My thoughts on how the instructional strategies described in the resources I explored this week correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory are that thinking maps are the perfect partner for cognitive learning theory. According to Levrt-Duffy & McDonald (2008), cognitive theorists focus on learning as a mental operation that takes places when information enters trough the senses, undergoes mental manipulation, is stored, and the finally used (pp 16). Thinking maps provide the brain with a way to organize the information and a way to link old information to new information. Cognitive theorists would love that students would be linking the old information to the new information because it would make retrieval of that information quick and more efficient. The learner would remember more because they would be learning information that was always represented in a mental process, which is what cognitive theorists, live for. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski had this to say about thinking maps, “to aid the learning process, look for opportunities to activate students’ background knowledge, thereby providing a direction for exploration. The technology, in turn, provides you with editable visual aids and multimedia resources that appeal to a number of learning styles” (pp. 79).
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Cognitive Thinking Theory
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree, thinking maps are highly related to cognitive learning theory. Your references and response shows that there is a high correlation.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, activating prior knowledge is essential. I feel that this works especially well in science class, because most of the time students have something that they can pull from!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the cognitive theorists would agree that thinking maps and concept maps lead to greater long term learning. I think the more connections the students are able to put together the better off they will be at retaining the information.
ReplyDeleteI will also say that I do not think we should force our students to use thinking maps to organize their information all of the time. I think sometimes the students are more confused with the thinking maps then they are with the information. I think at times we should allow them to choose how they will represent the information, so that it makes sense to them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this theory completely. My students often struggle with learning new concepts given their disabilities. I am always looking for ways to get the point across for my students. I think that the resources this week and the assignment on completing a concept map and taking a virtual field trip have given me good ideas in which to support the cognitive theory in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThinking maps are crucial for students, particularly when they are writing. One of the most difficult areas for a writer to master is organizing his or her thoughts and that is exactly what maps aid in. They enable us to communicate coherently.
ReplyDelete