1. I believe that this reading was about the different ways we visually recognize objects. The chapter also went into the topics of face recognition and how interesting it is that we can recognize peoples faces even if they are contoured or partially turned. Also, the topic of speech perception is discussed and that the general mechanism approach views speech sounds as a learned ability.
2. I'm starting to see that cognition is extremely complex and that theories are always changing as more research is completed.
3. All the different theories confuse me, but I think it is more because I have a difficult time comprehending while I read. I learn much better by discussions. It is not until after I read a few people's posts that I really feel like I understand what I read. I still feel like I am confusing the top-down and bottom-up processes.
4. It has really helped me to think about how my students learn. I used to think that my students were just reading too fast and making up words when the read aloud to me, but now I realize that they are just overusing the top-down processing. It also interests me to see how much context helps in the learning process.
5. All the examples from the research really made a believer out of me. Especially the face recognition credit card study. I could not believe how many cashiers did not notice that the person giving them the card and the person in the picture were completely different people.
6. I can predict that my students are going to have a difficult time learning if I am only teaching them by standing at the board and lecturing or by just having visuals and not connecting them to the lecture. I now also know that when I teach 2D shapes, it is important that I use good features for them because if I just say to draw a 4 sided and 4 cornered shape, they could draw several different shapes. I need to teach them the specific features that show how each shape is different.
7. I sort of answered this above, but I think this benefits all students.
8. I think using many different ways to teach a topic will help the students learn it better, but being careful not to overwhelm them. Also, having good features the first time and being able to create a context for what they are learning will show improvements faster.
Teresa,
ReplyDeleteI realize that we have something in common. I am the type of person as well that has to read something more than once to really comprehend it and get the underlying meaning. By reading others posts it really helps me to clarify if what I am comprehending is on the right page. I too think about this when listening to my students read. Some assessments that we give require students to answer comprehension questions that I personally feel are just crazy. I think that application and putting it into your own words is the best way to truly see if you are comprehending what you have read.
I agree with you that our students may be overusing the top-down processing and this is why they are making some of the mistakes that they do. I think that we as teachers rely on context greatly when reading or grading our students writing. I teach 3rd grade and it is often hard to figure out words sometimes based on a third graders spelling. The context in which it is being used really helps me to read their work. Other words in their sentenced help me to read the unknown word more quickly. (page 47, chp. 2)
Teresa, the theories can be overwhelming, but like you said cognition is more complex than we used to think.
ReplyDeleteTry to keep the big picture in mind as we go through the course. For example, so far we have studied -- in the big picture -- perception, attention, and working memory (it is week 4 when I am replying to this). If you can connect those processes in your mind, then you can drill down into the different parts. As you will see when we get to Chapter 5, this "deep processing" is actually a feature of good learning, as is the context, as you described.