Cognitive Information Processing

This week's readings were definitely interesting. I had a real time wading through the article from Miller--in fact, when I first started reading I thought perhaps it had been posted by mistake! However, I believe that I do naturally incorporate more cognitive strategies into my teaching than I do behaviorist ones. Ultimately, with behaviorism, the main reinforcement that's out there is the grade itself. Beyond that, I don't think I'm much of a behaviorist.

However, I regularly make use of things like mnemonic devices, advance organizers, examples and non-examples, and practice with corrective feedback. Most reading instruction makes heavy use of building on background knowledge because activating background knowledge is one of the primary strategies that effective readers utilize. Therefore, I really can't imagine doing anything without first making sure that students are thinking about where they've already been, and how what they're looking at now fits in with what they already know. Other reading strategies do the same thing. Think about making connections: you're basically thinking about how what you're learning at present is connected to things you already know, either from your own experience, or from things you've read, or things you've heard about in the world. A basic premise of active reading is that you can't comprehend what you're decoding unless you can fit it into your prior experience in some way.

The idea that different people can listen to the same lesson but receive different amounts of information is kind of funny. My dad and I were talking about how much easier it would be if students could just raise their hand and say, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much variance they're experiencing. Then I thought about it, and I really think in many ways students DO tell us. I do have students who will say to me, "I don't get it." That always makes me feel as if I had just been squashed by a ton of bricks, since it sounds as if the student had received exactly no information from the lovely explanation I just spent ten minutes crafting for their benefit. However, usually when I talk more to the student, I realize that they got some of it, but then the rest of it they need help situating properly in their brain. Others will tell us they're experiencing virtually no variance and are simply waiting for us to move on! This is usually communicated through rolled eyes, pulling out a book, or exaggerated sighs. That's the joy of a classroom of 30 students of vastly differing ability levels. But that's a different blog...

So what is learning in the context of cognitivism? I think that students need the information broken down into logical steps and logical sequences in order to learn and retain it. They need periodic reviews of what they may have "learned" previously in order to be able to call that information back into use when they need it. Otherwise, I've found that it goes away never to be seen again. The human mind, at least the 7th grade mind, is full of black holes...

What is learning-part two

Reading about behaviorism this week was fascinating to me. I really believe that aspects of it are true on the most basic of levels. We tend to disparage those who are only interested in "what's in it for me" but the truth is that all of us are motivated by positive and negative consequences. I'll be honest: I wouldn't be taking this class if I weren't interested in things like my grade, my degree, etc. Even if I were doing this purely for the sake of becoming a better teacher (which is in there, of course) that would still be a reward. I was struck by the fact that even when you do something good so you can go to heaven or in order to avoid going to hell, you are still responding to reinforcers. Some of our most noble motivations, such as being a good person or knowing that we have done the right thing, are ultimately still rewards. I suppose even the most unselfish actions displayed by our species, such as a soldier giving his life for his country, are probably motivated by some internal value or sense of honor that is important to that individual.

I didn't feel there was enough information on what Skinner meant when he talked about the concept of dignity or the mind. What did he mean when he said those things were false? I would like to learn more about that. Also, what did he have to say about extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation?

As a middle school teacher, I have definitely found that behaviorism accurately describes my students. Most need me to provide different forms of positive (and, let's be honest here, negative too) reinforcement in order for them to stay on task and focus on learning. Perhaps because they have had to do nothing in order to obtain it, school in itself does not feel like a reward for most of them, and they are still too young to recognize the benefit that will come to them from getting an education. So, a fairly big part of my job is helping my students find motivation. Until that happens, learning doesn't!

What is learning?

Whenever I'm asked to define a word as commonly used as "learning" I know I'm really in for a difficult task. Most of my students would probably say you've learned something if you didn't used to know it, but now you do. That's really as far as they take it, and they don't stop to wonder about retention or application or anything much beyond regurgitating it on a test. Frankly, I sometimes think that's all some policymakers think learning is, too. However, as a teacher I feel real learning goes far beyond simply memorizing a discrete fact long enough to choose the correct item on a test. I believe that for something to be truly learned, the individual must be able to retain the information, AND ALSO apply that information in various real-life situations. Only in this way is true comprehension of a concept demonstrated. I believe the reason why so many students don't apply skills learned in a class in any other place than that class is because they don't really understand what they are being taught on a deep enough level to genuinely use and apply it.

So, how can learning be best effectuated by a teacher? I'm not sure I can provide a complete answer to this question, but I know some of the pieces include teaching in such a way that reaches different learning styles and types of intelligences. Also, going beyond simply drilling information into those empty vessels to where students are discovering things for themselves, or creating their own understandings, is key. In my area, where I teach writing, it is important to require lots of practice of the skills they are learning in as close to real-life situations as it is possible to get. For example, students can write letters to real people, companies, or agencies. They can create real newspapers. They can create presentations to teach each other about parts of speech.