COSERE | 45 The physical outcome, a collaboratively planned lesson or series of lessons, is the constructed byproduct of many compounded experiences. • Socio-cultural Learning Theory: Exploring the impact of collaboration on student engagement and achievement. We have established some of the keyways in which collaborative lesson planning aligns with constructivist theory in education, but other principles have their influences, too. For example, socio-cultural learning theory: “The sociocultural theory proposes that human learning is predominantly a social process and that people’s cognitive functions depend upon their interactions with others around them, particularly those who are “more skilled” than themselves” (Structural Learning, 2023). The alignment between sociocultural theory and collaborative lesson planning is perhaps more obvious than is the case with constructivism. The process of cooperating with peers to produce lesson plans is a social one, in which all participants leave with information that they otherwise may not have come into contact with. But how does this impact student engagement and achievement? Firstly, “Collaborative planning actively encourages teachers to focus on effective differentiation, anticipate misconceptions, and consider alternative approaches that students may bring to the lesson” (Ford, L., 2023). There’s an adage that “many hands make light work”, and this concept effectively confirms its validity. By parsing through potential difficulties or misunderstandings that may occur during a lesson with input from multiple peers, educators come away from a collaborative lesson planning session better equipped for any problems that may arise in the classroom. Furthermore, there can exist a level of soft social pressure to design lessons to the absolute best of one’s ability, knowing that they will ultimately be constructively scrutinized by colleagues. This, in turn, has clear benefits for student engagement and achievement, as educators “can be confident that every student is receiving the same high-quality delivery regardless of which class they are in” (Ford, L., 2023). One teacher who was asked about the process stated that collaborative lesson planning “helps… focus [their] students’ thinking, which helps [them] get to an objective and leads to a better lesson” (Smith et. al, 2008).
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