Description
The
focus of reading and discussion in EDAT 6115 this week was on Cognitive
Theories of Learning. Teachers should know the know how the brain work and what
factors affect whether we remember or forget information so that we can provide
our students with strategies on how to study so that they can remember what
they are being taught. We also need to know how they brain work so that we can
use cognitive teaching strategies to help our students learn.
Analysis
When
looking at how memory is stored, Teachers must first observe how information
processing works. When person experience a stimulus from any of the five senses
the memory passes through the sensory register. Most of the information stored
here is lost immediately but the stuff that matters gets passed on to the
working memory. In the working memory, we try to make sense of any new stimuli
so that we can link it to things we already know. If the new information is
found to be useful to us, we store it in our long-term memory.
According
to Slavin (2012, p. 123), the learners control the learning process at each
stage. The process is called the executive process because learners are consciously
or unconsciously deciding what items are important to them due to the connections,
they associate the new material to. Slavin (2012, p 123) notes that the
executive process is important because it determines what a person is interested
in. Teachers need to know that external incentives or punishers can increase
their student’s motivation to learn (Slavin, 2012, p.123). If a student thinks
that they are better in one subject versus other subjects, they will put their
mental energy in preparing for the class that they know they are better in.
That class will be easier for them because the student is already prepared to
make connections to the new material making it easier to learn.
According
to Slavin (2012), a lot of information is gathered from the senses in the
sensory register. As previously stated, most of this information will not be
retained. In this part of the memory, the only information that will be
retained is what a person deems most important and even though the brain will
only be focusing on that information at the time, it is still collecting other
information from the senses during that time. Basically, if people want and try
to retain information during this time, they must be focused on it. Another thing
that a teacher should do is make sure that they make it clear what they want
their students to focus on and try not to overload them with too much
information because it will make it harder for them to study. Attention is
limited so teachers should use cues to indicate what information is important and
try to connect learning the important information to an emotion.
Once the
information gathered is deem important to the person, it moves into the working
memory where we hold limited information that is being taught. As soon as a
person stops thinking about something, it learned our working memory
(Short-term memory). Slavin (2012, p. 125) states that one way we can keep
information in our working memory is to say it over and over. This repetition of
memory is called rehearsal and students need to learn this skill because the
longer a person rehearse, the greater the chance of the information leaving the
working memory and entering long-term memory. Without rehearsal of information,
it can only last in the working memory for 30 seconds because once the working
information is crowed, information because lost.
Reference
Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
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