What are the essential skills and/or learning outcomes you want your students to know and be able to do that relate to cognitive learning?
There are many basic assumptions when it comes to the Cognitive Process and learning. I would like to encourage my students to think about class material in ways that will help them remember it. For example, when introducing a topic like weather, I would ask the students to identify numerous examples of types weather. I want my students to be able to use selectivity about what they learn. I will help students identify the most important things for them to learn. Also help them understand why these things are important. I want my students to be able to build a strong construction of meaning by providing experiences that will help students make sense of the topics they are studying. I also want my students to understand the important role of prior knowledge and beliefs. For example, I will have my students relate new ideas to things they already know and believe about the world. Finally, I want my classroom to engage my students in active involvement in learning. I will plan classroom activities that get students actively thinking about and using classroom subject matter. By teaching and modeling these essential skills, my students will know and be able to use cognitive tools to help learning.
How might your knowledge of the memory processes guide your instructional decisions?
I don’t know everything about the memory process but I do know a good amount. I also know from my own personal experiences how my memory process is when it comes to learning in the classroom. I know as a teacher, I will be sending a lot of input to my students’ sensory register, and sometimes the input won’t even touch their sensory register. I hope that I can grab my student’ attention through engaging learning activities so that they can connect with the input information with hands-on activities. I know that once learning material reaches the short-term memory, that I, as the educator, must act appropriately to help move that learning material into long term. The way that I can do this by constantly engaging my students in multiple activities to help connect the new information to long term. Another way is by connecting my students existing schema to the new material being learned. When my students can connect new learning material to previous schema, there will be an in-depth process that moves memory into long term. It will be a challenge to help my students move their input into their long-term, but I feel like this is an achievable goal for my main points and learning materials.
Engaging student in activites that connect to exisiting schema and prior knowledge is important, I agree totally. Also, find ways to make the information applicable to them, to their daily lives, to their experiences. Relate information using analogies, illustrations and visual data. If a student can relate information to something they already are aware of, the tend to internalize it more. The only way to commit something to long-term memory is to apply it in real life, and sometimes that takes breaking down information into very small bits of information and them building it up to reach the big idea or big concept. It is definitely achievable. We just have to be patient and find the ways that best explain a concept where every student can visualize and apply the information, rather than just memorizing a rhyme or acronym. Not to say those wouldn't work for some things. But mainly reaching a deep understanding is key. I like that you said you would help students understand why things are important to know. Nice picture, by the way.
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks! The picture was perfect!
DeleteI also agree completely. I personally can hardly remember anything I learned in High school and a lot of the material I've learned in college was retained long enough for tests, and that was it. I wish I had had teachers that tried to engage more.
ReplyDeleteI feel like my whole undergrad was remembering the answers, taking the test, then forgetting. I also wish I had more engagement.
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