Learner Analysis

6th Grade Copyright vs. Plagiarism Unit

Introduction
The learner analysis was taken from a middle school environment that houses 6-8 grade
students. Pierce County Middle School in Blackshear, Georgia, serves approximately 825
students. The school is a Title 1 School that has meet AYP several years in a row. The learner
analysis complete on one 6th grade class of students. The information was obtained from Mrs.
Denise Browns 6A connection class. The goal of the unit was for students to understand the
importance of copyright and plagiarism. Listed below are the standards for the unit:
ISTE Standards (formally NETS):
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007
5. Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and
practice legal and ethical behavior.
a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, ad responsible use of information and technology.
b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and
productivity.
c. Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
d. Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.
exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.
Georgia Performance Standards:
https://www.georgiastandards.org/standards/Pages/BrowseStandards/ctae-middle.aspx
CTAE-FS-5 Information Technology Applications: Learners use multiple information
technology devices to access, organize, process, transmit, and communicate
information.

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Demographic
There are 822 students enrolled at Pierce County Middle School. These students are in
grades 6-8 and are between the ages of 11 and 15 . Of the 822 students in the school, 671
students are caucasian. There is a wide range between percentages of ethnicity as you can see
below in figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 is the demographics for the school. Table 1.1 is the demographics
for the students in Mrs. Browns 6A class.

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Figure 1.1

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Table 1.1

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Entry Skill and Prior Knowledge

The students prior knowledge was provided through the results of the pretest. The results
from the teacher-made pretest (Appendix A) indicated the students were not familiar with the
terms copyright and plagiarism. It is my assumption the students have heard the terms copyright
and plagiarism, but not know what they really mean. The results indicated the digital citizenship
unit over plagiarism and copyright will be beneficial to all the students. Table 1.1. notes the
students who will need accommodations or modifications throughout the unit. Due to this being
a connection (elective) class there is a wide range of ability levels.
Academic Motivation

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Past experiences have lead me to believe students are not as academically motivated in an
elective setting as a math, ELA, science, or social studies setting. Some students do not perform
as well in elective classes due to their lack of motivation. Along with motivation is ability level.
There are many different ability levels in a school, team, and class. High ability students usually
excel in all classes. Lower ability students seem to become frustrated with themselves or the
situation and become less motivated to do well.. Ability and motivation can work together or
against each other. The class that participated in the digital citizenship unit has an overall
academic motivation level of average. This was based off s class discussion Mrs. Brown had
with the students prior to us teaching the unit. Many students in the class wanted to know
whats the big deal about copyright and plagiarism.

Learner Characteristics
No two students are the same. This definitely applies to Mrs. Browns unique 6A group.
As all good teachers do, Mrs. Brown conducted a learning styles inventory at the beginning of
the nine weeks (see Appendix B). I wanted to conduct another one, but do to the time constraints
and Mrs. Brown only being able to allow me three days to work with her on this unit, we decided
to go with the one she had completed a few weeks earlier to meet the needs of the students. The
following table shows the learner's learning style inventory.

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Figure 1.2

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The learning styles inventory allowed us to see what type of activities we needed to plan
for to meet every learner's needs. After reviewing the learning styles inventory for each student I
noticed all three styles were very similar in range. Of the 24 students, 9 were tactile learners, 8
were auditory learners, and seven were visual learners. The lessons planned were to meet the
needs of each type of learner.

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Accommodations/Modifications
In order to make all student successful, some students need to have accommodations or
modifications made to assist with learning. The class of 24 consist of only one, special education,
student who has a plan written for accommodations to be made (Table 1.1); however, some of the
ESOL students could use accommodations as well. The student listed as special education has an
IEP, individualized education plan that states the student is allowed extended time and read aloud
on his assignments. The ESOL students can receive testing accommodations based on their need.
It is imperative that all students master the standards in order to meet the expectations of
state testing. In the classroom the teachers can provide several different instructional
accommodations for the learner such as read aloud, peer support, assistive technology, repeating
directions, giving several options for presentation tools, and allowing extra time. We must
incorporate learning strategies that work for the students.

References
Appendix A (Pretest)

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Digital Citizenship
Copyright and Plagiarism
Pretest
1. What is copyright?

2. What is plagiarism?

3. If Wendy uses a picture she found on Google to advertise for her

dog grooming business has she violated any copyright laws?

4. What is the public domain?

5. Austin overheard Ramsey talking to other students about a play

he was writing. Austin really liked the idea and decided to use it
for himself. Did Austin violate any copyright rules?

Appendix B (Mrs. Browns Learning Styles Inventory Assessment)

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