Cognitivism in Practice

The first thing that jumped out at me from this week’s resources is “5. Waiting briefly before accepting responses from students has the effect of increasing the depth of students’ answers” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 74).  I am constantly asking students to pause and think for a moment; however, most times they do not.  I am finding that they either answer right away or don’t want to think.  I think this has much to do with video games.  Their brains are trained to make split second decisions.  When I ask them to stop and think, sometimes it is like pulling teeth for the answer. 

 

I constantly use clues and modeling throughout the lesson seeking student’s previous knowledge in order for them to formulate answers.  I list objectives and essential questions on the whiteboard that include Bloom’s higher-order thinking verbs.  

What I have not used is graphic organizers or concept maps as a learning tool.  I will be receiving a new group of students this Thursday and could implement a graphic organizer or concept map for the project in about two weeks.  I receive a new group of students every thirty days.  Advanced organizers help students focus their learning (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 73).  The students follow a diagram of the design process when designing and constructing their project.  I plan on designing a concept map with the diagram in the center and placing steps of the project around the diagram.  I will connect everything where appropriate for students to make visual relationships.  This will allow students to organize their information and allow students to see their thinking.  Graphic organizers and concept maps are visual/spatial, logical/mathematical tools that appeal to many learners for managing and organizing information (Gregory & Chapman, 2002, p. 87).

This cognitive tool will manage and limit the information and help convert from short term memory to long term memory as described by Dr. Orey (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).  As the students utilize the concept map they will be addressing declarative and procedural information which is used in their long term memory (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).  

Here is another source I came across when researching graphic organizers and concept maps that I found interesting, http://popplet.com/ .

I do not assign a great deal of homework because I find it a difficult teaching tool to implement properly.  This is for the simple reason that many students do not do it.  Out text states, “Parental involvement in doing homework should be kept to a minimum” (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 187).  Call me old fashion, but, I feel a parent or guardian should be involved with the students school work for better, if not another view, of understanding.  I find if I need to involve a parent when homework is not done two things usually happen, either it is done poorly or the parents do it.  If student’s grades are brought down because of incomplete homework, administrators question if our final grades truly reflect student's knowledge of the subject.  My reply is, “If they were on a job they would get fired if they did not do their required work.  One of our goals as teachers is to prepare them for the future”.  Do you agree or disagree with this?  What are your thoughts and what works for you?

References

Gregory, G. H., & Chapman, C. (2002). Differentiated Instructional Strategies. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc.

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

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver, Co.: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.