Chapter 8 Cognitive Views of Learning Educational Psychology

Chapter 8: Cognitive Views of Learning Educational Psychology, 13/e, GE Anita Woolfolk Prepared by Raye Lakey Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -1

Chapter 8 Outline • • Elements of Cognitive Perspective Cognitive Views of Memory Long-Term Memory Teaching for Deep, Long-Lasting Knowledge: Basic Principles and Applications Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -2

Chapter 8 Objectives 1. Differentiate between behavioral and cognitive views of learning, including the role of knowledge in the cognitive view. 2. Explain early information processing models of memory and recent cognitive science models, including working memory, cognitive load theory, and individual differences in working memory. 3. Describe current views of long-term memory, particularly the contents and types of long-term memory, individual differences, and the processes of retrieving information from long-term memory. 4. Describe strategies for supporting students’ construction of long-lasting knowledge. Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -3

Elements of the Cognitive Perspective • Cognitive view of learning: An active mental process of acquiring, remembering, using knowledge • Cognitive psychologists assume: – Mental processes exist – They can be studied scientifically – Humans are active information processors • Cognitive science: Study of thinking, language, the brain • Cognition: Operation of multiple memory components interacting rapidly, simultaneously Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -4

Comparing Cognitive and Behavioral Views • Cognitive view: Knowledge/strategies learned; changes in knowledge/strategies make behavior change possible – Reinforcement informs about what happens if behaviors are repeated or changed – Construct knowledge; learning is active; learning is extending/transforming understanding – Goal: Study wide range of learning situations, focus on individual, developmental differences in cognition • Behavioral: New behaviors themselves are learned – Reinforcement strengthens responses – Passive view of learning – Goal: Identify general laws of learning Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -5

The Brain and Cognitive Learning • Brain continues to change throughout life • Brain is involved whenever learning takes place • Mirror systems: Areas of brain fire both during perception of action by someone else and when performing the action – Observing and visualizing support learning • Brain shapes and is shaped by cognitive processing activities • Many developmental and brain changes involve knowledge – Knowledge is key element in cognitive perspective Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -6

The Importance of Knowledge in Cognition • Knowledge and knowing – outcomes of learning • General knowledge: Information useful in many different kinds of tasks; applies to many situations • Domain-specific knowledge: Information useful in particular situation or applies mainly to one topic • Knowledge involves remembering something over time and having ability to find it when needed Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -7

Cognitive Views of Memory • Early information processing views of memory – Used computer model; more linear processes • Current information processing view – Emphasis on role of working memory, attention, and interactions among elements of the system Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -8

Sensory Memory • System that holds sensory information very briefly – Also known as sensory buffer, ionic memory (for images), echoic memory (for sounds) • Environmental stimuli enter (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings) • Initial processing in sensory memory transforms incoming stimuli into information • Capacity, duration, and contents of sensory memory – Very large capacity – Very short duration, less than three seconds – Content resembles sensations from original stimulus • Auditory sensations coded as sound patterns, visual sensations coded as images Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -9

Perception • Process of detecting stimulus, assigning meaning to it – Interpretation of sensory information influenced by expectation and context • Bottom-up processing: Noticing/analyzing separate defining features, assembling them into recognizable pattern – Also called data-driven processing – Gestalt: People organize perceptions into coherent wholes (position of German Gestalt theorists) • Top-down: Making sense of information using context and what we already know about the situation – Also called conceptually driven perception Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -10

The Role of Attention • Selective attention limits what we will perceive and process – We attend selected stimuli, ignore others – Attend to one cognitively demanding task at a time • Automaticity: Ability to perform thoroughly learned tasks without much mental effort – Processes initially require attention, become automatic with practice • Attention and multitasking – Sequential: Switch back and forth from one task to other; focus on one at a time – Simultaneous: Overlapping focus on several tasks – Each task takes longer, requires repeating processes Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -11

Attention and Teaching • Learning – first step is paying attention, but requires more than attention • Resource-limited tasks: Allocating more resources/attention improves performance • Data-limited tasks: Successful processing depends on amount/quality of data available • Automated: Processing happens without much attention • Factors in classroom influence student attention – Gain attention more easily than maintain attention Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -12

Guidelines for Gaining and Maintaining Attention • Use signals; hand signals, visual and auditory signals – Avoid distracting behaviors; use voice variations • Reach out rather than call out – Walk to child, use child’s name, look into child’s eyes • Make sure purpose of lesson/task is clear to students – Write goals/objectives on board; discuss – Explain reasons for learning; tie to previous learning • Incorporate variety, curiosity, surprise – Alter physical space; use various sensory channels • Ask questions; provide frames for answering – Self-check, self-edit guides; working in pairs Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -13

Working Memory • Information you focus on at a given moment • New information combined with knowledge from long-term memory to solve problems and other processes • Four elements of working memory – Central executive controls attention, other mental resources; supervises episodic buffer activity – Phonological loop holds verbal, acoustical information – Visuospatial sketchpad holds visual, spatial information – Episodic buffer integrates information from phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory • Working memory duration of 5 -20 seconds unless you keep rehearsing; content of sounds, images, abstractions Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -14

Cognitive Load and Retaining Information • Cognitive load: Amount of resources necessary to complete a task • 3 kinds of cognitive load – Intrinsic: Resources required by the task itself – Extraneous: Resources required to process stimuli irrelevant to the task – Germane: Deep processing related to task, including application of prior knowledge to new task Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -15

Retaining Information in Working Memory • Maintenance rehearsal: Repeat information to yourself to keep it in working memory • Elaborative rehearsal: Associate information with something else you already know to keep it in working memory • Levels/depth of processing theory: Recall of information based on how deeply it is processed, analyzed, connected • Chunk information to increase working memory capacity – Group bits of data into meaningful larger units • Forgetting: Lose information through interference, decay – Processing new information interferes, gets confused – Decay, weakening of memories with passage of time Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -16

Individual Differences and Working Memory • Developmental differences – Components of working memory in place by age 4 – Working memory improves over the school years – Visual/spatial memory develops earlier • 3 basic aspects of memory improve over time: Memory span, processing efficiency, processing speed • Young children: Fewer strategies, less knowledge, more trouble memorizing longer series – Discover rehearsal, organizational strategies at age 5 -6 – Use strategies spontaneously at age 9 -10 • Working memory relates to emergent literacy, number skills, academic achievement, IQ scores Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -17

Long-Term Memory • • • Permanent store of knowledge Duration: With time/effort, memories are stored long term Capacity: Unlimited Access: Requires time/effort; not immediate View of memory as nested systems – Short-term storage nested in working memory – Working memory active part of long-term memory Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -18

Long-Term Memory: Contents Kinds of knowledge • Declarative: Verbal information; facts—”knowing that” • Procedural: Knowledge demonstrated when we perform a task—”knowing how” • Self-regulatory (conditional): Knowing how to manage your learning (When to skim, when to read carefully) – How/when to use declarative or procedural knowledge • All 3 kinds can be general or domain-specific Kinds of long-term memory • Explicit: Deliberate or conscious recall of long-term memory • Implicit: Not conscious of recalling memory, but it influences our behavior or thought without our awareness Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -19

Explicit Memories: Semantic • Semantic: Memory for meaning; includes words, facts, concepts (declarative); Not tied to particular experiences • Propositions connected/stored in propositional networks – Method of storing meaning of sentences, pictures – Interconnected concepts and relationships stored, not exact words of sentences • Images: Physical attributes/appearance stored • Dual coding theory: Idea that information is stored in longterm memory as either visual images, verbal units, or both Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -20

Concepts, Prototypes, Exemplars, Theory. Based Categories • Concept: Mental representation grouping similar events, ideas, objects, people into a category • Defining attribute: Quality connecting members of a group to a specific concept (concept of bird—animals that fly) • Prototype: Best representative of a category in our concept – Has core features of the category (bird prototype: robin) • Exemplar: Actual memory of a specific object – Create prototypes from experience with many exemplars • Theory-based ideas of concept formation: Explanations we create to make sense of things • Simplicity principle says we reduce incoming information to simpler, more coherent, more useful form Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -21

Schemas • Abstract knowledge structures that organize vast amounts of information (also called schemata; singular, schema) – Knowledge about a topic; combines many concepts, images, propositions – Specific to the individual; not the same for two people • Help us form and understand concepts • Story grammar (story structure): Schema that help us understand remember stories – General story grammar: Setting, initiating events, reactions, goals, actions, outcomes, endings Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -22

Explicit Memories: Episodic • Long-term memory for information tied to particular time and place, especially memory of events of one’s life – Different from semantic memories • Usually can’t describe acquiring a semantic memory • Easily recall time/place of episodic memory • Keeps track of the order of things • Flashbulb memories: Clear, vivid memories of emotionally important events in your life – Very positive or very negative events; intense emotional reactions • Example: Celebration event when your team won a national championship Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -23

Implicit Memories 3 kinds of implicit (out-of-awareness) memories • Classical conditioning, emotional or physiological response – Example: Feel anxious taking a test • Procedural: Long-term memory for how to do things – Scripts: Action sequences or plans for actions in a common event such as ordering pizza – Productions: What to do under certain conditions • Rules about what actions to take when • Priming: Activating a concept in long-term memory or the spread of activation from one concept to another – Activating of associations Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -24

Retrieving Information in Long-Term Memory Metaphor for retrieving and processing memory • Long-term memory = huge cabinet full of tools (skills, procedures), supplies (knowledge, concepts, schemas) • Working memory = workbench, small but immediately available tools/supplies • Attention = doorway to workshop with cabinet, workbench Methods of retrieval from long-term memory • Spreading activation: Retrieval of one bit of information activates recall of associated information • Reconstruction: Recreating information by using memories, expectations, logic, and existing knowledge Forgetting: Decay/interference; weakened neural connections Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -25

Individual Differences and Long-Term Memory • Major individual difference affecting long-term memory is knowledge • The more you know, the easier it is to know more • Development of expert understanding and recall in a domain requires continuous knowledge and interest Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -26

Teaching for Deep, Long-lasting Knowledge: Basic Principles and Applications Construct declarative knowledge with meaningful connections • Elaboration: Add/extend meaning by connecting new information to existing knowledge – Ask students to explain, draw diagram, act out relations, apply info to new problems, create examples • Organization: Ordered and logical network of relations – Chunk complex information; put concept into a structure Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -27

Guidelines for Family and Community Partnerships: Organizing Learning • Strategies to help children practice and remember – “Parent coaching card” with memory strategy for parents to teach their child – Comprehension questions for parent/child reviews • Ask family members to share their strategies for organizing and remembering – Creating family calendar; breaking tasks into small jobs • Discuss importance of attention in learning – Creation of study spaces away from home distractions – Informing parents of purpose of homework Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -28

Imagery and Learning Imagery can support memory • Use dual coding; visual and verbal material processed in different systems • Limited capacity in working memory for verbal and visual material; must manage cognitive load • Generative learning: Generate connections as you learn Cautions about using multiple representations to teach • Doesn’t necessarily lead to better learning • Younger students especially need supports • Don’t overload working memory • Teach students directly how to learn from illustrations ro how to draw their own representations Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -29

Context Influences Learning Context: Physical and emotional backdrop of an event • Learned along with other information – Place, room, mood, others present • Recalling context activates the information • A kind of priming that activates the information Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -30

Reaching Every Student: Make It Meaningful • Features of meaningful lessons: vocabulary that makes sense to students, organized, ties to old information • Mnemonics: Techniques for remembering – Loci method: Associate items with specific places • Assign items to remember to places in your house – Acronym: First letter of each word forms memorable word (HOMES=Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) – Chain mnemonics: Associate elements in a series – Keyword: Associate new word/concept with similarsounding cue words/images • Not very effective in vocabulary learning • Memory aids with auditory cues more effective Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -31

Rote Memorization • Remembering information by repetition without necessarily understanding the meaning of the information – Serial-position effect in memorizing a list • Recall beginning and end, but not middle of list – Part learning: Break list into short lists – Distributed practice: Memorize in brief periods with rest intervals (effective, but often not preferred by students) – Massed practice: Memorize for a single extended period • Creates inert knowledge; not very useful • May be effective learning new information such as foreign language vocabulary Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -32

Development of Procedural Knowledge • Expert’s declarative knowledge becomes proceduralized – Incorporated into routines; applied automatically • Automated basic skills in 3 stages – Cognitive: Declarative knowledge, newly learned – Associative: Chunking of individual steps of a procedure into larger units – Autonomous: Procedure carried out with little attention • Classroom application to develop procedural knowledge – 1) Ensure prerequisite knowledge; 2) practice/feedback • Domain-specific strategies: Consciously applied skills to reach goals in a particular subject or problem – Provide opportunities for practice in different situations Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -33

Guidelines: Helping Students Understand Remember • Make sure you have their attention – Signal to get attention; practice the signal • Help students separate essential/nonessential details – Focus on most important information; repeat points – Summarize objectives; relate material to objectives • Make connections between new and learned information – Review prerequisite skills/knowledge • Provide repetition, review, frequent practice • Present material in clear, organized way – Summarize in middle and at end • Focus on meaning, not memorization Woolfolk, Educational Psychology, 13 th Ed. , Global Edition © 2016, Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 -34