How People Learn 9 & 10
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Technology and how it is used in the classroom has an impact on how our students process, retain, and retrieve information. By providing a technology rich environment, we are offering another way to improve student learning and transfer. By scaffolding through technology, students are given the opportunity to apply what they learn and in many cases, they are using reasoning skills to solve problems.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
Once again, I am wondering how we can bypass the huge amount of material we are expected to “cover” in a year and still find a way to implement some of the technology that was discussed in chapter 9. It sounds like there are so many wonderful programs out there but many of them stated students worked on solving some of the problems and doing some of the projects for 3-4 weeks. Like last week’s discussion, changes need to be made to our educational system so that we are focusing more on developing a true understanding of the material versus just touching on things just to give exposure to our students.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I always have had love for technology. Up until reading this chapter, I thought I did a fairly good job on bringing it into my classroom. Now I realize there are many things I am missing out on. I have my students do a great deal of projects that require them to use Microsoft programs and the internet. I found myself wondering how I can better utilize technology with my students. I loved the project called Monsters, Mondrian, and Me. I do something at Christmas time where my students design a new costume for Santa. They write a description of the outfit and another student tries to recreate the costume by reading the description. Now I am wondering how I can turn this project into an online activity and participate with another third grade class somewhere.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
How People Learn 6 & 7
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Designing the learning environment has a great deal to do with how our students learn. What we are asking our students to do in class and how they perform those actions and activities all tie in with what we have been learning. Writing, speaking, thinking, problem solving, reasoning skills are all cognitive processes that students are doing and the environment in which we allow these things to take place have a huge impact on how our students learn. By finding a true balance of all of these approaches, we are fostering a cognitive playground!
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
There really isn’t anything that I am not clear on after reading these two chapters. I enjoyed the examples that were presented in chapter 7. I would like to have had more of the classroom examples geared toward the elementary level, especially in science. After reading this information, I am wondering why the learning community continues to gravitate toward testing as the sole measure of how our students are progressing. Legislators should be reading material like this on a regular basis.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I would like to apply a little more of each of the learning environments presented in these chapters. I would love to present more questions to my students that would offer them the opportunity to create more of their own learning adventures. I am once again inspired to venture down the road where my students are driving the curriculum versus the curriculum driving the students.
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Designing the learning environment has a great deal to do with how our students learn. What we are asking our students to do in class and how they perform those actions and activities all tie in with what we have been learning. Writing, speaking, thinking, problem solving, reasoning skills are all cognitive processes that students are doing and the environment in which we allow these things to take place have a huge impact on how our students learn. By finding a true balance of all of these approaches, we are fostering a cognitive playground!
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
There really isn’t anything that I am not clear on after reading these two chapters. I enjoyed the examples that were presented in chapter 7. I would like to have had more of the classroom examples geared toward the elementary level, especially in science. After reading this information, I am wondering why the learning community continues to gravitate toward testing as the sole measure of how our students are progressing. Legislators should be reading material like this on a regular basis.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I would like to apply a little more of each of the learning environments presented in these chapters. I would love to present more questions to my students that would offer them the opportunity to create more of their own learning adventures. I am once again inspired to venture down the road where my students are driving the curriculum versus the curriculum driving the students.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Chapter 10 & 13
Language Production
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Language involves all or our cognitive processes. Once again everything seems to come together to allow the formation and flow of language. Speakers need to read signals from listeners to check for understanding. They also need to be cautious of ambiguous language. When writing, our working memory is hard at work along with long term memory. Over active top-down processing can affect our language and writing abilities. All themes of the text are supported in this chapter.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I found the information in chapter 10 to be pretty basic and easy to understand. What I found interesting was reading about the studies performed with infants. It seems amazing that babies can so easily distinguish between sound patterns and types of words. It seems logical though given the fact that when we talk to babies we change our tone based on the words we want to emphasize. This information seems to reinforce what many teachers already know. Home life, including language exposure, makes a huge difference in how a child learns to read.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
For the most part, I feel as if the information is material that most teachers already apply and use in their classroom. I was hoping for some light to be shed on writing. It is one of the hardest subjects to teach in my opinion. I am always trying to find material to help me help my students. It seems like students have such a difficult time expressing their thoughts with words. I agree with the text in regards to overconfidence being an issue and that you can proofread someone else’s writing easier than your own. The most important information that I plan on taking into my classroom is the benefit of using writing to help deal with life experiences. I have several students in my classroom with “baggage.” In fact, I am more than likely going to be making a call this week to DCFS. I have a student that came back to school this week acting strangely. He was instructed not to talk about it so now I am going to ask my administrator about how to incorporate a writing assignment in my class.
Language Production
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Language involves all or our cognitive processes. Once again everything seems to come together to allow the formation and flow of language. Speakers need to read signals from listeners to check for understanding. They also need to be cautious of ambiguous language. When writing, our working memory is hard at work along with long term memory. Over active top-down processing can affect our language and writing abilities. All themes of the text are supported in this chapter.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I found the information in chapter 10 to be pretty basic and easy to understand. What I found interesting was reading about the studies performed with infants. It seems amazing that babies can so easily distinguish between sound patterns and types of words. It seems logical though given the fact that when we talk to babies we change our tone based on the words we want to emphasize. This information seems to reinforce what many teachers already know. Home life, including language exposure, makes a huge difference in how a child learns to read.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
For the most part, I feel as if the information is material that most teachers already apply and use in their classroom. I was hoping for some light to be shed on writing. It is one of the hardest subjects to teach in my opinion. I am always trying to find material to help me help my students. It seems like students have such a difficult time expressing their thoughts with words. I agree with the text in regards to overconfidence being an issue and that you can proofread someone else’s writing easier than your own. The most important information that I plan on taking into my classroom is the benefit of using writing to help deal with life experiences. I have several students in my classroom with “baggage.” In fact, I am more than likely going to be making a call this week to DCFS. I have a student that came back to school this week acting strangely. He was instructed not to talk about it so now I am going to ask my administrator about how to incorporate a writing assignment in my class.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Chapter 9 Introduction to Language
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Was it just me or did this chapter seem to fit perfectly into everything we have already learned? It seemed as if every time I started reading the next section, the author told us how the information tied into previous material. Our working memory is a large component of our reading capabilities. Our prior knowledge plays a large part in making inferences. We have also previously learned how we are better able handle positive information rather than negative. It seems as if all five themes of this book are reinforced in this chapter.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I am not really confused about the information in this chapter. There was one section about the artificial intelligence, more specifically the FRUMP project that I failed to see the value in. It seems that our cognitive abilities are more equipped to handle reasoning tasks when compared to computers. I am not sure why so much time, effort, and money are being spent to prove this. Haven’t they already been done? Maybe there is more to the purpose behind these projects?
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
In teaching third grade, I will and do use this information every day. Making inferences is a reading skill that is taught in all grade levels. I find this one of the hardest skills to focus on. After reading this chapter, I am wondering if working-memory is why young children have such a problem with this skill. Over the course of the last few months, I have found myself wondering about how to increase young children’s working memory. It seems as if this is an occurring topic and so much depends on it. It is worth digging deeper into.
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Was it just me or did this chapter seem to fit perfectly into everything we have already learned? It seemed as if every time I started reading the next section, the author told us how the information tied into previous material. Our working memory is a large component of our reading capabilities. Our prior knowledge plays a large part in making inferences. We have also previously learned how we are better able handle positive information rather than negative. It seems as if all five themes of this book are reinforced in this chapter.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I am not really confused about the information in this chapter. There was one section about the artificial intelligence, more specifically the FRUMP project that I failed to see the value in. It seems that our cognitive abilities are more equipped to handle reasoning tasks when compared to computers. I am not sure why so much time, effort, and money are being spent to prove this. Haven’t they already been done? Maybe there is more to the purpose behind these projects?
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
In teaching third grade, I will and do use this information every day. Making inferences is a reading skill that is taught in all grade levels. I find this one of the hardest skills to focus on. After reading this chapter, I am wondering if working-memory is why young children have such a problem with this skill. Over the course of the last few months, I have found myself wondering about how to increase young children’s working memory. It seems as if this is an occurring topic and so much depends on it. It is worth digging deeper into.
Monday, March 23, 2009
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Our ability to make decisions is highly dependent on our general knowledge, working memory, accessing long term memory, and top-down processing. All of our cognitive skills are at work when exercising deductive reasoning. To better understand where we fall short in both of these areas, it is important to look at the “whole” picture. Reading about decision making and deductive reasoning would have proven to be very abstract without the knowledge or our cognitive abilities and the role they play in cognition.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I am a bit unclear about the anchoring effect. It seems as if it is known that people rely too heavily on the anchor when using this approach. People too often rely on their current beliefs and that gets in the way of making a true or accurate decision. Is this saying that we are developing a mechanism that hinders our thinking and decision making abilities?
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I can apply the information from this chapter to my own classroom by keeping the different decision making processes in mind. Some students exert overconfidence in their learning and I think this too is important to remember when teaching gifted student. The framing effect is something teachers need to know. The questions we ask our students really do matter. Not only the questions themselves but how we present them will have an effect on our students.
Our ability to make decisions is highly dependent on our general knowledge, working memory, accessing long term memory, and top-down processing. All of our cognitive skills are at work when exercising deductive reasoning. To better understand where we fall short in both of these areas, it is important to look at the “whole” picture. Reading about decision making and deductive reasoning would have proven to be very abstract without the knowledge or our cognitive abilities and the role they play in cognition.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I am a bit unclear about the anchoring effect. It seems as if it is known that people rely too heavily on the anchor when using this approach. People too often rely on their current beliefs and that gets in the way of making a true or accurate decision. Is this saying that we are developing a mechanism that hinders our thinking and decision making abilities?
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I can apply the information from this chapter to my own classroom by keeping the different decision making processes in mind. Some students exert overconfidence in their learning and I think this too is important to remember when teaching gifted student. The framing effect is something teachers need to know. The questions we ask our students really do matter. Not only the questions themselves but how we present them will have an effect on our students.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Chapter 11 Problem Solving
1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences?
We solve problems everyday but seldom do we stop and think about why we are so capable of doing so. This chapter explains our problem solving abilities. Problem solving occurs when we have a desired goal in mind and we must overcome obstacles and/or find the important information we need to reach the goal. Every problem contains three parts: the initial state, goal state, and the obstacles.
In solving a problem, the first step is understanding the task at hand. In order to due this, you need to form an accurate mental representation and pull from your previous experiences. To truly understand the problem, you must be able to determine what information is most relevant to arriving at the solution. This is an obstacle for many young minds! Once an understanding of the problem is reached, the problem solver moves on to finding a good way to represent the problem. There are several different ways to represent a problem, such as, symbols, matrices, diagrams, and visual images. An important topic that was covered in this reading is the situated-cognition approach. This approach suggests that students transfer what they are learning in the classroom to everyday problem solving. Due to this, students should have experience solving mathematical problems that are similar to what they might face in the real world. This approach also states that people often learn a skill in a certain situation and later have difficulty transfer the knowledge when it is taken out of context.
There are several different problem solving strategies discussed in this reading. The well known algorithm usually works as long as it is applied correctly. The analogy approach is a common choice for problem solving. This is where you apply a previously solved problem that is similar to the current attempted one. The means-ends heuristic involves dividing the problem into sub-problems and the hill-climbing heuristic is one of the simplest methods. Like the name suggests, the solver continues to select alternatives that seems to lead directly to the goal.
Things that effect problem solving include your level of expertise, experiencing a mental set, and functional fixedness.
Creativity is a rather broad topic that was also discussed in this chapter. It seems to go hand in hand with problem solving. Defining creativity seems to be controversial. According to the text, “creativity requires finding a solution that is novel, high quality, and useful” (Matlin, 2009, p.389). J.P. Guilford proposed creativity should be measured in terms of divergent production. Robert Sternberg suggests creative people produce a creative idea when no one else in interested in the idea. Once it has become popular, they move on to another new idea. Sternberg and Lubart state a person must poses six characteristics to be a wise creative person. They are intelligence, knowledge, motivation, an encouraging environment, an appropriate thinking style, and an appropriate personality.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
To become an effective problem solver, one must be aware of their cognitive abilities. The information being taken into long term memory and stored for future use must be encoded richly and valuably. To problem solve, one must self-regulate their cognitive abilities. Since prior knowledge is so important, our memory must be accessed and our general knowledge also plays a part in problem solving. Without the previously learned material, problem solving information would be much more abstract.
3. What am I still not clear on?
I understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and times weh both would be appropriate. What I am still a little confused about is how teachers are supposed to keep from stifling creativity, covering necessary curriculum, and not employ extrinsic motivation techniques. I think someone is doing a workshop on this subject. I will keep my eye on blackboard.
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
I am applying this now in my classroom. This year, I made it a personal goal to not have any of my students cry during the ISAT session 3 math test. And they didn’t! I have been focusing on mathematical problem solving at least one day a week in my math class. It has really helped my students overcome the fear of attacking the dreaded word problems. I found the information about obstacles of problem solving helpful in understanding what my students are facing. Many of my students struggle with mental set.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
I am wondering why the author chose to devote a section to creativity. It seems as if it was there to simply tell us is applies to problem solving but the whole area is controversial. There are only two researchers and their studies presented. If it fits in so well with problem solving, I need more information.
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
Any time we have the opportunity to learn how to help our students it is important. I believe the information about situated-cognition approach to help explain why some students have some many problems applying what they have learned from their personal life to the classroom and vice versa.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
All of my students can benefit from learning new approaches towards problem solving. I have never heard of the actual term hill-climbing heuristic. I believe many of us use this strategy but my third graders will love hearing this term.
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?I am going back to the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to answer this question. Just how many studies have been done in this area? It seems as if this is an area that keeps coming up with the same results no matter how it is tested or researched. The motivation behind the task does influence the final task. What I see is an easier way. Try to vary your tasks so that the students are doing things they enjoy, at least at times.
1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences?
We solve problems everyday but seldom do we stop and think about why we are so capable of doing so. This chapter explains our problem solving abilities. Problem solving occurs when we have a desired goal in mind and we must overcome obstacles and/or find the important information we need to reach the goal. Every problem contains three parts: the initial state, goal state, and the obstacles.
In solving a problem, the first step is understanding the task at hand. In order to due this, you need to form an accurate mental representation and pull from your previous experiences. To truly understand the problem, you must be able to determine what information is most relevant to arriving at the solution. This is an obstacle for many young minds! Once an understanding of the problem is reached, the problem solver moves on to finding a good way to represent the problem. There are several different ways to represent a problem, such as, symbols, matrices, diagrams, and visual images. An important topic that was covered in this reading is the situated-cognition approach. This approach suggests that students transfer what they are learning in the classroom to everyday problem solving. Due to this, students should have experience solving mathematical problems that are similar to what they might face in the real world. This approach also states that people often learn a skill in a certain situation and later have difficulty transfer the knowledge when it is taken out of context.
There are several different problem solving strategies discussed in this reading. The well known algorithm usually works as long as it is applied correctly. The analogy approach is a common choice for problem solving. This is where you apply a previously solved problem that is similar to the current attempted one. The means-ends heuristic involves dividing the problem into sub-problems and the hill-climbing heuristic is one of the simplest methods. Like the name suggests, the solver continues to select alternatives that seems to lead directly to the goal.
Things that effect problem solving include your level of expertise, experiencing a mental set, and functional fixedness.
Creativity is a rather broad topic that was also discussed in this chapter. It seems to go hand in hand with problem solving. Defining creativity seems to be controversial. According to the text, “creativity requires finding a solution that is novel, high quality, and useful” (Matlin, 2009, p.389). J.P. Guilford proposed creativity should be measured in terms of divergent production. Robert Sternberg suggests creative people produce a creative idea when no one else in interested in the idea. Once it has become popular, they move on to another new idea. Sternberg and Lubart state a person must poses six characteristics to be a wise creative person. They are intelligence, knowledge, motivation, an encouraging environment, an appropriate thinking style, and an appropriate personality.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
To become an effective problem solver, one must be aware of their cognitive abilities. The information being taken into long term memory and stored for future use must be encoded richly and valuably. To problem solve, one must self-regulate their cognitive abilities. Since prior knowledge is so important, our memory must be accessed and our general knowledge also plays a part in problem solving. Without the previously learned material, problem solving information would be much more abstract.
3. What am I still not clear on?
I understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and times weh both would be appropriate. What I am still a little confused about is how teachers are supposed to keep from stifling creativity, covering necessary curriculum, and not employ extrinsic motivation techniques. I think someone is doing a workshop on this subject. I will keep my eye on blackboard.
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
I am applying this now in my classroom. This year, I made it a personal goal to not have any of my students cry during the ISAT session 3 math test. And they didn’t! I have been focusing on mathematical problem solving at least one day a week in my math class. It has really helped my students overcome the fear of attacking the dreaded word problems. I found the information about obstacles of problem solving helpful in understanding what my students are facing. Many of my students struggle with mental set.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
I am wondering why the author chose to devote a section to creativity. It seems as if it was there to simply tell us is applies to problem solving but the whole area is controversial. There are only two researchers and their studies presented. If it fits in so well with problem solving, I need more information.
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
Any time we have the opportunity to learn how to help our students it is important. I believe the information about situated-cognition approach to help explain why some students have some many problems applying what they have learned from their personal life to the classroom and vice versa.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
All of my students can benefit from learning new approaches towards problem solving. I have never heard of the actual term hill-climbing heuristic. I believe many of us use this strategy but my third graders will love hearing this term.
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?I am going back to the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to answer this question. Just how many studies have been done in this area? It seems as if this is an area that keeps coming up with the same results no matter how it is tested or researched. The motivation behind the task does influence the final task. What I see is an easier way. Try to vary your tasks so that the students are doing things they enjoy, at least at times.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Chapter 8 General Knowledge
1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences?
This chapter deals with all that influences our memory and recall. We learned all about the importance of semantic memory. This memory involves much more than what it implies. It includes factual information along with language knowledge. In order to deal with the vast amount of knowledge, semantic memory has categories and concepts. Through coding objects, we are able to reduce the amount of storage space needed in our memory banks. There are four major approaches to be considered when determining similarities between objects we processing.
1- Feature Comparison Model: Defining features and characteristic features are used in order for us to create a list of features that are relevant to an object.
2- The Prototype Approach: We develop prototypes for an object and organize each category as to which is most typical of the category. You then can determine if the object belongs to a category.
3- The Exemplar Approach: We learn examples of a concept and then classify each new item by deciding how closely it resembles the first learned examples.
4- Network Models: This proposes a netlike organization of concepts that are present in memory and how these are all interconnected. The 3 network models discussed in this chapter are the Collins and Loftus model, Anderson’s ACT-R, and the Parallel Distributed Processing Approach.
A schema is a generalized knowledge about a situation, event, or person. Without schemas, our memory would be somewhat of a blank slate! Our schemas influence our memory and recall. Sometimes this is for the better while other times it can lead to gender biases.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
This chapter goes into more depth in regards to the parallel distributed processing approach that was discussed in chapter 1. This approach seems to be most human like. For example, it makes more sense to examine how knowledge about a particular object or person is stored in more than just one location in the brain. I think this approach offers more of an explanation as to how our complex cognitive processes work. We often can make helpful generalizations when some items are missing from our memory. The idea of parallel searching seems to be more useful to us and it helps me to better understand the memory strategies and why they work for so many people.
I can also better understand how rich encoding is so critical to retrieval. We have such an enormous amount of knowledge in our minds and that can most often be retrieved due to the encoding process that we used and the ability to organize this knowledge.
3. What am I still not clear on?
I once read somewhere, that if a person hears ten things about someone, nine of them being good things and one of them being something negative, they will be more inclined to remember and repeat the one negative piece of information. The Pragmatic Approach seemed to bring this to the forefront of my memory. It reinforced this but I would like to know why? Is it simply human nature? Why are we more interested in a criticism or an insult? Something to ponder…….
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
It is so important to develop an understanding of our students’ cognitive processes in order to understand how they are interpreting new information and how they are connecting it with what they already know. The information about inferences was helpful in understanding why students sometimes have difficulty in this area. If students have no background knowledge about a concept, it is almost impossible for them to make an inference about it. This reinforces the idea of how important discussing prior knowledge is when presenting material to young students. I sometimes fall short in this area. I need to keep this in mind and spend more time finding out what might influence a student’s ability to “fill in the blanks.”
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
Despite the information the author offered on p. 243 “therefore, as you read about these four approaches, you do not need to choose which single approach is correct and which three must consequently be wrong,” I found myself trying to decide which one was most valid. The author presented so much information about the parallel distributed processing approach. Many studies were presented that seemed to make this the most valid theory in my eyes. Then at the end of the section, it is stated the features of connectionism are speculative, however, it is possible that the PDP approach will eventually become the standard framework for analyzing human knowledge. Tell me why.
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
I had to laugh when reading the information about inferences and persuasion. Haven’t we all been fooled by those crazy infomercials? After reading this information, I will look at lot closer at those claims. I think I am a quick learner though. I have only tried a few of the diet items, whereas some people I know are still trying to find the miracle drug for weight loss.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
This information in this chapter is useful for all types of students. Each person brings a certain amount of background knowledge to every learning situation and that knowledge, most of the time, is beneficial to learning and connecting to new information. One of my favorite things to do with my third graders is sorting. At times, the items fit into easily identifiable categories. Other times, during an open sort, students are forced to come up with their own categories. Now I understand a little bit more about why this is easy for some and more difficult for others.
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?
Even though the material presented has to do with how we are processing and retrieving information, I found it similar to activities that many teachers do in the classroom. For example, word maps, mind maps, think alouds. These activities are of no cost to the teacher but they are valuable tools to see how or what kids are thinking. I would be interested in any other ways that would be faster and better.
1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences?
This chapter deals with all that influences our memory and recall. We learned all about the importance of semantic memory. This memory involves much more than what it implies. It includes factual information along with language knowledge. In order to deal with the vast amount of knowledge, semantic memory has categories and concepts. Through coding objects, we are able to reduce the amount of storage space needed in our memory banks. There are four major approaches to be considered when determining similarities between objects we processing.
1- Feature Comparison Model: Defining features and characteristic features are used in order for us to create a list of features that are relevant to an object.
2- The Prototype Approach: We develop prototypes for an object and organize each category as to which is most typical of the category. You then can determine if the object belongs to a category.
3- The Exemplar Approach: We learn examples of a concept and then classify each new item by deciding how closely it resembles the first learned examples.
4- Network Models: This proposes a netlike organization of concepts that are present in memory and how these are all interconnected. The 3 network models discussed in this chapter are the Collins and Loftus model, Anderson’s ACT-R, and the Parallel Distributed Processing Approach.
A schema is a generalized knowledge about a situation, event, or person. Without schemas, our memory would be somewhat of a blank slate! Our schemas influence our memory and recall. Sometimes this is for the better while other times it can lead to gender biases.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
This chapter goes into more depth in regards to the parallel distributed processing approach that was discussed in chapter 1. This approach seems to be most human like. For example, it makes more sense to examine how knowledge about a particular object or person is stored in more than just one location in the brain. I think this approach offers more of an explanation as to how our complex cognitive processes work. We often can make helpful generalizations when some items are missing from our memory. The idea of parallel searching seems to be more useful to us and it helps me to better understand the memory strategies and why they work for so many people.
I can also better understand how rich encoding is so critical to retrieval. We have such an enormous amount of knowledge in our minds and that can most often be retrieved due to the encoding process that we used and the ability to organize this knowledge.
3. What am I still not clear on?
I once read somewhere, that if a person hears ten things about someone, nine of them being good things and one of them being something negative, they will be more inclined to remember and repeat the one negative piece of information. The Pragmatic Approach seemed to bring this to the forefront of my memory. It reinforced this but I would like to know why? Is it simply human nature? Why are we more interested in a criticism or an insult? Something to ponder…….
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
It is so important to develop an understanding of our students’ cognitive processes in order to understand how they are interpreting new information and how they are connecting it with what they already know. The information about inferences was helpful in understanding why students sometimes have difficulty in this area. If students have no background knowledge about a concept, it is almost impossible for them to make an inference about it. This reinforces the idea of how important discussing prior knowledge is when presenting material to young students. I sometimes fall short in this area. I need to keep this in mind and spend more time finding out what might influence a student’s ability to “fill in the blanks.”
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
Despite the information the author offered on p. 243 “therefore, as you read about these four approaches, you do not need to choose which single approach is correct and which three must consequently be wrong,” I found myself trying to decide which one was most valid. The author presented so much information about the parallel distributed processing approach. Many studies were presented that seemed to make this the most valid theory in my eyes. Then at the end of the section, it is stated the features of connectionism are speculative, however, it is possible that the PDP approach will eventually become the standard framework for analyzing human knowledge. Tell me why.
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
I had to laugh when reading the information about inferences and persuasion. Haven’t we all been fooled by those crazy infomercials? After reading this information, I will look at lot closer at those claims. I think I am a quick learner though. I have only tried a few of the diet items, whereas some people I know are still trying to find the miracle drug for weight loss.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
This information in this chapter is useful for all types of students. Each person brings a certain amount of background knowledge to every learning situation and that knowledge, most of the time, is beneficial to learning and connecting to new information. One of my favorite things to do with my third graders is sorting. At times, the items fit into easily identifiable categories. Other times, during an open sort, students are forced to come up with their own categories. Now I understand a little bit more about why this is easy for some and more difficult for others.
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?
Even though the material presented has to do with how we are processing and retrieving information, I found it similar to activities that many teachers do in the classroom. For example, word maps, mind maps, think alouds. These activities are of no cost to the teacher but they are valuable tools to see how or what kids are thinking. I would be interested in any other ways that would be faster and better.
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