Cognitive Thinking -- It's a Process

It was an interesting week as we studied cognitive learning and what we as teachers can do to enhance cognitive learning in our classrooms through technology.  We learned the cognitive learning plays an important role in the way students learn.  In the video “Cognitive Learning Theories,” Dr. Michael Orey discussed the Information Processing Model, originated by Atkinson and Shiffrin, as being a process:

1.     Sensory input of information takes place

2.     Information goes into short-term memory

3.     Rehearsal of information

4.     Information is stored in long-term memory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).

Mark Smith described cognitive learning as that which “results from inferences, expectations and making connections.  Instead of acquiring habits, learners acquire plans and strategies, and prior knowledge is important” (1999, p. 1).  It is this process of acquiring plans and strategies, along with prior knowledge, that makes this week’s instructional strategies so valuable. 

First, in our class text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works, there are “Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers.”  Of these, I think the advance organizers most closely reflect cognitive thinking.  “Advance organizers are structures that teachers provide to students before a learning activity to help them classify and make sense of the content they’ll encounter, particularly new content that is not well organized in its original format.  In essence, advance organizers help student focus their learning” (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., (2007, p. 73).  They provide a clear path toward the process of acquiring plans and strategies, as Smith described in the prior paragraph.

I am excited to implement some Advance Organizers into my ninth and tenth grade English classes.  This website Instructional Strategies Online provided me with a great article about graphic organizers, their purpose, and their implementation.  It also contains a list of links to other sites with graphic organizing ideas.

Secondly, our text discusses “Summarizing and Note Taking.”  These skills are difficult for my ninth and tenth grade students in general.  They have difficulty knowing what to include in their notes, what to exclude, and how to word it.  Any tools designed to help students with their ability to “synthesize information and distill it into a concise new form” will improve their cognitive skills (Pitler, H., et al., 119).  I must confess I never knew of the Microsoft Word AutoSummarize tool.  I can hardly wait until next year when my tenth graders and I start the iSearch paper.  This will be so valuable!

Thirdly, Concept Mapping “serves as a kind of template or scaffold to help to organize knowledge and to structure it, even though the structure must be built up piece by piece with small units of interacting concept and propositional frameworks”  (Novak, J. & Canas, A., 2008, p. 7).   My favorite source for concept mapping this week was Exploratree.  I found many great ideas for working with language arts, including templates for all kinds of writing processes.  I am anxious to begin implementing them.

Lastly, there are Virtual Field Trips.  According to Dr. Michael Orey, these are valuable in that the provide:

1.  Opportunity to “go” where you physically can’t.

2.  Opportunity to compare with other primary sources

3.  Opportunity to “witness” history  (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).

These virtual field trips are important, Orey stated. “We can create episodes, this episodic memory, this rich experience, which can be a foundational experience in the network of ideas” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  I look forward to working with a virtual field trip in my classroom tomorrow and learning about them even more as I go.

Regardless of the type of instructional strategy or technology tool we use to promote cognitive learning, we need to be reminded of important principles when implementing these strategies, including:

1.     Instruction should be well organized.

2.     Instruction should be clearly structured.

3.     The perceptual features of the task are important.

4.     Prior knowledge is important.

5.     Differences between individuals are important as they will affect learning.

6.     Cognitive feedback gives information to learners about their success or failure concerning the task at hand  (Smith, 1999, p. 3).

It has been another interesting week as we studied a second theory of learning.  So far, I would say there are elements of each in most students’ ‘thinking repertoire.’  We’ll see what happens by next week!

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program six: Spotlight on technology: Virtual field trips [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

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 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.

Smith, M. K. (1999). The cognitive orientation to learning. In The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-cognitive.htm