Cognitive Learning...Helping Students Understand How They Learn

This week, the readings in my class concentrated on the topic of cognitive learning, the theory that learning is the process of organizing new information into existing understandings and the importance of increasing a student’s awareness of how they think in order to improve their understanding. As we have heard time and time again, it is essential to integrate as many senses when presenting information in order to incorporate the knowledge into the long term memory. Our brains are a network of memory, where each idea is connected to another, so the more that we can connect new learning to prior knowledge, the more likely it is to stick! The Dual Coding Hypothesis states that people remember meaningful images better than text, so the more that you can elaborate on an idea, the more likely it is to be stored in the long term memory. If students forget, it is because they have lost the connections that were made, or they never made the connection in the first place.

There are many tools that aid in the connection of these ideas. Concept mapping helps to support dual coding because it is a concrete visual representation of those connections and it assists a learner in seeing the gaps in knowledge that need to be filled and then provides a framework in which to fill them. An effective instructional strategy is to provide a framework for questioning, perhaps by presenting a essential question to get the thought processes going, and to vary your questions as to elicit inferences and require analytical thinking. This week, we also talked about how the best way to learn knowledge is to be immersed in it, such as a study abroad situation or an apprenticeship or jobshadow. Seeing as these are not always feasible, the virtual field trip is a cost-effective, time-saving alternative to assist in the formation of an episodic memory. Really, what is the downside of a virtual field trip? They are usually free, take way less planning then an actual field trip, take less time, they are good for the environment (less bussing), and can be shared with any number of students on your schedule. Especially if you can “go” on a virtual field trip on one of many sites that link to artifacts and other primary sources, such as video, diaries, and interviews. Students will remember what they see, and they will be able to use this as a basis for more learning.

And for all of you teachers out there… get your hands on a book on how to use Microsoft Word for the classroom! It is so much more than a simple word processing tool! Previously, I learned how you can perform a more refined search though the research tool on Word. This week, I learned about some note-taking tools that are available through Word that help students summarize and take notes more effectively. That, along with other brainstorming or notetaking software like Kidspiration/Inspiration, is another example in which students can improve their chances of retaining information…and isn’t that the whole point!?

Referencing:

Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008. Retrieved from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Web site: http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.