Chapter 6

What?
This chapter is all about cognitivism. The cognitive definition of learning is semi-permanent change in mental processes. An advantage of defining learning in this way could be that just because behavior doesn't change doesn't mean that learning did not take place. The basic assumptions of Cognitivism are: 1)Learning is due to experience, 2)Meaning is constructed by learner, rather than from the environment, 3)Prior knowledge and beliefs play a major role in the meanings people construct {such that children don't come to class with blank slates, they actually come from different backgrounds with slates full of info}. Think of cognitivism as a "filing cabinet" where we label and store things for later retrieval. Memory isn't stored in one place! (Note to self: Refer to diagram draw on brain model in class) Information is first recognized in the brainstem through the five senses. The RAS is where information is filtered through, "attention gateway". The hippocampus brings together prior knowledge with new processes. Memory is then sent back to and stored in the different cortex of the brain where the info was first processed. The amygdala is where emotional memory is stored. Each time we retrieve (remember) information, we recontruct it from the parts of the cortex where it was stored. Two main reasons why we can't remember are 1)Decay- if we don't use it, we lose it and the pathway decays, 2)Interference- pathway blocked, chose wrong pathway, didn't encode correctly for retrieval. Believe it or not, rehearsal is not the only encoding method. In fact, it's a very ineffective encoding method. Meaningful learning (connecting to prior knowledge), organization (both for teacher and student, putting ideas in smaller, manageable ideas "chunking), elaboration (taking the content one further step by applying it), visual imagery, enactment (hands on experience with more senses involved), mnemonics (if necessary), etc are all better choices for helping students encode information. These methods teach for deeper learning.
So What?
Since I am a future teacher and I'm very concerned about the learning that goes on inside my student's heads, I really need to know how the process of memory works. I can now teach using methods that coincide with that process and don't make things more complicated than necessary. I now know that I need to tie my teaching techniques into the five senses and put emotion into it, so that the students' pathways will be strengthened and multiplied for easier retrieval later. By choosing better encoding methods, I can help my students gain deeper understanding of the content.
Now What?
I will try to find alternate methods of teaching math to my students than the traditional lecture and drill methods, since rehearsal is the least effective method for encoding information. I need to better understand the connections in my content so that I can come up with new activities for my students to learn from and with.