CHAPTER 6: Cognitive Theories of Learning © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice Edition 11 Robert E. Slavin

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-2 Organizing Questions What Is an Information-Processing Model? What Do We Know from Research on the Brain? What Causes People to Remember or Forget? How Can Memory Strategies Be Taught? What Makes Information Meaningful? How Do Metacognitive Skills Help Students Learn? What Study Strategies Help Students Learn? How Do Cognitive Teaching Strategies Help Students Learn?

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-3 What Is an Information-Processing Model? Information constantly enters our minds through our senses. Most of the information is almost immediately discarded. Some is held in our memories for a short time and then forgotten. Some information is retained much longer, perhaps for the rest of our lives.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-4 How Information Processing Works o The three major components of memory are: sensory register short-term or working memory long-term memory

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-5 o The sensory registers are very short-term memories linked to the senses. o Information received by the senses but not attended to will be quickly forgotten. o Once information is received, it is processed by the mind in accord with our experiences and mental states. o This activity is called perception.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-6 Executive Processes Sensory Register Working Memory Long-term Memory Background Knowledge Lost Background Knowledge Sight Hearing Taste Smell Touch

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-7 Executive Processing The entire information-processing progression is not an automatic conveyor belt in which stimuli are made into knowledge. At each stage, the learning process is controlled by the learner. This control may be conscious or unconscious. The executive process determines what a person is interested in putting into long-term memory, and determines how hard the person will think about the stimuli and information in long-term.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-8 Sensory Register The first component of the memory system that incoming information meets is the sensory register. Sensory registers receive large amounts of information from each of the senses and hold it for a very short time, no more than a couple of seconds. If nothing happens to information in the sensory register, it is rapidly lost. Perception of stimuli and gaining students’ attention have important educational implications.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-9 Working (or Short-Term) Memory Short-term or working memory is a storage system that holds five to nine bits of information at any one time. Information enters working memory from both the sensory register and the long-term memory. Rehearsal is the process of repeating information in order to hold it in working memory.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-10 Long-Term Memory Long-term memory is the part of the memory system in which a large amount of information is stored for an indefinite time period. People store not only information but also learning strategies in long-term memory for easy access. Cognitive theories of learning stress the importance of helping students relate information being learned to existing information in long-term memory.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-11 Long-Term Memory o Theorists divide long-term memory into at least three parts: Episodic memory: a mental movie of personal experiences Semantic memory: contains facts and generalized information in the form of schemata. ( next slide ) Procedural memory: refers to “knowing how”

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-12 Semantic Memory and Schemata Semantic memory stores facts and generalized knowledge in the form of schemata. Schemata are networks of related ideas that guide our understanding and action. Information that fits into a well-developed schema is easier to learn than information that cannot be so accommodated.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-13 Factors That Enhance Long-Term Memory Contrary to popular belief, people retain a large portion of what they learn in school. Several factors contribute to long-term retention. One factor is the degree to which students had learned the material in the first place. The effects of ability on retention are unclear. Instructional strategies that actively involve students in lessons contribute to long-term retention.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-14 Other Information Processing Models Levels-of-processing theory suggests that learners will remember only what they process. Students are processing information when they manipulate it, look at it from different perspectives, and analyze it. Dual code theory further suggests the importance of using both visual and verbal coding to learn bits of information.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-15 What Do we Know From Research on the Brain? Technology that enables scientists to observe the brain in action has led to rapid advances in brain science. Specific parts of the brain process specific types of information in concert with other specific brain sites. As individuals gain experience, brain function becomes more efficient. Early brain development involves adding neural connections and sloughing off those that are not used.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-16 What Do We Know from Research on the Brain?

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-17 Brain Development

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-18 Implications of Brain Research for Education Many findings from brain research have importance for education and child development. Studies find that the amount of stimulation early in a child’s development relates to the number of neural connections, or synapses, which are the basis for higher learning and memory. Another important finding of brain research is the discovery that as a person gains in knowledge and skill, his or her brain becomes more efficient.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-19 Applications of Brain Research to Classroom Teaching 1. Not all learning is equally likely. Some types of learning are easier than others. Language and spatial relationships come more easily to young learners than advanced math concepts. 2.Brain development constrains cognitive outcome. One cannot alter a brain that is not ready for incoming experience to affect it. 3.Some regions of the brain may be particularly important for cognitive outcomes and supporting certain sorts of neural activities related to learning and cognition. One region that has become a primary focus of much contemporary research is the prefrontal cortex.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-20 Forgetting and Remembering Forgetting can occur because information in working memory was never transferred to long- term memory. It can also occur because we have lost our access to information in long-term memory. Interference happens when information gets mixed up with, or pushed aside by, other information.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-21 Forgetting and Remembering cont. Individual differences in resistance to interference may result from differences in ability to focus on key information and screen out interference. Proactive facilitation is the process where previously learned information can help a person learn similar information: learning Spanish may help with learning Italian. Retroactive facilitation is the process where newly learned information can help a learner with already established knowledge: learning Latin may help you understand English better.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-22 Forgetting and Remembering cont. Primacy and Recency Effect: people tend to remember information at the beginning and at the end of a list or class period. Automaticity: Information or skills may exist in long-term memory and through practice become a task or skills that involves little or no mental effort. (Reading instruction eventually leads to reading for pleasure.)

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-23 Practice Practice strengthens associations of newly learned information in memory. – Distributed practice, which involves practicing parts of a task over a period of time, is usually more effective for retention than massed practice. – Massed practice is a technique where new information is processed intensely (cramming for an exam). – Enactment is the process of learning by doing and also helps students to remember information.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-24 How Can Memory Strategies Be Taught? Much of what students learn in school are facts that must be remembered. Facts form the framework on which more complex concepts depend. Factual material must be learned as efficiently and effectively as possible to leave time and mental energy for meaningful learning. Some learning involves memorization of facts or of arbitrary associations between terms.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-25 Verbal Learning Three types of verbal learning activities seen in the classroom are: paired-associate learning: involves learning to respond with one member of a pair when given the other members. Example: states and capitols. serial learning: involves learning a list of terms in a particular order. Example: The Pledge of Allegiance. free-recall learning: tasks involve learning a list, but not in particular order. Example: organ systems of the body.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-26 Verbal Learning cont. Imagery: forming mental images to help remember associations. Loci Method: a mnemonic device for serial learning that employs imagery associated with a list of locations such as rooms in a house. Vivid or bizarre imagery is used to place the item in the location. Pegword Method: useful for serial learning in which a student memorizes a list of pegwords that rhyme with the numbers 1 to 10. Students create mental images relating to items on the list to be learned with particular pegwords. For example: George Washington eating a bun (1) Initial-Letter Strategies: A memory strategy that involves a reorganization of information in which initial letters of a list to be memorized are arranged in a more easily remembered word or phrase. Example: planets by distance from the sun.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-27 What Makes Information Meaningful? o Information that makes sense and has significance to students is more meaningful than inert knowledge and information learned by rote. Rote learning refers to the memorization of facts or associations, such as the multiplication tables, the chemical symbols for the elements, or words in foreign language. Meaningful learning in contrast to rote learning is not arbitrary and relates to information or concepts learners already have. Inert Knowledge is knowledge applicable to a wide range of situations but is applied only to a restricted set of circumstances. Usually, inert information is knowledge learned in school that cannot be applied to real life. For example someone has an “A” in French class but cannot communicate in Paris.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-28 Schema Theory Meaningful information is stored in long-term memory in networks of connected facts or concepts called schemata. The most important principle of schema theory is that information fitting into an existing schema is more easily understood, learned, and retained than information that does not fit into an existing schema. (see Figure 6.3 on following slide)

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-29 Schema Theory

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-30 How Do Metacognitive Skills Help Students Learn? Metacognition helps students learn by thinking about, controlling, and effectively using their own thinking processes. The term metacognition means knowledge about one’s own learning or about how to learn. Thinking skills or study skills are examples of metacognitive skills.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-31 What Study Strategies Help Students Learn? Research on study strategies is confusing at best. Few forms of studying are found to be always effective and fewer still are never effective. Effective methods involve learners in reshaping the information. Rereading or highlighting without consciously choosing the most important information to highlight is not effective.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-32 Study Strategies practice tests note-taking selective directed underlining summarizing writing to learn outlining mapping

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-33 The PQ4R Method The PQ4R method is an example of a strategy that focuses on the meaningful organization of information. It is one of the best-known study techniques for helping students understand and remember what they read. 1. Preview 2. Question 3. Read 4. Reflect on the material 5. Recite 6. Review

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-34 How Do Cognitive Teaching Strategies Help Students Learn? Cognitive teaching strategies help students learn by: Making learning relevant Activating prior knowledge

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-35 Making Learning Relevant and Activating Prior Knowledge An advance organizer is an initial statement about a subject to be learned that provides a structure for new information and relates it to knowledge students already possess. Advance organizers: help students process new information by activating background knowledge help orient students to material they are about to learn recall related information that can assist in incorporating new information Advance organizers illustrate the broader principle that activating prior knowledge enhances understanding and retention.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-36 Making Learning Relevant and Activating Prior Knowledge continued Other examples of teaching strategies based on cognitive learning theories: Analogies: use of analogies (comparisons or parallels) can contribute to understanding by linking new information to well-established background knowledge Elaboration: refers to the process of thinking about material to be learned in a way that connect the material to information or ideas that are already in the learner’s mind.

Slavin, Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, 11th Ed. © (2015, 2012, 2009) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6-37 Organizing Information o Material that is well organized is much easier to learn and remember than material that is poorly organized. Hierarchical organization: specific issues are grouped under more general topics. Questioning techniques: a strategy that helps students learn from written texts, lectures, and other sources of information by inserting questions requiring students to stop from time to time to assess their own understanding of what the test or teacher is saying. Conceptual models: diagrams showing how elements of a process relate to one another.