Learning And Cognitive Processes Ch6 Flashcards
What is learning?
Learning is a relatively permanent change, due to experience, either in behaviour or in mental representation
Learning as a change in behaviour …
Behaviourist focus on observable changes, such as how someone responds to a particular stimulus.
Learning as a change in mental representations or associations
Social cognitive system focus on the learning that occurs from observation.
Cognitive psychologists focus on the mental process that underlie learning and behaviour
How are learning and the brain linked? (3)
Learning results in an increase in both the size and the number of synapses between neurons.
Neuron formation is stimulated by new learning
Learning and or thinking about something tends to be an activity that is distributed across many part of the brain
What are the basic assumptions of cognitive psychology (6)
- cognitive processes influence the nature of what is learned
- people are selective about what they process and learn
- meaning is constructed by the learner, rather than being derived directly from the environment
- prior knowledge and beliefs play a major role in the meanings that people construct
- one of the most important elements in any learning process is what the student brings
- people are actively involved in their own learning
What is memory ?
Ability to save something (mentally) that has been peevishly learned, or the mental location where such information is stored
What is storage h
Process of putting new information into memory
What is encoding?
Changing the format of the new information as if is being stored in memory
What is retrieval ?
Process of finding information previously stored in memory
What are the three key components of memory
A sensory register
A working memory
A long term memory
What is a sensory register
Holds in coming information in a relatively unenvodes form. Has a very large capacity but a v short duration (1s)
What is the working memory
Holds and actively think about and processes a limited amount of information
May also include a central executive that focuses attention, oversees the flow of information and inhibits inappropriate thoughts or actions
Has a limited capacity and short duration
What is the long term memory ?
Holds knowledge and skills for relatively long time.
Has an unlimited capacity and long duration
What is attention ?
It is the focusing of mental processes on a particular stimuli
What does attention enable us to do ?
To move selected information from the sensory register to the working memory
To ensure students are paying attention it is important to ….
Ask questions about the lessons while it is happening
And students to put classroom material to work
Encourage students to take notes
What are the knowledges found in long term memory ?
Declarative and procedural
What is declarative knowledge
Knowledge that refers to the nature of how things are (facts )
What is procedural knowledge ?
Knowledge concerning how to do soemthing (procedures)
How is declarative knowledge learned ?
Via rote learning Via organisation via elaboration Via meaningful learning Via visual imagery
Describe learning declarative knowledge through rote learning
- involves repeating something Over and over (rehearsal)
- helps us keep material in working memory in definetly which may move to long term memory
- makes few, if any connections between new information and existing knowledge
Describe learning declarative knowledge through meaningful learning
Related new information to things we already know. Is far more effective than rote learning
What conditions facilitate meaningful learning bc the learner:
Has a meaningful learning set
Has appropriate knowledge base
Sees the connections new and old information
Describe learning declarative knowledge through organisation.
Learners find connections among the various pieces of information they need to learn.
Students are more likely to organise material if it fits into an organisational structure or hierarchical arrangement
Teachers must help students see interrelatedness they their organisation is more effective
