Sunday, December 9, 2007

Cognitive Learning Enviornments

Cognitive learning environments focus on helping students encode information meaningfully to long-term memory so that it can be easily retrieved.

When I was student teaching in 7th grade math I was unaware that my cooperating teacher was trying to embed in me the importance of helping students encode information meaningfully. Up until this reading, I really just thought the way she taught was how everyone in the district did. Not one of my peers or supervisors, from the college, mentioned the word cognitive. I really wish someone did. Well here's another one of those connections that I am discovering as I engage in TEAM. How exciting!!

Anyway, in my future classroom as a teacher to facilitate this process I will start each day's lesson with a Do-Now that reminds students of their prior knowledge, of the topic at hand, by including several examples to be worked on. Once they are discussed, aside from posting the aim, or objective I will include a line for prior knowledge. When students look back at their notes, which I would hope occurs, they will see those word(s) and hopefully be able to integrate the new material with the knowledge that is in their long term memory. As the teacher, who is initiating learning, this would assist students to make a connection to their own prior knowledge.

Not only does this help the students, as they construct their own knowledge, but it helps the teacher. Those students, who perhaps, don't have the appropriate prior knowledge for the current topic would be given an opportunity to correct that.

A final comment, as with most topics in math even though they do relate to each other, there are distinct units within the curriculum. One technology that I can think of that might be helpful in the classroom, would be to use MindMeister. Creating a map of prior knowledge and then branching off with the "newer" material would remind students of the knowledge they have and are creating. Keeping the map updated and readily available to students outside the classroom would be important. Students would be able to access the map as they continue their schooling through the grades. You never know! It might help that 9th grader make a connection to the topic that was covered in 7th grade, in one day! I am sure that as I continue my work with TEAM, more technologies will be useful to assist in the facilitation of a cognitive teacher!