Cognitivism in Practice

The instructional strategy cues, questions, and advance organizers supports the cognitivist theory in that it focuses on strengthening the mental processes used in learning – retrieve, application, and organization (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn. & Malenoski, 2007).  When students are asked a series of higher order questions in a topical discussion they must brainstorm (retrieve) as many connections they have stored about a topic.  They then need to organize those connections in a relative way to use that knowledge in their responses.  When students are being introduced to possibly new information from a cognitive approach this strategy can be useful in engaging learners because for many their interest has been peeked upon realizing they know little or nothing about the topic or they may be anxious to participate because they are familiar with the content.  When advance organizers are used to facilitate the process of brainstorming students are able to construct a visual plan for learning.  This plan can also be a helpful tool as notes to reference information in preparing for assessments and present a topic with the ability of increasing the effectiveness of transferring knowledge.  Another advantage to using technology based tools with cues, questions, and advance organizers is that they allow students to process an extensive amount of information easily so that they may focus on using the knowledge obtained in more critical applications to gain new understanding and or solve real world problems.

The instructional strategy of summarizing and note taking help students to sift through information to determine the most pertinent knowledge and synthesize it with their schema or collaborative efforts.  This process is exemplified successfully when students are able to communicate the information in their own words.  As stated in chapter 6, Summarizing and Note Taking, technology can scaffold, provide support, and assist with organization while students are learning to summarize and take notes (Pitler, et al., 2007).  Various cognitivist designed technological software include features embedded within them such as Track Changes and Auto Summarize to teach, allow students to practice, and provide frameworks for both teacher and student to create summaries in a more informed fashion (Pitler, et al., 2007).  In respect to note taking, frequent and various formats can increase student achievement specifically when combining graphic representation, such as webbing and pictographs and outlining (Pitler, et al., 2007).

Lastly, virtual field trip tools are especially unique in that they help to provide rich and engaging events to expand students understanding.  Orey discussed that often times these experiences are foundational in respect to learning a network of ideas because they create episodic memories that students are able to use to make connections in learning the new content that is being presented within a network of ideas (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  Most helpful to me was the idea that this approach can allow teachers to apply a combination of theories (cognitive, constructivist, and social constructivist) into one episodic event which increases the opportunities for students to transition the knowledge into long term memory where it is retrievable at a later time (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).

Works Cited:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program six. Spotlight on Technology [Webcast]. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.