Cognitive Learning Theory Strategies

My understanding of cognitive learning theory is that it is about how we process information. In communication classes I have taken, I have been taught that as a public speaker, one wants to make between three and seven main points in a speech. Seven ideas is about the most people can focus on at a time. This idea was reinforced by Dr. Orey in his discussion of cognitive learning theories in a Laureate published educational DVD. The carry over to the classroom is that teachers should keep lessons focused on seven or fewer items.

Using cues, questions, and advanced organizers can help students focus on those seven or fewer items, and not become sidetracked by extraneous information. These techniques are explained in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. I post weekly cues in my room as a schedule. I write a short description of each day's lesson with a focus on the skills, or learning objectives, the students are trying to master. That way, they know exactly what they are supposed to be learning each day. By explicitly telling students what they are going to learn about, one is helping them through the first stage of information processing, paying attention.

Dr. Orey described three memories: declarative, procedural, and episodic. Each of these help students retain what they learn. Advanced organizers such as rubrics are very useful tools for helping students organize information so it can be processed in their declarative memories. The example rubric explained in chapter four of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works outlined an English lesson. The students studied sonnets and the Elizabethan period. To make the declarative information of this lesson concrete, the teacher used Excel to create a rubric outlining a sonnet the students had to write. This lesson used elaboration, making connections for the learning objective in more than one way: they read samples, discussed them, and wrote their own.

Using virtual field trips activates episodic memories, the strongest kind of memory, according to Dr. Orey. When the students can see a place online they can not actually go to, it creates a concrete experience that will help them retain the information. The anatomy teacher at my school has used a distance learning lab to have her students watch an autopsy. Could an episodic memory be any more vivid than that? I do not know if she used an advance organizer, but one with a focus on key concepts for students to fill in as they watched the autopsy would help the students with their information processing of the experience.

One last point I really relate to, since I am a strong visual learner, is that using meaningful visuals to associate with key concepts is taking advantage of the dual coding theory explained by Dr. Orey. PowerPoints, charts, and tables are well-adapted technologies to take advantage of this theory. When I explain ethos, pathos, and logos to my students in a persuasion unit, I use a PowerPoint with the term, its definition, and a visual. I also encourage them to use mnemonics to remember what each term means, elaborating the ideas in their minds. One example is ethos. The slide with it has a picture of a man in a prison uniform as well as the definition of the term. Ethos is building your credibility as a persuasive speaker or writer. I need to add a picture of a business peron also to show a contrast of who we trust. I tell the students that I remember ethos sounds like ethics, doing what is right, being trustworthy. This lesson uses an advanced organizer, dual coding, and elaboration.