Chapters 8 and 9 - How People Learn

1. In chapter 8, we learn that teachers should try to make their learning environment as enriched as possible and to constantly reevaluate their lessons. It is very important that teachers constantly stay in tune to what is new, and to not only learn new ideas from other teachers, but also to learn from their students. Find out what students want to know and what students are interested in; this will make learning more appealing to everyone. This chapter leads to Chapter 9, which discusses technology. Technology is ever-changing, and it is most important for teachers to stay on top of those changes and to incorporate technology instruments into their learning environments, not only to use, but also to have students use so they can be prepared to be lifelong learners as well. Chapter 9 had many different technology ideas and software programs which could be incorporated into a curriculum that would enable cognitive thinking skills. Technology involves many of the cognitive skills we learned in previous chapters, where there is hands-on, real-life learning experiences and top-down/bottom-up processing skills. Reading and writing are both utilized, while working memory and long-term memory are improved.

2. Something I really am not familiar with in Chapter 9 are some of the new programs that were discussed. It makes me want to find out more about Face Book, Twitter, and some of the other interesting software programs and websites available.

3. Something I would like to do to utilize this information with my classroom is to take them to the computer lab and have them do research on any new technology and web learning devices that they could teach me and the rest of the class so that we can all be up-to-date on new information and resources. This would create a collaborative working environment where we can all learn from each other.

Chapter 6 and 7 - How People Learn

1. In chapter 6 we learn that there are four learning environments: learner centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered and community centered. Learner centered is where students' metacognition comes into play. We learned earlier that metacognition is thinking about your thought processes. The knowledge centered environment is where teachers would guide and help students develop an understanding of what they are learning. It would be important for teachers to keep in mind that students learn best when presented with information in a positive manner (the Pollyanna Principle). Assessment Centered environments would allow teachers to know if their students understand what they've learned. It would also let the individuals know if they understand or don't understand something (metacomprehension). Finally, community centered environments would be where students work together to continually improve and learn from each other. The more students are allowed to collaborate with one another and discuss different ideas and viewpoints, the better their memory will be through buidling their schemas.

2. I understand the difference between the four different learning environments, but I'm not sure what the reading wanted us to do with it. Should we be using all learning environments, which is the best, and how should we be using them? Maybe that is for us to figure out.

3. I would apply this to my own teaching by trying to apply all the different learning environments at different times. (Some might be able to be used at the the same time, but otherwise, I think it would be a good idea to apply different ways of teaching at different points in time).

Week 13 - Chapter 10 and part of 13

1. Chapter 10, Language Production and Chapter 13, Cognitive Development Throughout the Lifespan fits into what I have learned already in this course. In the previous Chapter 9, we learned that listening and reading are important for language comprehension. In this weeks chapters, we learned that speaking, writing, and bilingualism are also important for language production. In order to perform any of these skills, one must use their cognitive processes, such as their working memory, long-term memory, metacognition, phonology, etc.

2. What am I still not clear on in this week's readings? The Age of Acquisition was confusing to me because at one point it stated that "individiuals who have already reached a specified age --perhaps early puberty--will no longer be able to acquire a new language with native-like fluency." However, another part of the book mentioned that "several studies demonstrate that adults and older adolescents can indeed learn to speak a new language very fluently." I guess that is up to the reader to decide what they think is true (controversies are so confusing--I like straight answers).

3. I like the information on p. 330 about the narrative discourse. I would definitely use this in my language arts class because so many students have such a difficult time speaking and telling stories in an organized fashion. I think I'll use the comic strip idea we did in this class to help my students convey a message through the six parts of the narrative: 1) a brief overview of the story. 2) a summary of the characters and setting 3) an action that made the situation complicated 4)the point of the story 5) the resolution of the story and 6) the final signal that the narrative is complete. I think this will help students learn to prewrite before they begin writing as well. I know that this activity helped me in this area. I tend to think I am a good writer, but writing a comic strip was a bit of a challenge for me--much different than writing a paper and a bit more fun too.

Chapter 9 - Language Comprehension

1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course? Language comprehension goes hand in hand with cognitive processes. Chapter 2 discussed visual recognition with top down and bottom up processing and auditory recognition where we must hear the phonemes to sound out words. Chapter 3 discussed divided attention where you can hear two verbal messages simultaneously and selected attention where you are able to concentrate on one message while ignoring the other. Chapter 4 discussed working memory which helps a person store the visual or auditory information long enough to process and interpret it. Chapter 5 discussed long term memory where we are able to retrieve information processed from long ago. chapter 6 discussed tip of the tongue phenomenon where some information is unable to be accessed, and metacomprehension which allows you to understand a what you've learned. Chapter 7 discussed the mental images we create as we read or learn about something. Chapter 8 discussed semantic memory and how we organize information and words in order to keep them straight, just like schemas and scripts are used to help with background knowledge in order to process the language. Chapter 11 was about problem solving and this is important for language because we must be able to create an accurate mental representation of the problem in order to solve it. Chapter 12 discussed deductive reasoning and decision making which are important for putting the information we learn together in order to make better decisions.

2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading? This was the chapter I completed my worksheet and brochure on so I was pretty clear on everything.

3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work? I apply this material to my own teaching everyday. Since I am a language arts teacher, I use every concept given. I think it is exceptionally important to teach students to figure out the meaning of a word from context. I also thought it was interesting how Matlin discussed the idea of negative word phrasing, ambiguity, using words in the passive voice, and sentences that contain nested structures make it more difficult for people to comprehend the language.

Chapter 12 - I couldn't "decide" what to say!

1. Yes, this chapter was a challenge for me! I procrastinated in getting this posted because I couldn't decide what to say. Needless to say, making decisions is a challenge for me. This chapter talked about deductive reasoning (which does make sense to me) and decision making. If something is common sense, I can handle making a decision. However, with all of the different types of heuristics (general strategies that typically produce a correct solution) of decision making, I was led into confusion. There is the representativeness heuristic where we make decisions based on whether a sample looks similar in important characteristics to the population from which it is selected, (p. 413). There is the availability heuristic where you estimate frequency or probability in terms of how easy it is to think of relevant examples of something. Then there is the anchoring and adjustment heuristic where you begin with a first approximation (an anchor) and then make adjustments on the basis of additional information. When it comes to big decisions, I learned that I am a maximizer since I agonize over my decisions more so than a satisficer who makes decisions quickly.

2. Although I have learned a lot during the course of this class, this chapter still hasn't helped me in being a better decision maker. In fact, I think it confused me even more, especially after reading about all the different types of heuristics. I think if the book gave more examples on each type of heuristic, I might understand it better.

3. I was very clear on the framing effect, though, and I think I'll use this to help in teaching students about decision making through their wording. This would go along with language arts teaching very well. I would also have students read a debatable article in a magazine or newspaper and have them do some thinking, deductive reasoning, decision making, and debating, in addition to having them frame their own questions for discussion.

Week 10 - Chapter 11 - What's your problem?

1. I enjoyed this Chapter about problem solving. The topic fits in with all the previous chapters I've learned so far. Problem solving is more difficult for some than it is for others. It also depends on the type of problem. Problems cannot be solved, however, unless one pays close attention to the relevant information. In the very beginning chapter, we were introduced to top-down and bottom-up processing. These are both very important factors when problem solving. This chapter was interesting also, due to the discussion of creativity. I never really realized how important it is to let kids feel that they can have the satisfaction of just accomplishing something for the pure satisfaction (intrinsic motivation). I always felt an award was needed (whether it be a grade or some other materialistic item).

2. The only thing I really didn't understand so well was the hill-climbing heuristic of problem-solving. I don't understand how you can climb a hill (or make the right choice) without looking back at where you've been. It is almost like solving a problem without using any brain power -- you're just going to the next level and choosing the different route based on what you think might be the best (know prior knowledge is used). Is that such a good way of problem solving. I would like to see an example that could be used with this strategy.

3. I would apply these strategies to my own teaching by actually discussing the different problem-solving strategies. My students are old enough to understand how to problem solve. I think they would appreciate the fact that I am giving them some different ways they could solve their own problems. It would be interesting to give students some different demonstrations (like the ones in the book) and have them try to figure out the problems to see what strategies they use. I would have them try on their own at first, then work in groups. Then at the end, I would like to hear from each of the students or groups to find out what they learned and how they figured out their problem.

Chapter 8 - General Knowledge

1. The material from chapter 8 discusses four different approaches to semantic memory (encyclopedic knowledge): a. The feature comparison model (list of features), b. the prototype approach (organized based on a prototype), c. The exemplar approach (classifying a new stimulus with a previously learned example of a concept), and d. network models (a netlike organization of concepts with connections). It also discusses schemas and scripts, which is knowledge that includes information about familiar situations, behaviors, situations, events or persons.

2. Chapter five discussesd visual imagery and how it is relevant to the material on face recognition in long-term memory; chapter 6 discussed visual imagery as a helpful class of mnemonic devices for retrospective memory; chapter 7 discussed pictorial material by visualizing a picture in one's mind, which requires top-down processing. We must be able to have these images in order to be able to organize and categorize information, which is what we lead to in chapter 8 where our cognitive processes are guided by bottom-up and top-down processing.

3. Everything was pretty clear to me in this chapter. However, because they were so similar, it was just a little confusing understanding the differences between the first three approaches to semantic memory. The last one, network models, is very clear to me.

4. I would apply this to my own teaching by having students fill out graphic organizers in order to categorize and make connections about the text.

5. I believe what the author says about this because it makes sense to me. I tried demonstration 8.7 and I thought the sentences were all old, but they ended being all new.

6. This is important because students need to know different ways or teaching techniques they can use to help them organize information where they will remember it.

7. I can use this information all the time with all students (Graphic Organizers are a big help).

Chapter 7 - Mental Imagery and Cognitive Maps

1. Chapter 7 discusses the characteristics of mental images (whether information is stored in picture-like analog codes or language-like propositional codes). It also discusses cognitive maps, which is a mental representation of the external environment (real-world settings).

2. This chapter fits in with what I've already read because the analog code relates very closely to the visuospatial sketchpad where mental images are apparent. In addition, the propositional code related to the phonological loop where language is involved.

3. I am still not clear on reinterpreting the ambiguous stimuli. From Demonstration 7.4, I could not see the parallelogram after visualizing a X superimposed directly on top of the H. I just pictures a bunch of lines going up, down, across, and diagonal. What am I missing?

4. I currently already apply the use of analog and propositional code to my teaching because I have students draw pictures of what comes to mind about their stories, their vocabulary words, etc., and I also have students write their ideas on paper as well, where we discuss in class.

5. The proof the author gives me is the picture of the duck on page 214, or is it a bunny? The analog viewpoint is whatever the person sees from that picture. I first saw the duck, but someone else pointed out the bunny ears.

6. I believe this is important because it helps to show that some people may see different view points on something that could be either one way or another. Teachers need to realize that students' view on something may be a little different than their own, but it may not necessarily be wrong.

7. I would use this to show students how everyone has different views on items. I think it is especially important for language arts because many stories have different meanings, just as many of the pictures that go with the story may have different meanings. The cool thing about language arts is that we can come up with many different viewpoints and it is okay.

8. Pictures speak a thousand words, so no I don't think there is any better way to accomplish this.

Chapters 6 and 13

1. To sum up Chapter 6 - Some memory strategies given were on mnemonics using imagery (pictures in the mind), mnemonics using organization (chunking, hierarchy, first-letter technique, and narrative technique), a comprehensive approach to memory improvement, and improving prospective memory (what is to be remembered in the future). In addition, metacognition is your knowledge and control of your cognitive processes, which consist of metamemory, tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, and metacomprehension.

Chapter 13 - Cognitive Development throughout the lifespan talks about memory in infants, memory in children, individual differences of children's intelligence and eyewitness testimony, and memory in elderly people. It also discusses the lifespan development of metamemory in children and elderly people. Finally, it discusses the development of language in infants and children. Some skills improve as children mature to adulthood, but some decline as they reach old age.

2. This fits into what I've already learned because in Chapter 5, I was taught about long-term memory and the previous Chapter 4 taught about working memory. Both of those chapters gave information about the research and theory on memory. Chapter 6 took the research into effect by showing strategies to help with memory and reading.

3. I'm a little confused about the difference between metamemory and metacomprehension. I think I'm going to go back to the book and reread about those.

4. I am going to apply this to my own teaching by helping students know why it is important to learn different strategies of memorizing, and I will give them some practice. I am going to definitely use this before the ISAT tests coming up in March. I hope students will benefit from the metacomprehension skills in order to remember and comprehend what they've read.

5. I believe what the author has to say because I find myself consciously aware of what I'm thinking and I feel like I've been doing a better job at reading and staying focused without letting my mind wander. I believe my metacognition skills are improving. Now, if I can just apply these skills to be able to teach my students to do the same? That is the question, my dear Watson!

6. The importance of being able to know this information and apply it is so that we can make our students aware of the different memory strategies and have students figure out which memory strategy works best for them. The sooner we introduce these strategies to students, the sooner they will be cognitively aware and the more practice they will get as they grow old (like me). I was jipped and was never taught these cool memory skills as a youngster, so I will probably have Altheimers some day :( (Just Kidding)

7. I might use these strategies especially for my low-level students and ADHD students, but I think all students will benefit from the different memory strategies. I realized the memory image works really well for me.

8. There might be even other strategies that can be accomplished other than what the book talked about. I think I'm going to research this some more to see if there are other ways to help students learn memory strategies, especially for reading comprehension (metacomprehension).

Chapter 5

1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences? Long term memory entails a lot of information: In Ch. 5 we learned that encoding is information embedded in your memory and retrieval is locating and accessing that information. Autobiographical memory refers to memory for events and topics related to your own everyday life.

2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course? I am currently using my working memory to remember back to the first day of this class. In my episodic memory I remember the sights, sounds, etc. of the first encounter into this classroom. My encoding of long term was my initial introduction to the professor and the rest of the classmates. I can remember a few faces and a few names, but I cannot put them together. My retrieval of this information is not very good. My autobiographical memory reminded me that there was another middle school language arts teacher in the class because it relates to what I teach. (I suppose this also goes along with the self-reference effect).



3. What am I still not clear on? Does everything need a label/name? If the self-reference effect is where you try to relate that information to yourself and the Autobiographical memory refers to memory for events and topics related to your own everyday life, then what is the difference between the two? It also states in the book that episodic memory and autobiographical memory are highly similar. How am I going to get this all straight?


4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work? At the beginning of the year or whenever I get a new student, I have my students either interview each other and stand up and introduce each other, or we'll play a game where we stand in a circle and the person holding the ball has to say their name and one thing positive about themselves, then they can toss the ball to another person. The next person has to say their name and something about themselves. At the very end, we go backwards to see if everyone can remember the person's name and the comment of the person who threw them the ball, plus they have to say their name again. (This helps the students remember the names better). Although most students know each other already, it is a good way to have the new student get to know everyone and build camaraderie.


5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why? I know my friends' names without even thinking about it. However, when it is someone I just met, I have a more difficult time retrieving the name from my memory if I didn't encode it into my memory by using some tactic to make it stick (for instance, relating the person to someone else, using a nmemonic device, etc.)



6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict? This is important because we need to know that we are normal. I use to think I just had a bad memory. Now I know I'm not the only one. On a more serious note, it helps me as a teacher be able to find ways to get my students to learn information long term, rather than just for a test and then lose the information.



7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students? I can use this information to help all students learn ways to help them remember.



8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better? No, I don't think so?

Chapter 4

1. In Chapter 4 I learned about the working memory approach where phonological loop stores a limited number of sounds, visuospatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial information, central executive helps a person stay focused on one task or another, and episodic buffer temporarily stores information from the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and long term memory.

2. Each chapter builds on the next, as it should. In the previous chapter, I learned about my consciousness or awareness and realized that I did things (like solving problems) without being aware of how I was doing it. This chapter helped me understand the different theories of short-term memory and why we can only remember a certain number of items and how we process information so that I now can understand why some kids have ADHD. In fact, I'm wondering if I might have this disorder.

3. I'm still not clear on episodic buffer and how it differs from central executive.

4. I have already applied this to my own teaching. I have noticed more about my students. In fact, today we were discussing different topics on controversial issues (preparing students for a persuasive essay). We were discussing one topic, then we moved onto another topic. After we were into the discussion on the second topic, a student raises her hand and says something about the first topic we discussed five minutes earlier. That reminded me of the central executive and daydreaming section I read.

5. This is convincing to me because I am one who is easily distracted since I often daydream while I am reading, etc. I also tried the demonstration on p. 112 "A Task That Requires Central-Executive Resources". I am a proven daydreamer.

6. This is important to know because now I understand myself better and I will also be able to understand why certain students' attention is the way it is.

7. I have two particular students that I can think of right now whom I would love to do a study on this topic. They are disorganized scatterbrained daydreamers (whereas I am an organized daydreamer). I wonder if there is a difference and if it will be something discussed in our Cognition book in later chapters?

8. Sorry, I don't know an answer to this question this time.

Chapter 3 - Perceptual Processes II: Attention and Consciousness

Chapter 3 discusses three types of attention: divided, selective, and saccadic eye movement. Divided attention is trying to pay attention to more than one detail, but causes a decrease in accuracy when this is done. Selective attention is where someone is instructed to respond selectively to certain kinds of information, while ignoring other information. Saccadic eye movements is the process which our visual system makes during reading. Chapter 3 also discusses consciousness, which is the awareness that people have about the outside world and about their perceptions, images, thoughts, memories, and feelings.

So far, we have learned about the types of perception: visual, audio, facial, and speech and I believe that when one is conscious of what is going on around them, using these perceptions, they are more aware and can give better attention.

This chapter was very interesting, so I understood most of it. One thing I had to reread to understand better was the working memory.

I would like to apply this to my own teaching by using my conscious to pay more attention to which students have high working-memory versus low working-memory.

After trying all of the demonstrations the author provided, that was proof enough to believe these theories. I fell for every one of them.

It is important to know this information in order to be able to know our students better through knowing their attention processing capabilities. The saccadic movements students use to read will help me differentiate from the poor readers and the good readers.

I would use the saccadic eye movement in order to help students practice being better readers. I am currently researching the EyeQ reading program, which I think helps with improving reading by exercising the eyes by reading words on a computer screen from left to right.

This EyeQ program is very expensive, so I believe this may be accomplished just by having students read anything on a computer screen or maybe have the words fly across the computer to build faster readers (it may start out slow, then move faster as the student progresses).

Chapter 2

1. Chapter 2 discussed perceptual processes and different theories on how both our visual and auditory systems impose organization on our perceptual world. Some different theories were top-down and bottom-up processing, visual and auditory object recognition, face recognition, proximal stimuli vs. tre distal stimuli and the general mechanism approach to speech perception.

2. Chapter 1 discusses the idea that your cognitive processes are interrelated. For example, when one figures out a problem to something, they must use their perceptual processes, which according to Chapter 2, is the visual and auditory recognition that use our previous knowledge to interpreet the stimuli that are registerd by our senses.

3. With all of the different theories discussed in the chapter, I am a little confused on why some students are quicker learners than others or faster readers, etc. I am also confused on why students are different learners. How does this fit in with cognition. Is it active learning, genetic, or does it have to do with their surroundings (behaviorist theory) where they had reactions to stimuli in the environment. Is it top-down/bottom-up processing that makes a person "see" things or is it the fact that we build our memories the more we see or are exposed to something? I don't know.

4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work? According to Chapter 2, the way I would apply these theories, which I have done so already, is to make sure students see, hear, and have hands-on experiences in all areas. They must see a facial expression when being spoken to and they must hear the sounds that go along with certain things. Today I did a lesson on Adverbs and I used the bottom-up and top-down processing to help students become more familiar with these words. I gave them each a different adverb to write on a sticky note, then I had them stick their adverb on a chart in the correct column labeled "HOW," "WHEN," "WHERE," AND "TO WHAT DEGREE". Then they had to try to verbally use the word in a sentence. Students commented on how much easier it was for them to understand what an adverb was after that lesson.

5. I'm not sure this theory goes with the above lesson, but it was convincing enough to me when it talked about how students could read faster by recognizing words that were used correctly in a sentence vs. words that were spelled wrong or out of order.

6. I guess this is important because in order for us to be better teachers, we can create more successful lesson plans and be able to reach more students.

Practice

This is just a test to see if this works.