1. We have now moved on to memory strategies to help us move information from working memory to long term memory. The chapter focuses on strategies using mnemonics with imagery and organization. Chapter 13 discussed the memory process as we age. Children actually have really good memories, but they are easily changed if there is a stereotype or suggestion added to the memory. It is important to teach memory strategies to children so they can make use of them.
2. So far we learned that changing information from working memory to long term memory is a process. For students, connecting what they are learning to their lives, the real world, or to past memories, can help them transfer what was learned into long term memory.
3. I am still having a hard time understanding the method of loci strategy. I saw the video clips, but I just don't see how it helps. I guess that it is a strategy that I do not use and maybe never worked for me so it is more difficult for me to understand.
4. After doing activity 13.2 with a few students, I really would like to teach my students memory strategies. I am very interested in finding more research for strategies I can use in my classroom. To me, it is really important to expose them to as many as I can since not everyone will use the same strategies.
5. I am having difficulty seeing the validity of all the studies. I do not see how the researchers could prove that the participants were only using a specific strategy while they were testing them. For instance in the study with the animal names, one group was taught the visual imagery strategy and expected to use it while remembering the names. What if they actually repeated the names in their heads the whole time instead of the imagery? How would the person giving the experiment know? Even though I have a hard time believe that the studies are all 100% accurate, I do think the information is worth researching further and I do believe it is true.
6. The information in these chapters help me understand why I have trouble trying to get my third graders to study for a test. I do not remember being taught too many memory strategies in school, but I learned some from my mom. So as a teacher, I have not thought about teaching my students any before, but now I will. I can't wait to get started.
7. I will start using these strategies at the beginning of the school year next year. Also, I am using the information from these chapters to help me reflect on bad memory strategies, especially with Spelling words, that I have taught my students.
8. By learning new strategies, one will be able to learn new information for a longer period of time. The strategies I used in high school Spanish class obviously were not good because I took 5 years of Spanish and can barely say a sentences. I learned to just memorize words for the test and then end it there. If only a teacher would have stopped to teach me a new way. (Maybe one did, but I don't remember that either!)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Ch. 5
1. This chapter was about long-term memory and specifically episodic memory. It discussed levels of processing, for example, the self-reference effect. In this case you can remember something better if you connect it to yourself. Also, we learned that memory is better if the retrieval is similar to how it was encoded. When it is done this way, it there is no difference between recall and deeper semantic understanding. This chapter also discusses people with amnesia and how they are able to use implicit memory but not explicit memory. Then autobiographical memory is discussed including flashbulb memories which is controversial. Some believe that we remember big events such as 9/11 because of how connected we are to it emotionally, and some believe it is just because the frequency we discuss the topic and are forced to recall it.
2. Now we are bridging the gap from working memory to long term memory. This chapter explained how we need to learn information to change it from just working to long term and the context it needs to be presented it.
3. I think this chapter was explained really well. I still would like to know more about creating false memories and how our brain does that. I had a memory from my childhood of me breaking the front room window by kicking one of my mom's high heeled shoes off. This is a VERY vivid memory, but when I recently told my mom about it, she said that never happened. Why would I have this memory?
4. I am really going to focus on what my objective is in my lessons and make sure that I am assessing my students the same way. But, I have to think of what I really want the outcome to be. If I want them to be able to apply what I am teaching them to their life then I will need to create an assessment that mimics that somehow and then make sure I teach it to them that way.
5. I really liked how the studies in this chapter had several groups for all situations and they explored the memory over time. To me, that made the information more valid. They did not just have a control group, they had groups for all circumstances. Example: The people who were depressed compared to the non-depressed in the Pollyanna study. If the study only showed the non-depressed, it would not have been as valid.
6. This chapter not only helps me in my teaching, but in my own life. I found the Pollyanna Principle very interesting when reflecting on my life and my family member's lives. I have a little more understanding of why I have handled a situation a certain way (reaction and feelings about it years later) and my siblings have not handled it that way.
7. I need to use the information about explicit and implicit memory for all my students. I think too often in education we ask the students explicit questions when assessing. These recall and recognition types of questions will not show us what they students have learned, just that they can store some information for a short period of time. The implicit questions will help determine if the students have actually learned the skill. I became a pro at answering explicit questions in high school and sailed through school because I could find ways to memorize the information for a short period of time, but once I entered college and took courses that required me to answer implicit questions, I struggled.
8. Sure, instead of focusing on the recall and recognition, spend more time on the implicit learning. Also, connect the learning to the students' lives.
2. Now we are bridging the gap from working memory to long term memory. This chapter explained how we need to learn information to change it from just working to long term and the context it needs to be presented it.
3. I think this chapter was explained really well. I still would like to know more about creating false memories and how our brain does that. I had a memory from my childhood of me breaking the front room window by kicking one of my mom's high heeled shoes off. This is a VERY vivid memory, but when I recently told my mom about it, she said that never happened. Why would I have this memory?
4. I am really going to focus on what my objective is in my lessons and make sure that I am assessing my students the same way. But, I have to think of what I really want the outcome to be. If I want them to be able to apply what I am teaching them to their life then I will need to create an assessment that mimics that somehow and then make sure I teach it to them that way.
5. I really liked how the studies in this chapter had several groups for all situations and they explored the memory over time. To me, that made the information more valid. They did not just have a control group, they had groups for all circumstances. Example: The people who were depressed compared to the non-depressed in the Pollyanna study. If the study only showed the non-depressed, it would not have been as valid.
6. This chapter not only helps me in my teaching, but in my own life. I found the Pollyanna Principle very interesting when reflecting on my life and my family member's lives. I have a little more understanding of why I have handled a situation a certain way (reaction and feelings about it years later) and my siblings have not handled it that way.
7. I need to use the information about explicit and implicit memory for all my students. I think too often in education we ask the students explicit questions when assessing. These recall and recognition types of questions will not show us what they students have learned, just that they can store some information for a short period of time. The implicit questions will help determine if the students have actually learned the skill. I became a pro at answering explicit questions in high school and sailed through school because I could find ways to memorize the information for a short period of time, but once I entered college and took courses that required me to answer implicit questions, I struggled.
8. Sure, instead of focusing on the recall and recognition, spend more time on the implicit learning. Also, connect the learning to the students' lives.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
CH 4
Better late than never... Sorry everyone, I forgot to do my blog posting for last week.
1. Chapter 4 of Cognition was focused on Working Memory. The chapter discussed older research on working memory (also known as Sort-Term Memory) and then goes into greater depth int eh Working-Memory Approach. It is here that the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer are introduced. The phonological loop is when we store sounds in our memory for a short time. The visuospatial sketchpad stores the spatial and visual ideas. A great example is when you visualize while reading. The central executive does not store information, but helps organize and prioritize what we are doing/thinking at that time. The episodic buffer combines the last three and connects them to an experience in the past.
2. This chapter helped explain why we focus on what we are at that time (central executive) and how we store the information that we are perceiving or hearing. The last chapters explained how we perceive things and how we focus our attention on things whereas this chapter explains how we remember it for a few seconds and even prioritize what we are doing or perceiving.
3. I'm still having a little trouble with the concept of Proactive Interference. I need more examples of everyday life situations to help me see this clearer. I understand that it is when prior knowledge interferes with what you are now learning, but I would just like more examples.
4. I am much more aware of the amount of information I can expect my students to remember just giving it to them audibly. For example, giving directions; I am going to make sure that if I give several step directions that I will also write them on the board. I also want to make sure I find out what my students know about certain topics (especially Science) before I teach them a new unit. I want to make sure there isn't going to be any PI. (I think that is an example, but again I am still not sure)
5. Again, all the examples and the studies in the chapter helped me believe that the concepts were valid. I have not taken a research methods course yet, so I am not exactly sure what I should be looking for. For me, connecting it to real life and having the data available really help convince me.
6. I think the working-memory approach is really important to not just my teaching but to myself. I am able to understand why I have a difficult time remembering random numbers or something a person told me. For example, just today my trainer told me to mix something in my protein shake to make it taste better. I know he told me twice and I even repeated it in my head over and over, but not 15 mins later, I forgot!
7. I gave one example in number four, but I could also use this information in all subject areas. I would like to incorporate visuospatial sketchpad into my class by having my students visualize what we just read or learned and have them sketch what they pictured in their mind in their notebooks.
8. I think that there are ways to remember more at one time. I believe that it will take a lot of practice, but that finding ways to chunk numbers is a great way to help remember a phone number or a combination to a lock. Instead of just trying to remember each number, find patterns.
1. Chapter 4 of Cognition was focused on Working Memory. The chapter discussed older research on working memory (also known as Sort-Term Memory) and then goes into greater depth int eh Working-Memory Approach. It is here that the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer are introduced. The phonological loop is when we store sounds in our memory for a short time. The visuospatial sketchpad stores the spatial and visual ideas. A great example is when you visualize while reading. The central executive does not store information, but helps organize and prioritize what we are doing/thinking at that time. The episodic buffer combines the last three and connects them to an experience in the past.
2. This chapter helped explain why we focus on what we are at that time (central executive) and how we store the information that we are perceiving or hearing. The last chapters explained how we perceive things and how we focus our attention on things whereas this chapter explains how we remember it for a few seconds and even prioritize what we are doing or perceiving.
3. I'm still having a little trouble with the concept of Proactive Interference. I need more examples of everyday life situations to help me see this clearer. I understand that it is when prior knowledge interferes with what you are now learning, but I would just like more examples.
4. I am much more aware of the amount of information I can expect my students to remember just giving it to them audibly. For example, giving directions; I am going to make sure that if I give several step directions that I will also write them on the board. I also want to make sure I find out what my students know about certain topics (especially Science) before I teach them a new unit. I want to make sure there isn't going to be any PI. (I think that is an example, but again I am still not sure)
5. Again, all the examples and the studies in the chapter helped me believe that the concepts were valid. I have not taken a research methods course yet, so I am not exactly sure what I should be looking for. For me, connecting it to real life and having the data available really help convince me.
6. I think the working-memory approach is really important to not just my teaching but to myself. I am able to understand why I have a difficult time remembering random numbers or something a person told me. For example, just today my trainer told me to mix something in my protein shake to make it taste better. I know he told me twice and I even repeated it in my head over and over, but not 15 mins later, I forgot!
7. I gave one example in number four, but I could also use this information in all subject areas. I would like to incorporate visuospatial sketchpad into my class by having my students visualize what we just read or learned and have them sketch what they pictured in their mind in their notebooks.
8. I think that there are ways to remember more at one time. I believe that it will take a lot of practice, but that finding ways to chunk numbers is a great way to help remember a phone number or a combination to a lock. Instead of just trying to remember each number, find patterns.
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