Cognitivism in Practice

While listening to Dr. Orey speak about elaboration in our resources this week, I was reminded of a seminar that I attended with my siblings when we were much younger. In my dad’s business his connections to other people and remembering who they are is very important. My dad felt that it would be important for us to strengthen our memory. So, we attended a memory seminar, in which we had to remember as much as we could of a list of about 20-50 items. The speaker taught us how to associate each thing on the list with something else like a person we knew or a memory of the item, to help embed the list into our long-term memory. This was my first realization of the power of associations with our memories. I find myself still using association to remember things.

When giving information in multiple ways, and applying it with some background knowledge, students can be more successful with storing the information and not just memorizing it for a test. The dual coding theory Dr. Orey discussed also connects to Dr. Patricia Wolfe’s idea when she spoke about the Dalmatian, and if students did not have background knowledge or memories to connect new information to they would not have real understanding of what a Dalmatian is, what it looks like, or what it smells like.

Our district has been using thinking maps (www.thinkingmaps.com/ ) for concept mapping. It is eight thinking maps to connect student’s thought processes. It has been extremely helpful for students to have a common language of the thought process they are using and which map would best organize the information to support that thought process. Students are also able to utilize the eight maps that best correspond with their connection to a topic, and the essential question they are answering. Our school has been very successful using these maps to support their learning. Applying thinking maps to note taking as described in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works will be an easy transition for my students. I believe that I can better prepare my students for note taking and summarizing by using the visual organization of the thinking maps. “Technology can scaffold, or provide support, while students are learning the summarizing process. It can also provide collaborative summarizing experiences that facilitate reciprocal teaching…” (p.120).  There are many different types of technology applications to support summarizing and note taking. Think tank (http://thinktank.4teachers.org/) as presented in our text is a resource that I will begin using with my third grade students. When organizing information for our informational reports, this resource can help students focus their writing and learn how to look for critical information. Helping students make connections with the information they are researching is an important part of the cognitive learning theory.

Resources:

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Cognitive Learning Theories. (Motion Picture)

Picture from Capture Queen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uaeincredible/811123579/