What?
Today we discussed Cognitivism, and the different components of memory and the brain.
The cognitive definition of learning consists of a (supposedly) semi-permanent change in mental processes. Those who believe in Cognitivism believe that learning is due to experience, but that the learner does not simply absorb information from their environment. The learner is required to construct what knowledge they gain through experience and prior beliefs and knowledge.
The pathway of memory processing in the brain is complex. The following is a list in order of process and a brief explanation of what each part of the brain does in memory processing.
1. Reticular Activating System
-determines what we are paying attention to, or what is worth paying attention to. Sends
information to the Thalamus.
2. Thalamus
-sorts information into types, then sends it out to the corresponding lobes of the cerebral
cortex.
3. Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex
-lobes decide if information is important or relevant for memory. Info sent back to
hippocampus.
4. Hippocampus
-encoding takes place, the information is prepared to be stored, and then is sent back out to
the cerebral cortex for storage.
4 (a) Amygdala
-information may alternatively be sent to this part of the brain for an emotional response
before storage takes place.
5. Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex
-lobes then decide where to store information that has been re-processed by the
hippocampus.
So What?
The students we encounter in our teaching experiences will all come from extremely different backgrounds, and will all have different previous knowledge and experiences. Because of this, our students will be interpreting everything we teach them differently. Each student will grasp onto different areas of the content, and will interpret this information based on their previous knowledge.
Also, if we do not teach our students well enough how to study or correctly remember the content we are teaching, they will lose the ability to recall the information. They may also lose (or never gain) the understanding of how our content area is important to them in their everyday lives.
Now What?
As an educator, I have a responsibility to help my students grasp the material in a correct way, as well as to create understanding for real-life application.
I will be much more successful accomplishing this if I avoid teaching them encoding techniques of simply rehearsal encoding. The following encoding techniques are much more successful in helping students remember and understand the content we are teaching:
1. Meaningful Learning - we can help students connect what they are learning with proper prior knowledge.
2. Organization - in addition to helping our students organize the information, I can also better organize the content down using chunking, into more processable pieces.
3. Elaboration - I can encourage the students through projects and discussion to take the concepts one step further into what they surmise the concepts mean to them.
4. Visual Imagery - providing students with a visual image that they are able to recall back to in connection with the content being taught.
5. Enactment - actually acting out content in order to better help them remember.
6. Mnemonics - where applicable, using a mnemonic to help them remember facts that otherwise seem random or too long to remember, in-list.
Using the previous techniques will make me a more effective teacher, who will have a greater impact on the lives of students. Teaching students is about so much more than their test score (no matter what the government says), and I believe helping students not only remember, but to understand the content is what is really important.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Learning Log: Social & Moral Development
What?
Factors that affect social and moral development include: Previous performance, self-efficacy, behavior of others, comparison, expectations, or group membership.
Children develop from concrete thought to abstract thought. In childhood, perceptions of self are concrete and optimistic.
In early adolescence, students see themselves as in front of the 'imaginary audience'. They believe that everyone is constantly watching their every mistake and blunder. They also view themselves as invincible. They truly believe that every experience and emotion they have is completely unique to only them in the whole history of the entire world.
In late adolescence, their general sense of identity is integrated by a multifaceted sense of self.
Erik Erikson was a famous researcher who developed a widely accepted theory on the Stages of Psychosocial Development. His stages include:
1. Trust vs. Mistrust
2.Autonomy vs. Shame & doubt
3. Initiative vs. Guilt
4. Industry vs. Inferiority
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation
8. Integrity vs. Despair
(I will add that I did those from memory using the peg mnemonic ;)
Moral development is also integral to the education system. There are differences between moral transgressions and conventional transgressions. We as educators can most definitely teach moral transgressions, as they are accepted by all people (generally), such as 'do not kill' etc.
Kohlberg's theory of Moral Reasoning is:
Preconventional Reasoning:
1. Punishment avoidance/obedience
2.Individualism/exchange of favors
Conventional Reasoning
3. Good boy/good girl
4. Law & order
PostConventional Reasoning:
5. Social contract
6.Universal ethical principle.
So What?
As educators, we are going to see students in all sorts of stages of psychosocial development and moral reasoning. We need to be able to adjust our teaching and approach in order to be able to better serve thos students. We cannot just simply ignore where each student is, what situation they have come from, or what effects may be left over from a difficult past. We should be able to work with them in hopes of advancing them toward higher psychosocial and moral development. We as educators must be aware of what stages are present in our classroom.
Now What?
As I prepare to become an educator in a high school setting someday, it is important for me to understand where my students are coming from. If I can learn to observe and learn more about their learning through what stage they are in, I can better serve them as their teacher.
In my classroom, I plan on having a one-on-one discussion with each student at least once a term. This setting will allow me to personally interact with my students, see how they are progressing, assess what stage of development they may be in, and talk to them about their personal performance and grades. I believe implementing a caring atmosphere in these settings will allow me to further understand where each student is coming from.
The things I can do in my own classroom to better foster development include: A safe environment where students can speak their mind. An environment where each student feels empowered and able to act. A classroom where the students have choices about their education. A class where praise is givin liberally for achievements, no matter how small. A classroom that allows them to interact with peers that they normally would not talk to, and explore their own role in society, and a classroom that encourages them to set goals for their futures.
Factors that affect social and moral development include: Previous performance, self-efficacy, behavior of others, comparison, expectations, or group membership.
Children develop from concrete thought to abstract thought. In childhood, perceptions of self are concrete and optimistic.
In early adolescence, students see themselves as in front of the 'imaginary audience'. They believe that everyone is constantly watching their every mistake and blunder. They also view themselves as invincible. They truly believe that every experience and emotion they have is completely unique to only them in the whole history of the entire world.
In late adolescence, their general sense of identity is integrated by a multifaceted sense of self.
Erik Erikson was a famous researcher who developed a widely accepted theory on the Stages of Psychosocial Development. His stages include:
1. Trust vs. Mistrust
2.Autonomy vs. Shame & doubt
3. Initiative vs. Guilt
4. Industry vs. Inferiority
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation
8. Integrity vs. Despair
(I will add that I did those from memory using the peg mnemonic ;)
Moral development is also integral to the education system. There are differences between moral transgressions and conventional transgressions. We as educators can most definitely teach moral transgressions, as they are accepted by all people (generally), such as 'do not kill' etc.
Kohlberg's theory of Moral Reasoning is:
Preconventional Reasoning:
1. Punishment avoidance/obedience
2.Individualism/exchange of favors
Conventional Reasoning
3. Good boy/good girl
4. Law & order
PostConventional Reasoning:
5. Social contract
6.Universal ethical principle.
So What?
As educators, we are going to see students in all sorts of stages of psychosocial development and moral reasoning. We need to be able to adjust our teaching and approach in order to be able to better serve thos students. We cannot just simply ignore where each student is, what situation they have come from, or what effects may be left over from a difficult past. We should be able to work with them in hopes of advancing them toward higher psychosocial and moral development. We as educators must be aware of what stages are present in our classroom.
Now What?
As I prepare to become an educator in a high school setting someday, it is important for me to understand where my students are coming from. If I can learn to observe and learn more about their learning through what stage they are in, I can better serve them as their teacher.
In my classroom, I plan on having a one-on-one discussion with each student at least once a term. This setting will allow me to personally interact with my students, see how they are progressing, assess what stage of development they may be in, and talk to them about their personal performance and grades. I believe implementing a caring atmosphere in these settings will allow me to further understand where each student is coming from.
The things I can do in my own classroom to better foster development include: A safe environment where students can speak their mind. An environment where each student feels empowered and able to act. A classroom where the students have choices about their education. A class where praise is givin liberally for achievements, no matter how small. A classroom that allows them to interact with peers that they normally would not talk to, and explore their own role in society, and a classroom that encourages them to set goals for their futures.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Learning Log: Cognitive Development
What?
Physical development is primary to cognitive development. Children's brain increase in gray matter mass as they learn, and then decreases as they begin to prune neurons. Children of exceptional intelligence develop the mass of their gray matter more slowly, and then prune more extensively.
The environment and how a child interacts with their environment is key in brain development and learning. Jean Piaget was very interested in child/environment interaction.
Piaget's stages of development are:
1.Sensorimotor State (ages 0-2)
2. Preoperational (2-7)
3. Concrete Operational (7-11)
4. Formal Operational (12+)
Although Piaget was pretty accurate about the order of development, he was not correct on the ages. Children of many different ages may vary in which stage they are currently in, and of course what they are developmentally capable of.
Piaget's schema is a way of thinking, ideas, thoughts, concepts, or categories that we store information in our brains. This is personalized by how each of us think differently.
Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development vary from piaget's. He characterizes the adult-child relationship to be integral to cognitive development. He places great value on cognitive apprenticeship, where an adult is assisting an child to think like an adult.
Vygotsky also believes that no knowledge is original or produced soley in our minds, but is generated through our environment and experiences we have outside of ourselves.
So What?
Understanding how children's brains develop allows us to tailor how we teach them. If we understand what stages they are in and how capable they are of certain thought processes, we will be able to understand why some things frustrate them or make them lose interest. These kind of behaviors may occur simply because they are not developmentally even capable of correctly processing certain types of information or thought processes.
It also shows us how important it is to allow many different levels of experiences for students, knowing that they will not all be in the same level of cognitive development. Providing a variety of different levels increases your realm of effectiveness.
Now What?
Now that I better understand how much of this affects my future teaching, it makes me realize how important it is to not just lecture all of the time. I have always connected well with predictability, and have done well in classes that consistantly lecture where I can take notes. However, I understand that the majority of my students will not be that way. They will need a variety of activities using different thought processes in order to absorb the information effectively. I do believe that as as high school teacher, I do need to help prepare my students for the college environment, and so I do plan in integrating a college-like structure to my classroom. However, I do see through the lens of Piaget and Vygotsky, it is important to also stretch their minds and make more connections through disequilibrium.
Physical development is primary to cognitive development. Children's brain increase in gray matter mass as they learn, and then decreases as they begin to prune neurons. Children of exceptional intelligence develop the mass of their gray matter more slowly, and then prune more extensively.
The environment and how a child interacts with their environment is key in brain development and learning. Jean Piaget was very interested in child/environment interaction.
Piaget's stages of development are:
1.Sensorimotor State (ages 0-2)
2. Preoperational (2-7)
3. Concrete Operational (7-11)
4. Formal Operational (12+)
Although Piaget was pretty accurate about the order of development, he was not correct on the ages. Children of many different ages may vary in which stage they are currently in, and of course what they are developmentally capable of.
Piaget's schema is a way of thinking, ideas, thoughts, concepts, or categories that we store information in our brains. This is personalized by how each of us think differently.
Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development vary from piaget's. He characterizes the adult-child relationship to be integral to cognitive development. He places great value on cognitive apprenticeship, where an adult is assisting an child to think like an adult.
Vygotsky also believes that no knowledge is original or produced soley in our minds, but is generated through our environment and experiences we have outside of ourselves.
So What?
Understanding how children's brains develop allows us to tailor how we teach them. If we understand what stages they are in and how capable they are of certain thought processes, we will be able to understand why some things frustrate them or make them lose interest. These kind of behaviors may occur simply because they are not developmentally even capable of correctly processing certain types of information or thought processes.
It also shows us how important it is to allow many different levels of experiences for students, knowing that they will not all be in the same level of cognitive development. Providing a variety of different levels increases your realm of effectiveness.
Now What?
Now that I better understand how much of this affects my future teaching, it makes me realize how important it is to not just lecture all of the time. I have always connected well with predictability, and have done well in classes that consistantly lecture where I can take notes. However, I understand that the majority of my students will not be that way. They will need a variety of activities using different thought processes in order to absorb the information effectively. I do believe that as as high school teacher, I do need to help prepare my students for the college environment, and so I do plan in integrating a college-like structure to my classroom. However, I do see through the lens of Piaget and Vygotsky, it is important to also stretch their minds and make more connections through disequilibrium.
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