Learning Log Chapter 6

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.