Cognitive view of learning

Explore different def.

Definition

• ). According to Dembo (1994:89), cognitivism is an approach to teaching, which is different to behaviourism. Behaviourism uses reinforcement to motivate learners to maintain attentiveness to a task. Although cognitivism is also interested in getting learners involved in instruction, it is more interested in what learners are doing or thinking while they are involved in this instruction.

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Definition continue…

• Theorists, who believe in cognitivism, do not believe that stimulus, response and reinforcement sufficiently explain the process of learning. They believe that behaviour is always based on cognition. Cognition, according to The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, includes mental activities such as thinking, imagining and reasoning. As a result, cognitivism is concerned with the organisation of knowledge, information-processing, and decision-making behaviour.

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Definition continue• Dembo (1994:89) continues to demonstrate the differences

between cognitivism and behaviourism. The cognitive approach offers a different idea of the teaching-learning approach as compared to the behavioural approach. While the behavioural approach emphasises the role of the teacher in presenting information, the cognitive approach views the learner as a more active participant in the learning process. The amount of learning in the cognitive approach depends both on how teachers present the material as well as how the learners process the material presented to them.

Definition continue

• Cognitivism, however, sees the role of the teacher as a facilitator or mediator. That is, the teacher helps the learners to select appropriate learning strategies and monitors their understanding or grasping of information. Although these functions are also part of behaviourism, they are not emphasised in behaviourism as they are in cognitivism.

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Definition continue

• The final difference between behaviourism and cognitivism, which Dembo (1994:89) discusses, is how instruction takes place. Behaviourism emphasises identifying what learners have to learn, planning the organisation and ordering of the content and providing immediate feedback to learner responses. One of the main goals of instruction of cognitivism is to help learners manage and control their own learning. If learners do not have the strategies to learn, the teaching goal is the help them obtain these learning strategies.

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Gestalt phsycology

• ” (Parsons, et al, 2001:249). What this means is that these Gestalt scientists believed that the information we observe and take in is subjective and biased, because it is experienced from the perspective or viewpoint of the person (the perceiver) who is observing and taking in the information. Take a look at the series of diagrams below. What do you see as you go from one picture to the other along the rows?

Figures and different perspectives

Figures

figures

figures

figures

figures

Principles or laws of perceptual organisation

• Law of figure-ground discrimination.• Law of closure.• Law of proximity.• Law of Good or Pragnanz• Law of similarity.

Law of figure-ground discrimination

•  • This is “the tendency to perceive images in the

foreground first, while other images fade in the background.” Figure-ground discrimination is the ability to perceive what your brain is telling you, is the most important image amongst other secondary images

Figure-ground cont…

•  • This is “the tendency to perceive images in the

foreground first, while other images fade in the background.” Figure-ground discrimination is the ability to perceive what your brain is telling you, is the most important image amongst other secondary images

Figure-ground cont…..

• According to Mwamwenda (1989:161), in any given environment, when we focus our attention on a certain aspect, it becomes the figure and the rest is the background. However, when our attention is shifted the ground could become the figure and the figure then becomes the ground. Consider the following picture.

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Figures

Law of closure

• “The tendency to fill in gaps in our perceptions.” This means that although there may be some information missing, our brains are able to fill in the missing parts and we see the complete picture.

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Figures

Law of proximity

•  • This is the “theory that the placement of

images near each other influences our perception of them.” This means that when things we perceive are close together, we have a tendency to see them as “belonging” together.

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Law of proximity cont….

• For example, 00 00 00 00 00will be seen as five pairs of circles, rather than 10 separate circles because of proximity or closeness of the pairs.

Law of proximity cont…

• • OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO• OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO• OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO• • These circles are perceived as being in five

columns, rather than being in one collection.

Law of proximity cont….

Law of Good form or pragnanz

• This is the “theory that our perceptions are influenced by our past experiences; also called Pragnanz Law.” Our past experiences influence the way we perceive things.

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Law of similarity

• This is the “theory that our perceptions are influenced by stimuli with comparable characteristics”. This law states that similar parts are seen together as forming a group. We tend to “pick up” on figures with similar/like characteristics.

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Law of similarity

Information Processing Model

• Like the Gestalt theorists, the IPM theorists believe that we are bombarded or flooded with things to perceive, and therefore we are selective in what we actually try to understand. The Information processing model suggests that we have sophisticated cognitive structures, which filter and selectively process the bombarding stimuli.

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IPM

• The IPM model is comparable, symbolically, to a computer and thus the language used in describing the IPM model is the same as the terms used with regard to a computer. Terms used are” “encoding” or “input of information, the “storage” of information, and the “retrieval” or “access” of information.

Multistore model/Three-port processing stem

• Sensory register• Short-term memory• Long-term memory

How the three ports interact with each other

Sensory register

Multistore model/Three port processing model

• the sensory register, • the short-term memory, and • the long-term memory. •

• According to Parsons, et al. (2001:252), the first port or site in the Multistore model is where information, which is gathered via our senses, is converted. This is called the sensory register. The sensory register contains receptors that receive and briefly hold on to the information (bombarding stimuli) that enters through our senses. The sensory register only allows those things through that we can see, hear, taste, smell, and/or touch. Anything else fades away.

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• Biehler and Snowman (1997:320) think that the purpose of the sensory register is to hold on to information just long enough (about one to three seconds) for us to decide whether we want to give it any further attention. If we do not choose to attend to information or recognise information, this information decays or disappears from the system. Thus attention and recognition is important in our perception of the stimuli or information that we are bombarded with.

Recognition

• involves taking note of important characteristics and comparing them to information that is already stored.

• • For example, the ability to recognise a dog involves

taking note of the physical characteristics of the animal (the height, length, number of legs, type of fur, etc.) that give it “dogness” and then compare this information from long-term memory (such as that dogs are household pets, are walked on a leash by their owners, are used to guard property, can bark, etc.).

Attention

• .” Different people have different levels of attention. Some people can concentrate on a task while surrounded by various sights and sounds. While others need a quiet area in order to concentrate on a task.

• • Things that we attend to via our senses and that

we recognise, are held briefly before being passed on to the second port, the short-term memory.

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Short term memory

Short term memory

• Short term memory storage facility• Hold information long enough for use• Also called working memory• Centre of consciesness• .” When information is moved from the

sensory register to the working memory, this information is changed to a verbal form.

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2 strategies to expand capacity of working memory

• Maintenance rehearsal is as the term suggests, maintaining information by rehearsing. The person repeats the information silently or aloud. Remember using this strategy when someone gives you a cell phone number (10 digits) and you do not have a pen nearby? You repeat the number over and over until you can write it down or until you dial the number. (Parsons, et al. 2001:253; Dembo, 1994:94).

• • Chunking involves grouping bits of information into meaningful chunks,

which are easier to remember. We can do this with telephone numbers, e.g. 226163 is better remembered if written 22 61 63; a cell phone number 0812457679 can be written 081 245 76 79 (the first three digits). We remember our identity numbers if we chunk it. So in the ID number 760212 08 05472, the first six digits form the date of birth, starting with the year, (so that is six less digits we have to memorise), the 08 used to represent the tribe/race number of coloured people before independence (this system of coding people according to race has since

Long term memory/Permanente storage fascility

• . It is believed that information from long-term memory neither fades nor is it lost except in the case of senility in old people or some brain malfunction. Thus the problem of forgetting is seen as the inability to retrieve or locate information from memory rather than the loss of information from long-term memory. (Parsons, et al. 2001:254; Biehler& Snowman, 1997:326; Dembo, 1994:95, Mwamwenda, 1989:168).

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Moving of information from STM to LTM

• Use rehaersal • Elaboration

Rehearsal• information processing strategy in which practice or repetition of

information enhances recall”. This means if we repeat or practice the information, we increase the chances of us remembering the information because our repetition and practice assists in moving the information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory. This is done best when the material is broken down into smaller parts and is practised a little at a time. Think about when you had to learn, let’s say a poem. You repeated the first line over and over, until you could remember it word by word. Then you repeated the second line in the same way. Next you combined the first line with the second line and repeated them both. You would use this strategy until you had learnt the whole poem by heart. Does this sound like a strategy you used to learn something word by word?

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Elaboration

• “information processing strategy emphasising links between information stored in long-term memory and new information.” Mwamwenda (1989:169) states that elaboration integrates new information with old information by establishing a relationship between the old and the new information. While a person is involved in elaboration “he looks for meaningful links such as images, ideas, categories and relationships as they relate to new information.”

2 categories strategies of elaboration

• Macro level elaboration• Micro level elaboration

Macro level elaboration

• elaborationshelp learners understand entire lessons, as they assist learners in identifying schema (plural: schemata) that can be associated with the new information. The schemata are abstract cognitive structures of our old information of actions, people, places, events, etc. Basically it is our concept of the old information and thus we relate this concept of the old information to see where the new information will be slotted in.

Micro level elaboration

• help learners store and recall specific pieces of information from within a lesson. This is especially useful when the new content in a lesson is unfamiliar. Highlighting new terms and concepts can do this, or learners may try to learn a new term by pairing it with a term that sounds similar. Sometimes micro-level elaborations are referred to as paired associates.

3 types of LTM

• Episodic LTM: Memory for time event and places.

• Semantic LTM: Memory for facts and concepts.

• Procedural LTM: memories for specific skills or steps.

Learners knowledge about something

• Declarative knowledge • Procedural Knowledge

Declarative knowledge

• Knowledge about something.• Telephone number/ Maharero• facts

Procedural knowledge

• How to do something• Dial the number• Research on Maharero• NB: move from declarative and procedural

knowledge to transferring knowledge.

6 cognitive theories

Dual-coding theory

• Learn better through visual and verbal learning.

• Demonstrate work

Cognitive behaviours modification

• Verbal and self instruction• Experiment following procedures.• Also use demonstration.

Schema theory

• Previous knowledge help us to internalize and link new knowledge

• High jump and the techniques later.

Cognitive structuralism

• Schemata or previous knowledge help us to categories our experiences.

• Categorizing assists in the process of remembering, comprehension and problem-solving.

Bruner’s 3 stages of perception and learning

• Enactive stage: movement. manipulate physically using hands.

• Iconic stage: learn using pictures and visual aids or images.

• Symbolic stage: Abstract concepts.

Ausubel and meaning full reception learning

• Learners are given games and puzzles.• Structure for organising.

Organizing strategies to be used in class

Advance organizers

• Teachers explain what new information is to come.

• Abstract passages

Mediators

• Short written or oral passages that link concept to be learned with previous knowledge.

• Give words and ask them whether they know the words.

Mnemonic devices

• Chunking• Elaboration

Hierarchical retrieval system

• Organizing information from the highest to the lowest.

• From general to the difficult.• Maslow’s law of need:• Physiological, safety, love/ belonging, esteem

and self-actualisation.

Concept mapping

• Understanding of interrelationships between concepts

Factors affecting meaningful learning

• Rote learning• Practice effect (repetition and rehearsal)• Transfer effect( Link new with old knowledge)• Interference (past or future experiences)• Read the rest yourself