Cognitivism in Practice

 Cognitive theory involves the use of our sensors in order to pick up and disseminate information. Information processing is a commonly used description of the mental process, comparing the human mind to a computer. This knowledge is constructed through one's own personal experiences and interactions with the outside world. The learner takes in new information and gives meaning to it using his or her own prior attitudes, beliefs, and experiences as references (Stavredes, 2011).

            This week we looked at an instructional strategy Karen Casselman demonstrated by a thoughtful lesson using cognitive theory with her math class. In it, the students were assigned to use Excel to determine the population change in an area. Then they were to give that number in a percentage. It showed the importance of using Excel in order to get the students familiar with using it to create functions. Without Excel students would have had to calculate 51 states with a calculator. This example follows the theory of cognitivism in the way students are able to visually take the information presented on the sheet, and determine what formula and solution to use. The learners were taking in new information, and had to disseminate it and create newer numbers using the technology tool. Additionally, learning about how a function works is part of the fun of Excel. Now, students are able to quickly look at ways to manipulate sums and numbers. They can simply recall what they did in class, recall in order to use that function in the future.

            Additionally, virtual field trips correlate to the cognitive learning theory because they involve visual intake and processing. A virtual field trip, if done correctly and in an educationally sound fashion, can provide many of the identical cognitive and affective gains that an actual real-life field trip can provide. If a virtual field trip is conducted in the same meticulous fashion as a real-life field trip, students should be able to acquire the same cognitive and affective gains that previous research has found. When this is possible, an entirely new world of experiences will be opened to all students, regardless of the school field trip budget as they can all experience firsthand the potential of the Internet as a valid curricular device (Mandel, n.d.). In providing the Internet and tools to students, they can intake the information about the topic. Exploration and active participation while clicking into different areas of the topic is the goal of the trip. Students should come away with new fresh information that they can remember like in a real field trip. Recall the traditional field trip to the farm where students learned how butter was made. It was an engaging enlightening experience that made many gather around to view the interesting technique. In the same ways that such an experience gathers crowds of onlookers filled with questions should evoke the same type of response in a virtual field trip.

           

            Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. They include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts. We use concept maps to draw graphical concepts that we want to outline in the real teaching environment. In curriculum planning, concept maps can be enormously useful. They present in a highly concise manner the key concepts and principles to be taught. The hierarchical organization of concept maps suggests more optimal sequencing of instructional material. Since the fundamental characteristic of meaningful learning is integration of new knowledge with the learners’ previous concept and propositional frameworks, proceeding from the more general, more inclusive concepts to the more specific information usually serves to encourage and enhance meaningful learning. Thus, in curriculum planning, we need to construct a global “macro map” showing the major ideas we plan to present in the whole course, or in a whole curriculum, and also more specific “micro maps” to show the knowledge structure for a very specific segment of the instructional program.

            Note taking is similar to summarizing in that in enhances students’ ability to organize information in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details, helping students process information (Pitler, 2012, p. 147) It’s seldom that a student will actively take a role in taking notes. I have taken notes in past college courses, particularly math, which quickly became a labyrinth of drawing notes and numbers. It could have been mistaken for a football coached play book. The reason for this was my style of note taking, there is linear and no linear note taking. These are basically the two different styles which students use. The Linear makes the most sense because it follows the topic at hand, and is easily organized. Linear note-taking is the process of writing down information in the order in which you receive it. Note taking is one of the first and most established cognitive technology (Dror, 2007). As such, it offloads cognitive processes and extends our ‘in head’ cognitive abilities

           

            An instructional strategy for using cognitivism in my class would have to follow with my use of visual stimuli and games I play with the students. Also testing and the use of Google forms to create vocabulary test can result in students being able to recall short term memory. In helping students to learn some of the language easier, I use repetitive definitions as the answers. For example, I used the term choir. In the definition, I stated. A choir is a group of people that sing. That much is obvious to us, but a learner who does not know the language would have trouble. In selecting the right options, I changed the word for the other two options from sing to work and play.

           

            In conclusion, cognitivism plays an important part in how learners process and pick up information. It relies on our external senses and how we relate to the experience and pick up on the information. Rehearsing, encoding, attention, all play their role when getting it into long term memory. That is the place we need to focus on getting our students to learning. We looked at our example, that Mrs. Casselman demonstrated with the use of Excel to find percentages, and using functions to do simple mathematics. Also virtual field trips can take the place of real ones. Provided the field trip is meaningful and thought out, the students will be eager to become active participants and take in the information that the website portals provide. Virtual field trips also benefits from branching out, and lead to other explorations and questions.

  

     

     

References

Dror, I. E. (2007). Land mines and gold mines in cognitive technologies. In I. E. Dror (Ed.), Cognitive technologies and the pragmatics of cognition (pp. 1–7). Amsterdam: John Benjamin Press.

Makany, T., Kemp, J., & Dror, I. E. (2009). Optimising the use of note-taking as an external cognitive aid for increasing learning. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 40(4), 619-635. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00906.x

Mandel, S. (n.d.). Why Use Virtual Field Trips?. Pearson Prentice Hall: eTeach: Retrieved May 17, 2014, from             http://www.phschool.com/eteach/professional_development/virtual_field_trips/essay.html

Novak, J., & Cañas, A. (n.d.). The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them[1]. The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from http://cmap.ihmc.us/publications/researchpapers/theorycmaps/theoryunderlyingconceptmaps.htm

Pitler, H., & Hubbell, E. R. (2012). Summarizing and Note Taking. Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed., pp. 147-166). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: foundations and strategies for student success. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.