand how schema and meaningful receptive learning applied
to the lesson
Goal #3 Students will be able to come up with goals to motivate them inside or outside of
the classroom
Goal #4 Students will be able to connect how setting goals increases their intrinsic
motivation
Goal #5: Students will understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation.

Learning Theory Concepts:

1. Motivation: the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.
Intrinsic Motivation: Individual's motivational stimuli are coming themselves. Students
who are driven by curiosity and the natural desire to know and understand the world
around them.
Extrinsic Motivation: Individual's motivational stimuli are coming from outside. In other
words, our desires to perform a task are controlled by an outside source.
2. Goals and Goal Orientation: the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired
result.
Assessment
For this activity, students will be informally assessed based on the completion and effort
they put into completing the Helium Hoop activity. They will also be assessed based on
their participation in group and classroom discussion of how this activity relates to setting
goals and motivation. Depending on prior knowledge and the area of your class, you can
increase the difficulty of icebreaker.
 Activity 2
Procedure:
Students will be split into two groups by the teacher and be given a Tower of Hanoi (3-5
minutes). Teachers will go over the rules of the puzzle with the students and address any
questions students may have before starting (3-5 minutes). The hint The minimal
number of moves required to solve a Tower of Hanoi puzzle is 2n 1, where n is the
number of disks! will be given to the students. The groups of students will work on
solving the puzzle (1-10 minutes). Students will regroup as a class to discuss the puzzle
and the process of thinking that went on throughout the activity (3-5 minutes).

Goals
Goal #1: Students will control their attention to complete the Tower of Hanoi. The steps
they take to completing the puzzle depends on the previous steps, therefore attention
needs to be fixed and controlled to complete activity.
Goal #2: Students will use their procedural memory to learn motor and cognitive skills to
complete the puzzle.
Goal #3: Students will be able to collaborate with their peers completing this activity
Goal #4: Students will be able to transfer what they learn in this activity from their short
term memory into their long term memory.
Goal #5: Students will be able to use their problem solving skills and procedural systems
in order to solve the Tower of Hanoi Puzzle.

Learning Theory Concepts:

Procedural System of Human Learning and Memory: A performance system. Involved in
learning both motor skills and cognitive skills. Procedural memory is a part of the
long-term memory that is responsible for knowing how to do things, also known as motor
skills. Procedural memory is a subset of implicit memory, sometimes referred to as
unconscious memory or automatic memory. Implicit memory uses past experiences to
remember things without thinking about them.

Controlling Attention: Ability to sustain attention and adapt attention to changing task
demands.
Assessment
For this activity, students will be assessed based on the completion of the Tower of Hanoi
activity. They will be assessed based on cooperating with other students in their groups as
well as using their motor skills to complete the activity. Participation in groups will also
be used as an assessment.
Name ____________________

TOWER OF HANOI

1. How did you use motor skills to solve the Tower of

Hanoi?

2. How did you use cognitive skills to solve the Tower of Hanoi?

3. Did the hint The minimal number of moves required to solve a Tower of
Hanoi puzzle is 2n 1, where n is the number of disks! help? And if so
how?

4. Was it difficult to control your attention on this activity? If yes, how can you
control your attention next time? If no, what strategies did you use to stay on
task?

Solutions can be found here: http://towersofhanoi.info/Animate.aspx

 Reflection Mini Lesson Motivation and Self Regulation

In my opinion the activity went great. For Jacob and I, we felt that our instructions were

well received from our peers. One student commented, Engaging, entertaining and easy to

follow along with. For our activity we hand-crafted the two Tower of Hanois using a bandsaw

and sanded the edges so no sharp corners or splinters could hurt anyone. We had to take safety

into consideration for this activity.

The main ideas, controlling attention and procedural system of human learning and

memory, were chosen by Jacob and I. We enjoyed chapter 8 so much, we asked to share on this

lesson although the class did not read the chapter. Therefore, when I read the comment, I

understand the idea of controlling attention, but not how it connects to teaching (or how to apply

the concept). Might have just been because I didnt read the chapter, I wish we explained the

reasoning of why we chose the two topics more to the class. We should have been clearer with

our intentions and motivation behind the activity.

It was fun for us as the teachers to see the students so engaged while using their motor

and cognitive skills to solve the puzzle. In addition, the animation website Jacob and I showed

also captivated the class. If we had more time for our lesson, we could have studied and shared

the mathematical reasoning behind it. The activity can be adjusted to different age level and level

of skill depending on how many pieces of wood or pegs there are.