Week 3: Cognitive Learning Theories

 Prompt: Post your thoughts on how the instructional strategies described in the resources you explored this week correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory. 

INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!

While reading our resources this week I gained so much insight on how I can reach my students better. The difficult thing is, I don’t know where to start, how to find time to apply these ideas, or how to pick and choose what strategies will most benefit my students. Just this week, I used Webspiration in a PowerPoint about WWII in my history classes. By pairing the images of several totalitarians with their names and the countries the men controlled I accomplished three different things.

First, I used a graphic organizer to divide the countries and leaders. The central point was, “WWII: Axis Powers.” I wanted my students to associate these men as having a common stance on controlling the people of their countries. This also showed the students that the link between the countries and men was the fact that they were part of the Axis Powers during World War Two (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Finally, I added pictures to the graphic organizer so the students could relate the names and countries to the actual face of each leader. By using the pictures in conjunction with the words, I applied Paivio’s Dual-coding Process (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). Both of these strategies  work with a student’s ability to organize information, relate it to what he/she already knows, create new pathways, and strengthen already existing connections. This process, elaboration, is part of the theories of cognitive learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).

While on Twitter, I came across some tweets from an educator that piqued my interest, so I accessed the blog connected to the Tweet and found: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/. It was only later that I noticed it was posted in the Webliography for this course.  I stumbled upon the, "Twelve Essentials for Technology Integration,"and then perused, Ediscio--Collaborative Flashcards found at: http://www.ediscio.com/.

I have not explored Ediscio enough to completely understand all of its capabilities, but the introduction explained how this tool can be used collaboratively, students and teachers may monitor personal/student progress at the end of each session. The student’s performance is shown in many different formats including graphs, charts, ratios, etc. “A powerful way to convince students that effort is truly tied to achievement is to show them data...” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Ediscio is giving students the opportunity for instant feedback and a way to monitor progress. With this type of technology, students are able to practice and work with content material in various ways, activate prior knowledge, and use elaboration, dual encoding, and create new networks of memory to add to already existing knowledge. In short, the students are using many different attributes of the cognitive learning theories that Dr. Orey spoke about (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).

Information overload! Now, do you see what I mean?!

Please share your thoughts and ideas, collaboration and learning from one another is what makes a person a life-long learner.
Thank you,
Courtney


References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program five. Cognitive Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.