Week 12 Reflections
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
As shown in Demonstration 9.1, How Other Processes Contribute to Language, it is pretty evident that Language uses all the other processes we have learned so far. Visual and auditory recognition are used to read and hear words. “Eye movement is the second perceptual process that is central to reading” – so saccadic eye movement is a biggy. Working memory helps us process and interpret the letters, phonemes and words. Long term memory is especially helpful in making inferences and obtaining metacomprehension from the text. Metacomprehension allows us to think about our thinking of the reading and decide whether we have an understanding of the text. Spatial cognition helps us to create visuals in our mind for what we are reading. Semantic memory helps us with the meaning of words and concepts.
Another thought occurred to me when I read about Negatives. When I read about it being harder for us to process sentences with negatives I thought of the Pollyanna Effect. But then I read on and it also mentioned Theme 3 – “Our cognitive processes handle positive information better than negative information.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
Last week I was confused about a lot of stuff. This week it all seemed to make sense to me. Although, it does blow my mind to think about Artificial Intelligence. I can’t imagine the amount of work it would take to get a computer to have language comprehension.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
Well, since we are teaching children how to read and comprehend in second grade, this is a very applicable chapter. 75% of my class came in reading below grade level, with 50% of the class reading at a beginning first grade level.
Many of my children read aloud when they are reading a story. I guess this makes sense after reading Chapter 9, which says that people use the indirect-access hypothesis when they “translate the ink marks on the page into some form of sound before we can locate information about a word’s meaning.”
It is also encouraging to read that “children with high phonological awareness have superior reading skills” because I do a phonemic awareness program with my children.
As far as the whole-word approach verses the phonics approach argument, I believe doing a little of both is the best way to teach language. Children need the phonics skills in order to be able to decode new words, but they also need a base of words which they can recognize immediately (including the words that do not follow the phonetic rules).
One thing that bothered me was what they said about drawing inferences. The author stated that you would better at drawing inferences if you had background information or expertise on a topic. Unfortunately, my impoverished children do not have a lot of either, so as their teacher, it is my job to help build up those areas.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Week 11 Reflections
1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Theme 3 talks about how people handle positive information better than negative information. The same is true for conditional reasoning tasks. It is easier to understand positive conditional reasoning than it is to understand negative. The confirmation bias also agrees with Theme 3 because it says that people are more likely to confirm a hypothesis by affirming the antecedent. In the framing effect, the people also leaned towards the choices that portrayed a positive effect.
Memory is something that is used in so many parts of our cognition. To engage the availability heuristic, you must use your memory.
Top-down processing seems to come up again and again. The belief-bias effect, the confirmation bias, the illusory correlation, the anchoring heuristic and the adjustment heuristic are all examples of top-down processing.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I had a hard time understanding the four kinds of reasoning when I looked at Table 12.1 because it was too abstract and ambiguous for me. I understood it much better when they referred to Demonstration 12.1. But, I must say it is something I really have to think about, it doesn’t come easily to me.
The anchoring and adjustment heuristic really confused me. I understood the part about buying a jacket in the store, but they lost me after that.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I will have to say that of all the chapters we have read so far, this is my least favorite and I don’t know that I can apply much of this to my classroom. For most of the chapter, I felt like I was reading a probability or statistics book. The few things that I can take away are : “Performance is better if the propositions are high in imagery.” I find that many of my students are very visual, so I do try to encorporate a lot of visuals in my lessons. The text also said that performance was better when concrete example were used verses abstract examples. Once again, I find this to be very true for my students, so I try to make my examples very concrete. The last thing I am taking away from this chapter is that if people are usually overconfident about things, I need to apply that to my classroom. If my students state the they think they understand, I had better make sure that they really do because they may just have overconfidence in the subject.
Theme 3 talks about how people handle positive information better than negative information. The same is true for conditional reasoning tasks. It is easier to understand positive conditional reasoning than it is to understand negative. The confirmation bias also agrees with Theme 3 because it says that people are more likely to confirm a hypothesis by affirming the antecedent. In the framing effect, the people also leaned towards the choices that portrayed a positive effect.
Memory is something that is used in so many parts of our cognition. To engage the availability heuristic, you must use your memory.
Top-down processing seems to come up again and again. The belief-bias effect, the confirmation bias, the illusory correlation, the anchoring heuristic and the adjustment heuristic are all examples of top-down processing.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I had a hard time understanding the four kinds of reasoning when I looked at Table 12.1 because it was too abstract and ambiguous for me. I understood it much better when they referred to Demonstration 12.1. But, I must say it is something I really have to think about, it doesn’t come easily to me.
The anchoring and adjustment heuristic really confused me. I understood the part about buying a jacket in the store, but they lost me after that.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I will have to say that of all the chapters we have read so far, this is my least favorite and I don’t know that I can apply much of this to my classroom. For most of the chapter, I felt like I was reading a probability or statistics book. The few things that I can take away are : “Performance is better if the propositions are high in imagery.” I find that many of my students are very visual, so I do try to encorporate a lot of visuals in my lessons. The text also said that performance was better when concrete example were used verses abstract examples. Once again, I find this to be very true for my students, so I try to make my examples very concrete. The last thing I am taking away from this chapter is that if people are usually overconfident about things, I need to apply that to my classroom. If my students state the they think they understand, I had better make sure that they really do because they may just have overconfidence in the subject.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Week 10 Reflections
I did my reflection for this week before I knew about the changes, so I am going to post my reflection in the old format. Next week I will change to the new format.
Week 10 Reflection Questions
1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences?
I will have to say that I got caught up in trying to solve the problems in the demonstrations in this chapter on problem solving. In order to problem solve, you must be able to figure out which information is important and then represent it. Symbols, matrices, diagrams and visual images were four of the most effective methods to represent the information in a problem.
After you represent the problem, you need to solve the problem. Several strategies were discussed – algorithms, heuristics (hill-climbing heuristic, means-end heuristic), computer simulations, and analogies.
There are several factors that influence problem solving – expertise, mental set, functional fixedness, stereotype threat, and insight vs. noninsight problems.
Creativity was also touched upon. Creativity is considered an area of problem solving and requires finding solutions that are novel, high quality and useful. People can be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated in their creativity. Also some find that incubation helps to reignite creativity.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
At the beginning of the chapter, the author talked about the interrelatedness of the cognitive processes. To do problem solving, you must also have attention, memory and decision making. Problem-solving also involves a lot of top-down processing.
3. What am I still not clear on?
I know this sounds silly, but top-down and bottom-up processing continually come up in the chapters and I still don’t think I truly understand those two processes.
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
Problem solving is a skill that we want all children to have and yet it seems so elusive to them. As teachers we want them to become expert problem solvers, so if I follow what the book says, I will need to build up their knowledge base about problem solving, represent problems in different ways, teach a multitude of problem solving strategies, and help them to become better at monitoring their problem solving progress.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
The one thing that I have noticed in this chapter (and it may have occurred in a lot of other chapters, but I wasn’t paying attention) is that much of the research is more than 5 years old. This makes me wonder how reliable it is since Mr. Martinez wanted all of our articles to support our workshop to be from the last five years. Mr. Martinez talked about “classic research”, which I am assuming is older in date, but what is the difference?
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
Problem solving is a big topic at the elementary schools and it is an area where children really struggle. Problem solving is used in so many subjects and so many areas of our lives that it is a very important skill to attain. I guess it is comforting (and discouraging at the same time) to know that it takes at least 10 years of intense practice to gain expertise in a specific area. That makes me think, that in second and third grade, the children will not be expert problem solvers, but I should not be discouraged because hopefully by middle school the kids will master it.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
I guess I have never really connected creativity and problem solving together, but it makes perfect sense the way the author describes it. My students love art and are very creative in that respect. My kids hate problem solving and moan every time that we do it. I am wondering if there is a way I can tap into their creativity and combine art and problem solving. For example (and I know this isn’t the greatest example but I will need more time to think of great examples) I can give four children one picture and tell them that they have to reproduce it. Stipulations would be that they all have to work on the picture at the same time, they can only turn in one copy. Hopefully they would come up with cut the picture in four pieces, reproduce that piece, and then put the pieces back together to make a whole. OR make a picture for me and you can’t use your pencils, your markers, your crayons, your scissors or your paint. Hopefully they would come up with tearing colored paper and gluing it down on white paper, or gluing down objects, or etching a picture with a stick, etc….
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?
I do not think problem solving is something that can be done fast or cheap. I think it is a life long process and some adults still haven’t attained it.
Week 10 Reflection Questions
1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences?
I will have to say that I got caught up in trying to solve the problems in the demonstrations in this chapter on problem solving. In order to problem solve, you must be able to figure out which information is important and then represent it. Symbols, matrices, diagrams and visual images were four of the most effective methods to represent the information in a problem.
After you represent the problem, you need to solve the problem. Several strategies were discussed – algorithms, heuristics (hill-climbing heuristic, means-end heuristic), computer simulations, and analogies.
There are several factors that influence problem solving – expertise, mental set, functional fixedness, stereotype threat, and insight vs. noninsight problems.
Creativity was also touched upon. Creativity is considered an area of problem solving and requires finding solutions that are novel, high quality and useful. People can be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated in their creativity. Also some find that incubation helps to reignite creativity.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
At the beginning of the chapter, the author talked about the interrelatedness of the cognitive processes. To do problem solving, you must also have attention, memory and decision making. Problem-solving also involves a lot of top-down processing.
3. What am I still not clear on?
I know this sounds silly, but top-down and bottom-up processing continually come up in the chapters and I still don’t think I truly understand those two processes.
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
Problem solving is a skill that we want all children to have and yet it seems so elusive to them. As teachers we want them to become expert problem solvers, so if I follow what the book says, I will need to build up their knowledge base about problem solving, represent problems in different ways, teach a multitude of problem solving strategies, and help them to become better at monitoring their problem solving progress.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
The one thing that I have noticed in this chapter (and it may have occurred in a lot of other chapters, but I wasn’t paying attention) is that much of the research is more than 5 years old. This makes me wonder how reliable it is since Mr. Martinez wanted all of our articles to support our workshop to be from the last five years. Mr. Martinez talked about “classic research”, which I am assuming is older in date, but what is the difference?
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
Problem solving is a big topic at the elementary schools and it is an area where children really struggle. Problem solving is used in so many subjects and so many areas of our lives that it is a very important skill to attain. I guess it is comforting (and discouraging at the same time) to know that it takes at least 10 years of intense practice to gain expertise in a specific area. That makes me think, that in second and third grade, the children will not be expert problem solvers, but I should not be discouraged because hopefully by middle school the kids will master it.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
I guess I have never really connected creativity and problem solving together, but it makes perfect sense the way the author describes it. My students love art and are very creative in that respect. My kids hate problem solving and moan every time that we do it. I am wondering if there is a way I can tap into their creativity and combine art and problem solving. For example (and I know this isn’t the greatest example but I will need more time to think of great examples) I can give four children one picture and tell them that they have to reproduce it. Stipulations would be that they all have to work on the picture at the same time, they can only turn in one copy. Hopefully they would come up with cut the picture in four pieces, reproduce that piece, and then put the pieces back together to make a whole. OR make a picture for me and you can’t use your pencils, your markers, your crayons, your scissors or your paint. Hopefully they would come up with tearing colored paper and gluing it down on white paper, or gluing down objects, or etching a picture with a stick, etc….
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?
I do not think problem solving is something that can be done fast or cheap. I think it is a life long process and some adults still haven’t attained it.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Week 8 Reflections
1. How can I summarize this reading in a few sentences?
Chapter 8 focuses on two topics – semantic memory and schemas & scripts. Semantic memory is our knowledge about the world around us. I like the way the book explained that semantic memory includes encyclopedia type knowledge, language knowledge and conceptual knowledge. There are four approaches to semantic memory – feature comparison model (dealing with features and characteristics), prototype approach (comparing with an “ideal” model), exemplar approach (judging resemblance to an exemplar) and network models (organization of info in webs).
Schemas are previous knowledge attained about a subject, event or object. It is the background information that you bring to the table with you. To me, schemas seem like the backbone of learning.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Earlier in chapter 5, the author talks about amnesia patients. Do amnesia patients keep their schemas since it is knowledge? Or since it is knowledge gained in the past, is it lost.
I do like how the author always reintroduces concepts and tells us what chapter we learned it in. To lay ground work for chapter 8, the author brought up concepts from chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. I think the author does a nice job of showing connections throughout the text.
3. What am I still not clear on?
The whole section on semantic memory was a little confusing to me. The first three approaches seemed so similar and then the network model seemed so complicated.
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
I enjoyed the section on schemas and I can definitely apply that to my teaching. I am going to introduce the concept (and the actual word) “schema” to my class. I am going to talk about how it is the “thing” we use to make connections from our present knowledge to our future knowledge.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
I enjoyed the Boundary Extension demonstration. They did the experiment with college students and I did it with some of my friends and got the same results. I also like how it tied in to inaccurate eye witness reports. It also make me wonder if Boundary Extension is also part of the reason we can read Demonstration 2.3
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
Schemas seem like an important piece of the puzzle to becoming a learner with metacomprehsion. If students can draw upon their schemas, it will help them acquire more understanding in any subject they are learning about.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
While schema could be used with any subject (because it is necessary for all subjects), I think I will start using it more in reading. I am reading a book now that is talking about using schemas in reading. It teaches the children to use their schemas to make connections to what they are reading. When they read, they should be thinking…That reminds me of…I’m remembering… I have a connection to…. I have a schema for…. I can relate to …. If children are doing this, then they are being metacognitive about their reading.
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?
I think a quick way to show the importance of schemas with my class, would be to do the One-Minute Schema Determiner. I would write “St Louis Science Center” on the board (a place my class just visited on a field trip). Then I would have the children shout out anything they knew about St. Louis Science Center. The children would be able to fill up the board with things they knew about it. Then on the other half of the board I would write “Immokalee”. I would then ask them to shout out things that they knew about Immokalee. They responses would be complaints about not knowing what it is or questions about what it is. We would then reflect on our responses and come to the conclusion that what we did on the St. Louis Science Center side was schema.
Chapter 8 focuses on two topics – semantic memory and schemas & scripts. Semantic memory is our knowledge about the world around us. I like the way the book explained that semantic memory includes encyclopedia type knowledge, language knowledge and conceptual knowledge. There are four approaches to semantic memory – feature comparison model (dealing with features and characteristics), prototype approach (comparing with an “ideal” model), exemplar approach (judging resemblance to an exemplar) and network models (organization of info in webs).
Schemas are previous knowledge attained about a subject, event or object. It is the background information that you bring to the table with you. To me, schemas seem like the backbone of learning.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Earlier in chapter 5, the author talks about amnesia patients. Do amnesia patients keep their schemas since it is knowledge? Or since it is knowledge gained in the past, is it lost.
I do like how the author always reintroduces concepts and tells us what chapter we learned it in. To lay ground work for chapter 8, the author brought up concepts from chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. I think the author does a nice job of showing connections throughout the text.
3. What am I still not clear on?
The whole section on semantic memory was a little confusing to me. The first three approaches seemed so similar and then the network model seemed so complicated.
4. How would apply this to my own teaching/work?
I enjoyed the section on schemas and I can definitely apply that to my teaching. I am going to introduce the concept (and the actual word) “schema” to my class. I am going to talk about how it is the “thing” we use to make connections from our present knowledge to our future knowledge.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
I enjoyed the Boundary Extension demonstration. They did the experiment with college students and I did it with some of my friends and got the same results. I also like how it tied in to inaccurate eye witness reports. It also make me wonder if Boundary Extension is also part of the reason we can read Demonstration 2.3
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
Schemas seem like an important piece of the puzzle to becoming a learner with metacomprehsion. If students can draw upon their schemas, it will help them acquire more understanding in any subject they are learning about.
7. When would I actually use this – under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
While schema could be used with any subject (because it is necessary for all subjects), I think I will start using it more in reading. I am reading a book now that is talking about using schemas in reading. It teaches the children to use their schemas to make connections to what they are reading. When they read, they should be thinking…That reminds me of…I’m remembering… I have a connection to…. I have a schema for…. I can relate to …. If children are doing this, then they are being metacognitive about their reading.
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?
I think a quick way to show the importance of schemas with my class, would be to do the One-Minute Schema Determiner. I would write “St Louis Science Center” on the board (a place my class just visited on a field trip). Then I would have the children shout out anything they knew about St. Louis Science Center. The children would be able to fill up the board with things they knew about it. Then on the other half of the board I would write “Immokalee”. I would then ask them to shout out things that they knew about Immokalee. They responses would be complaints about not knowing what it is or questions about what it is. We would then reflect on our responses and come to the conclusion that what we did on the St. Louis Science Center side was schema.
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