Learning and Cognitive Processes

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CHAPTER 6

• Learning and Cognitive Processes

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What is Learning?

• The acquisition of
• 1. information and knowledge
• 2. skills and habits
• 3. attitudes and beliefs
• Defined as all relatively permanent changes
  in behavior or mental experiences that result
  from experience. Learning does not automatically
  result from growth or maturation.

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Behaviorism

• Behaviorism - trying to explain simple
  behaviors, using observable and predictable
  responses.
• 1. Concerned with conditions (stimuli) that
  affect organisms with simple behaviors
  (responses).
• 2. Referred to as stimulus-response or
  associationistic theories.

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Cognitivism

• Cognitivism - trying to look at the more
  intellectual or mental aspects of learning.
• 1. How we develop a store of knowledge and
  how we arrive at notions of ourselves as
  learners, rememberers and problem solvers.
• 2. Metacognition - refers to knowing about
  knowing gradual development of an awareness
  of the self as a knower.

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Concepts in Cognitive Psychology

• Information Processing Model How people
  process the information they receive.
• 1. Learn more easily when we relate it to
  something already known.
• 2. Learn several pieces of information if it
  can be related to an overall organizational
  structure.
• Construction of Knowledge Involves building on
  past knowledge not merely absorbing from the
  outside world.

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Social Cognitive Theory

• Draws on the notion that people learn from
  observing others around them - modeling
• In modeling, learning occurs when observation
  takes place.

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Cognitive Psychology

• Main Focus Information Processing - the
  cognitive process that allows human beings to
  learn and remember information.

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Basic Assumptions of Cognitive Psychology

• Assumption
• 1. Learning is internal
• 2. Influence of Cognitive Processes
• 3. Draw inferences about processing by observing
  behavior
• 4. Selectivity about what learned
• 5. Uniqueness of some processes

• Educational Implications
• Opportunities to show learning
• Think about materials in ways that help them
  remember
• Watch behaviors that indicate processing
  difficulty
• Verbalize what is most important to learn
• Some principles (verbal language and reading are
  unique)

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Key Concepts in Cognitive Processing

• Storage - process of acquiring information
• Encoding - the way you choose to remember
  information by assigning meaning or
  interpretation.
• Retrieval - remember previously stored
  information - finding the needed information in
  your memory.

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Sensory Memory

• Is used to describe the immediate, unconscious
  effects of stimulation. Our sensory systems are
  organizing, analyzing, synthesizing, and
  rehearsing.

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Short-term Memory

• Whatever is in our immediate consciousness at
  any given time.
• 1. It is highly limited in capacity.
• 2. It is useful as it enables us to keep
  information in mind long enough to make sense
  of sequences of words, directions, etc.

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Long-term Memory

• Relatively stable information about the world
  all that we know, but that is not within our
  immediate consciousness.
• 1. Encoding is the process of transferring
  information from short-term to long- term
  memory. Deriving meaning from experience.
• 2. Long-term memory is generative since it
  changes over time.

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Three Characteristics of LTM

• 1. Indefinite Duration
• 2. Unlimited Capacity
• 3. Interconnectedness

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Factors that Attribute to Meaningful Learning

• A Meaningful Learning Set - Approach learning
  with the idea that they can make sense of the
  information.
• Relevant Prior Knowledge - The more information a
  student has stored in LTM, the easier it is to
  learn new information.
• Awareness of the Relevance of Prior Knowledge

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Processes in Long-Term Memory

• Rehearsing - involves repeating the material over
  and over again until it seems unlikely that it
  will escape.
• Elaboration - is a cognitive process whereby
  material is entended or added in order to make it
  more memorable.
• Organizing - refers to grouping and relating
  material.

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Educational Applications Teaching for Retrieval

• Long-term retention reflects how well students
  learn, a fact that is dependent in part on how
  they are taught as well as on individual student
  abilities.
• Ways to Aid Teaching for Retrieval
• meaningful material
• relate concepts
• visual and auditory aids
• repeat concepts

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Factors that Affect Retrieval

• Multiple Connections with Existing Knowledge
• concepts in same subject
• concepts in different subjects
• students general knowledge
• students personal experiences
• Learning Information Beyond Mastery
• multiplication tables
• automaticity of skills
• Frequent Use of Information
• have classroom activities set-up for review
• Relevant Retrieval Cue
• Mnemonics

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Mnemonics - Memory Tricks

• Verbal Mediation - a word or phrase that forms a
  logical connection or bridge between two
  things. Ex The word principal ends in pal not
  ple - The principal is my pal
• Keyword Method - pair a keyword of a concept you
  need to learn with a related visual image. Ex
  Amor means love. Picture a knight in armor with
  a heart on it.
• Superimposed Meaningful Structure - impose a
  familiar shape, word, sentence, or poem on the
  concept. Ex number of days in a month - 30
  days hath September, April, June, and November.
• Research shows that mnemonics helps with
  retrieval.

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Tips to Help Students Learn

• Make sure they pay attention.
• Remember that students process only so much
  information at a time.
• Let students know what material is most
  important.
• Present information in more than one form.
• Show students how new material relates to things
  they already know.
• Present information in an organized format.
• Encourage students to elaborate.
• Encourage the formation of visual image.
• Give students mnemonics they can use when new
  information is difficult to learn meaningfully.

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Table 6-4 Why Students Forget
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Effects of Increased Wait Time

• Students
• Increased participation
• Better quality of responses
• Better classroom performance

• Teachers
• Ask more complex questions
• Increased flexibility
• Higher expectations of all students