Ed Psych Midterm Flashcards
Emergent properties
properties that occur due to interaction of individuals; doesn’t occur in just one person (more than the sum of the parts)
Near decomposability
complex systems are “nearly decomposable” hierarchies; interactions within horizontal level, not between higher/lower levels; changes happen locally, not to entire system. Justifies study of Ed Psych at one level of analysis (child) and not succumbing to infinite regression
Cautions of studying one level of analysis (child)
1- what we think we know at one level may not translate up; to avoid, understand theories of how levels impact each other
Cautions of studying one level of analysis (child)
Caution 2- theories of instruction; sci & application of science are different, no values/goals in science, never straightforward
Effective studying strategies
Most effective: practice tests, distributed practice; least effect & most common: highlighting, rereading, summarizing, memorizing
Memory model
Sensory to working memory via attention/perception; working to long term memory via encoding; retrieval/storage
Transfer appropriate processing
memory system most effective when the way you think about it at encoding matches the way you think about it at retrieval
What can teachers do to encourage deep processing?
Think about what kids will actually think about during lesson plan
Deep Processing Technique- Elaborative Integration
explain why something is true; HUGE effect for background knowledge- better off being familiar w/ topic and not elaborating than elaborating and knowing nothing
Deep Processing Technique- Summarization
SHOULD work b/c focuses on what’s important, relationship between ideas; can’t do good summary if you don’t have good comprehension
Deep Processing Technique- Key Work Mnemonics
works short term; easier for learning language vocab, but hard to difficult images/associations for more complex/less concrete ideas
Deep Processing Technique- Imagery
every few paragraphs, create an image of what’s happening; doesn’t work, relies on summary, is hard
Deep Processing Technique- Self evaluation
Procedural; why am I doing this now?; in the moment; abstract problems (classroom evaluations- what are you doing? why?)
WHEN instead of HOW you process
Study schedules
Time on Task
the longer you study, the shorter the amount of time it takes you to relearn (writing classes taken, and feedback given- study)
Distributed practice
for long periods and short periods, it helps a lot; no effect on middle times; gaps between studying different depending on how long you want to remember things; distributed better than massed if you want to remember for a long time; time between study sessions complexly relates to retention
Interleaved Practice
study part of one thing, part of another thing, arti of another alternating instead of all massed; at first worse, but later it’s more effective- you have to decide what operation to do instead of repeating learned procedure (matches exam- think math, distinguishing artists study)
Testing effect
retrieval practice; practice tests are beneficil even w/out feedback (in long term, initially more studying better but later test, pretest better)
Solution Comparison (math)
Beneficial only if students have background knowledge of each method
Reading processes
Decoding (skill that transfers); comprehension (dependent on background knowledge)
Ways background knowledge is important in reading
Fill in gaps of what’s not explicitly said (LISTENER can clarify, LEADER cannot); clarifies ambiguities (adds topic/context); directs attention (what stands out more); makes it easier to put ideas together (punctuation as guide, chunking of concepts); helps you generalize/transfer
Recht & Leslie- reading/background knowledge
Background knowledge of baseball stronger effect than reading skill; poor readers who were baseball fans performed better than good readers who were not fans (but effect of reading skill also present)
Logic skills
Case based reasoning, memory component of all expert skills (ex: blitz chess)
Ways scientific reasoning is taught
1- Scientific concepts (laws) or 2- Scientific reasoning (develop a model, test solutions)
Science & background knowledge
often tested specifically w/out prior knowledge, but studies show that prior knowledge helps, influences reasoning (chem/political science problem model development); current teaching/understanding very shallow, w/out background knowledge; background knowledge influences which variables you test; what data you’ll believe; which data you find anomalous
Background knowledge needed- math, reading, science
math- math facts; reading- general shallow knowledge on BROAD range of subjects; Science- conceptual knowledge of moderately broad set of facts
Transfer definition
something learned in one context being applicable in other contexts; it’s bad currently
Transfer according to Thorndike
Identical Elements Theory- transfer only occurs to extent that tasks include similar steps, elements of thinking (more similar elements, more transfer)
Tranfer is bad b/c
People notice surface similarity (it’s about a bird) over structural similarity (split then converging forces) ; transfer of objects (dogs/cows, kids) easy, natural
High level thought transfer
depends on RELATIONS between objects, not objects’ properties (so must 1 know functional roles and 2 avoid/forget surface properties)
Gentry Structure Mapping Model
The more abstract the info retrieved is, the more helpful (ex relations of relations over object to object comparison)
Reasons Transfer so Poor
1 Greater cognitive load to consider mulltiple roles of object (object, object as relation, toy vs symbol experiment); easy memory retrieval for surface characteristics, not relationships; 3- Abstractions are hard (we study materials through example problems); 5- too many possibilities(different abstractions and deep structures to think about for one problem)
Day & Goldstone- transfer and comprehension
Abstract teaching helps transfer, but concrete examples helps comprehension
Presentation Strategies to Improve Transfer
Questions- have students explain what they’re doing, then explain in abstract terms; Labeling- label steps and substeps w/in concrete problems to help students remember abstract procedure (less popular than combo strategies)
Combination Strategies to Improve Transfer
1 Compare concrete problems (easier to see similarities); Cycling between concrete (ex problem) and abstract (formula) good for both transfer and comprehension (variant: students solve problem, you ask for new solutions based on different variable changes til students abstract, see commonalities)
Constructivism (completely different approach #1)
People learn by doing in a community of practice (apprentices) so transfer doesn’t occur; classroom level of analysis
Transfer as preparation to learn (completely different approach #2)
knowledge doesn’t always apply but can always help us interpret new info in future; test for potential to learn, not just straightforward understanding
3 things Practice does
makes long-term memory long lasting; helps new learning by moving some work to long term memory/automaticity and leaving more working memory resources; improves transfer
overlearning
students have to keep studying after they know 100% to compensate for forgetting (list not just recognize)
Forgetting
If you learn it really well, you don’t forget less, you just had more to start w/; all students forget material at same rate after they stop using the material
Bahric Ohio small town algebra study
w/ 3 years distributed practice, all algebra remembered; different grades still same rate of forgetting
Practice: Implication
What students need to remember most sould remain in curricul for years with distributed practice; practice best protection from long term forgetting
Practice- Math
Knowing math facts leaves more working memory, improves performance;
Practice- reading
Once decoding is automatic, comprehension dramatically increases; ((garden path sentences- can think about meaning/relations more))
How to improve reading fluency
Guided oral reading w/ feedback for mistakes (makes sense as kids are learning) VS sustained silent reading (how adults read, practice for later but kids don’t know when making mistakes)
Practice and Transfer (experts)
experts “just see it”, don’t have to think of all prior conceptualizations as they learn another definition; experts are better at SHAPE MEMORY (recognizing patterns)
Practice vs Experience
(Erikson)- practice is deliberate, trying to get better, monitoring progress and strategies, feedback; thoughtful practice- focusing on errors, immediately correcting mistakes (instead of blundering through repeatedly)
Feedback (problems in feedback)
Hard to know when you made mistake (self assessment not always reliable); hard to know what to do differently when wrong
Practice strategies
structured; sequenced; unrelated activities
Difficulties w/ practice in school setting
motivation- “busy work,” overlearning hard b/c boring; student self image (as student)