Cognitivism in Practice
The instructional
strategies that I explored this week are: summarizing and note taking and also
cues, questions and advance organizers. Both
of these instructional strategies correlate with the principles of cognitive
learning theory.
The summarizing and
note taking strategy “focuses on enhancing students’ ability to synthesize information
and distill it into concise new forms” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski,2007). This strategy is important when teaching for
understanding. According to Dr. Orey the
memory can only take in seven plus or minus two pieces of information at a time
(Laureate Education Inc., 2010). This
strategy would help students to find the important information and remember
it. “Using Technology with Classroom
Instruction” ((Pitler,
Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski,2007) suggests different ways
to use the note taking strategy. One way
suggested is to use templates with connections and networks from a main point
or an essential question. This strategy
helps for students to create networks therefore, leading to elaboration which
leads to long-term memory gain (Laureate Education Inc., 2010).
Cues, questions and
advance organizers is an instructional strategy that “focuses on enhancing students
ability to retrieve, use, and organize information about a topic” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). This strategy has a focus on activating background
knowledge and creating essential questions so the students know what they are
learning and also providing them with learning goals in order to better prepare
them for the information they will be learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). This strategy relates to the cognitive
learning theory well because activating background knowledge could be considered
a network for the students which help students remember the information taught
(Laureate Education Inc., 2010). Some ways to use cues, questions and advance
organizers is to use pictures and text about information that you are
learning. By doing this you are teaching
for understanding. Students will use dual-coding by seeing the pictures and the
text and understand and remember the information provided (Laureate Education
Inc., 2010).
References
Laureate
Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore:
Michael Orey.
Pitler,
H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with
classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Jasmin,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, I think summarizing and note taking is one of the most important strategies that we can use as teachers! So often students have trouble sifting through information to pull out the important facts, they just need a little guidance. Our job is to help the students pick out the valuable information so they can recall those facts at a later time. There is just too much information available to expect students to retain all of it.
I agree! As much as we are finding the important information for us to teach them they also need to be finding the important information within that.
DeleteI like the way you use cues, questions and graphic organizers to trigger prior memories. I use a KWL chart and it works to some degree. I have always had problems getting students to take notes but maybe having them using a word processor will help in that area as well.
ReplyDeleteI find it most difficult to come back to the KWL chart later on in the unit to talk about what we have learned or the "L". Filling out the K and the W are a good introduction to the unit and I usually fill in what they verbalize to me instead of having each of them copy it.
DeleteThe students in my class do not take notes on lectures however, we do start to introduce the skill of note taking. The main focus of note taking in grade two would be writing, finding important words and ideas or summarizing a short story. Sometimes they would also complete some closed notes. I did mention note taking as an important skill to teach to children as they grow in order to successfully complete notes during lectures once they reach a certain age, mainly University and college.
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmin,
ReplyDeleteI think that note taking, if done properly, is a great instructional strategy to assist students in interpreting vital information. It helps students focus their attention on information that has a direct link to future learning and mastery of 21st century skills that are linked to improving critical thinking, recognizing the importance of technology usage,makeing personal connections beyond classroom experiences.
Hi Jasmin,
ReplyDeleteI also like the concept mapping idea of having an essential question which is linked to brief sentence structures. This is a really effective tool for organizing the information and subsequently making it easier to understand and memorize. I am determined to use such a tool for my mathematics classes, as it seems to be predominantly used in subjects where essay writing takes place.