Cognitive Learning Tools

When examining cognitivist theory and the use of technology, the structural foundation lies upon students learning with technology and not “from” technology.  Cognitive learning theory focuses on information processing and encoding sensory input into short term memory and hopefully eventually, long-term memory.  As Orey (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) states, cognitive tools help students process information and create visuals and connections (which support dual coding) to help students retrieve information previously stored.  Virtual field trips also help encode information by creating an episode that students can connect to.  This becomes especially important for students who have limited background knowledge.

Although there are many instructional practices to encourage cognitive learning, the two I am going to focus on are cues, questioning, and advance organizers, and summarizing/note-taking. 

 

Most will agree that good questioning lies at the heart of all good teaching.  Questions encourage our students to think to inquire about the world around them.  There is no feasible way we can teach our students everything they need to know in the 21^st century, but we can teach them how to ask questions, discover answers for their questions and how to be inquisitive learners.  I think back to my first year of teaching when I kept a critical thinking questioning wheel in my plan book to ensure that I was hitting higher order questions.  As I reflect on this, I have moved away from that wheel (but know exactly where it is) and think it would probably be good to revisit every now and then.  Without explicitly thinking about the questioning, we tend to rely on low-level rote knowledge recall.  Cognitive tools help evoke these questions within our students and also give them the tools to find answers to higher level questions.  As Robertson, Elliot, and Washington (2007) state, “…by using cognitive tools, questions considered worthy of consideration evolved from those that required little effort to answer and even less to evaluate to those that provided opportunities to guide fruitful research and to sustain interest.”

Cues and organizers are also important for students to get an idea of what is important for them to take away from a lesson.  I think as adults we make organizers in our heads to store information in a logical manner, but for many students we have to teach them how to make these organizers and how they help us.  I absolutely love the Prezi software (www.prezi.com) and its interactive ability to include visuals, videos, text, etc. all in one place.  To me, it is much more appealing than a PowerPoint and engages the viewer. 

Here is a link to a Prezi I created with the help of my kindergarten students last year:

http://prezi.com/5quvxwbo0n0_/geo-connections/

Like many other software programs, Prezi allows learners to add and organize information as it is being introduced.  I think the part that sets it apart is the ability to create a path and zoom into various areas (and it is so easy to add/change a path when you learn something new!).  By providing students with these explicit connections, visual representations and multi-modality instruction, students are increasing the likelihood the concepts will be stored in long-term memory (the goal of cognitive learning theory).

 

The second instructional strategy is summarizing and note-taking.  Reflecting back on my days in school, I was always the student who thought it was necessary to write everything on every slide to study from.  However, this is not the most effective strategy (but I was never taught to overcome it).  Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski state, verbatim note-taking is probably one of the least effective ways of note-taking and students should be taught a variety of note-taking strategies.  Although the processes of using tracked changes and auto-summarize are a little advanced for my learning support students, they do need to know how to summarize and gather the most important information.  It would be interesting to compare (as a group) an auto-summary with a summary that students wrote to see what parts they were missing and analyze what the best summary is. 

Blogs (like this one) also present a great way of collaborative note-taking.  As I write this post, I am summarizing the information I learned this week, connecting it to my background knowledge and previous experiences, and wondering in advance the kind of feedback I will receive.  Wouldn’t it be a great opportunity to engage our students in an assignment they’ll LOVE and learn a lot from?

 

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom

       instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Robertson, B., Elliot, L, and Washington, D. (2007).  Cognitive Tools.  In M. Orey (Ed.),

          Emerging Perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.  Retrieved 15 March

2013, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/