Chapter 6 Reflection

Chapter 6:

“Memory Strategies and Metacognition”

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Chapter 13:

Cognitive Development Throughout the Lifespan

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1. Chapter 6: Memory Strategies and Metacognition

Chapter 6 provides information on various memory strategies that can be implemented in learning new information. The term Mnemonics was introduced as a use of a strategy to help your memory. There are different areas of our memory that were studied. Our Prospective Memory looks at remembering to do things in the future. The Retrospective memory on the hand is recalling information we have previously learned.

The chapter continued to describe Mnemonic Approaches to help in our memory. Areas such as Organization, Imagery, and Rehearsal all have specific mnemonic strategies that can assist us. This is very beneficial because each learner is different and what may be very helpful for one is not helpful for another. So

Another major portion of Chapter 6 focused on the idea of Metacognition, or our own knowledge and understanding of our cognitive processes. It introduced and explained how we can help ourselves by understanding and monitoring our study strategies, and why we may struggle to recall important information. It continues to teach us how we can find ways to read and comprehend material more effectively.

Chapter 13: Cognitive Development Throughout the Lifespan

The first portion of Chapter 13 fits right into what we were learning in Chapter 6 about the Memory as it focused more specifically about the memory development of humans over a lifespan, beginning by focusing on infants, then to children, adolescents, adults and even the elderly. It opens the reader’s eyes to the fact that infants and children possess cognitive skills and memory that we may not necessarily be aware of. Some of the same ideas were reiterated in this chapter as were mentioned in Chapter 6 yet differences in memory situations were presented based on the overall cognitive development of children so small.

2. This chapter fits into what we have already learned about the memory, both long term and working memory. We first learned about the processes and functions of each type of memory and Chapter 6 and 13 continued by teaching us about actual Memory Strategies that we can implement ourselves to actively assist in our own Memory Retrieval and performance within our daily lives.

3. I am still not clear on how being an introvert vs. and extrovert can really change the way in which you learn or should study. I feel as if I am very outgoing yet shy for the most part. I have to have a quiet room with limited distractions in order to study effectively. Does that mean that someone that is an extrovert would still be able to study effectively with having background noise and distractions better than I could? I would think that most people work best when given a quiet room with the least amount of distractions. Is this not how we implement testing for all of our classes? Are we hindering the work and recall of those students who may perform or recall better with background music during a quiz or test? If they study with background music (encoding process) won’t it benefit them to have music on during the test to help them recall what they studied? (encoding specifity principle – chapter 5)

4. I can apply the concepts from Chapter 6 and 13 in my own teaching by teaching my students the various types of memory strategies associated with rehearsal, organization, and imagery. Giving our students as many examples as we can of various memory strategies will assist them in finding one that works best for them so that they can utilize it on their own and have future success.

5. The author provided examples within the chapters of various memory strategies that utilize rehearsal, organization, and imagery concepts. It was funny to read about the examples because they are obvious ones that I think everyone at some point has used before but never realized there was actually a defined terminology for it as far as Memory Strategies go. I know that these strategies work because I have used them for myself and to teach my students.

6. This chapter is very important in explaining how there are many ways in which we can enhance our memory of new information. I think it is important for every person to understand, but for us as teachers especially so we can pass on all these “memory tricks” to our students and give them even more of a chance for future success. I also like the idea behind have several mnemonic strategies in various areas of learning. Every learner is different and so there should be a variety of strategies to help. It is also important because a strategy that works for one aspect of learning may not work as well for a different aspect or subject matter. There are strengths in using the most effective strategy with the right situation.

7. The ideas explained in these chapters can benefit any child, adolescent, or adult of any age, gender, or academic level in order to enhance their success in not only prospective and retrospective memory aspects of their lives. I will introduce and implement these strategies to my students as we learn information in class. I will also use these strategies for myself in my daily life to enhance my mindfulness.

8. I do not see any better way of assisting students in the learning using memory strategies. Its free and very useful knowledge that can be carried with you for a lifetime! There is nothing that could possibly be cheaper than simply teaching someone a small trick in how to remember new information for the long run.

Chapter 5 Blog

Chapter 5:

“Long Term Memory”

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1. Summarize the reading in a few sentences

This chapter discussed the Long Term Memory. The components of the long term memory include episodic, semantic, and procedural memory. The chapter discusses the levels of processing and how various aspects of our life, such as our emotions, that can enhance our memory or make them more difficult to store and retrieve. The Pollyanna Principle was one that supported the idea of emotions playing a major role in our memory storage. It states that we remember our positive memories easier than negative ones.

2. How does it fit into what I have already learned in this course?

This chapter on long term memory helped to compare and contrast the information that we have learned in the previous chapter on short term memory. It is interesting to compare how the two memories work so differently yet must work together in order to store information, knowledge and memories that are vital to our daily lives.

3. What am I still not clear on?

There is not really a section in this chapte that I am not clear on. Yet, the Pollyanna Principle is one that did raise some questions within our discussion group. The idea behind the Principle itself makes perfect sense to me. But it was addressed with in my groups discussion board a bit because it is also easy to see the other side of this principle and how sometimes some of our worst memories can really stick with us. There is room to have a disagreement with something that the chapter had stated.

4. How would I apply this to my own teaching?

I enjoyed reading about the importance of our encoding processes on our effective retrieval of new information. It will benefit me to understand how to teach new information to my students in a way which will allow them to retrieve it. I also have come to a new understanding on the importance of relating the material to the student’s daily lives. When the students are able to apply their knowledge in their lives, their chances of retaining the information are dramatically increased.

5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?

I agree with many of the concepts in Chapter 5. All of the ideas and processes behind long term memory make sense to me. I believe the chapter makes some very valid points about the importance of our retrieval of information. The part that compared recall and retrieval and the idea that when we know how we will retrieve information, we process the information differently. I agree with the example the book gave comparing reading a chapter and taking an essay test on it vs. taking a multiple choice test. Whether it is a conscious decision in our mind to read differently or not, we do.

6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?

This is important if we want our students to succeed within our classes. It is important for them to understand how they will use or retrieve the information later on, as well as how they will be tested. If they know this as they learn, they will store the information in a way which can be easily retrieved at a later point in time.

7. When would I actually use this-under what circumstances and for what kind of students?

I will not only utilize the concepts from this chapter to assist in my lessons for my students, but I will also utilize the information I learned from this chapter to understand and enhance my own long term memory as well.

8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, or better?

I think an easy way to utilize some of the most important concepts in this book is to do everything you can as a teacher to make every lesson somehow relate to the students in their daily lives. It may be a stretch at times, but the more we can do that, the better they will retain what we are teaching.

Chapter 4 : Working Memory

Chapter 4:

“Working Memory”

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1. Summarize the reading in a few sentences

Chapter 4 discussed the 4 components of the working memory, the more modern term for the short term memory. There has been much research done by such people like George Miller who proposed the chunking information in order for our minds to remember things like numbers. Brown/Peterson also studied the importance of rehearsal, or repeating items silently to enhance memory. The chapter also looked at factors such as pronunciation time and semantic similarity which can affect our working memory’s capacity. It then went into detail describing the components of the working memory such as the visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, phonological loop, and the central executive. Each of these components of the working memory work separately, yet it takes all of them to process and store all of the information and stimuli together that we encounter in our lives.

2. How does it fit into what I have already learned in this course?

This chapter fits into what I have already learned in this book already about other cognitive processes such as attention and consciousness. They are all very detailed and operate within their own essence, yet take all other systems working together for our minds and bodies to function the way they do.

3. What am I still not clear on?

One aspect that was generated within my discussion group about this chapter had to do the Central Executive and how it is like a supervisor in an organization. It is responsible for suppressing irrelevant information, and deciding what to do or not to do next. It plays a major role in attention, planning strategies and coordinating behavior. Yet, the book describes this component as having very limited ability to perform simultaneous tasks. It seems to me that any supervisor controlling many aspects of a corporation would have the capability to take on many tasks at once.

4. How would I apply this to my own teaching?

I can apply this to my teaching in recognizing different cognitive processes in my students. There are so many areas of cognitive psychology that can affect the way students are learning and processing information. From this chapter, I am specifically drawn to factor of semantic similarity that can affect the working memory. Specifically, the proactive interference reminds me that my students may have trouble learning new material because previously learned material may be interfering.

5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?

The author provided examples of studies on Proactive Interference in the textbook, such as the one that focused on category of items that are shifted from letters to numbers and asked each person to recall the list of three words after counting backward from the number for 18 seconds. They found that the number of items that we can store in working memory such as words that have been previously stored can interfere with the recall of new words that are similar in meaning.

6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?

This chapter on working memory is important for me to not only understand factors affecting my short term but also understanding my students and factors that affect their learning that I as their teacher can find ways to control or prevent.

7. When would I actually use this-under what circumstances and for what kind of students?

I would actually utilize information from this chapter about working memory for myself and for my students when trying to learn new information in classes. It is also important to consider some of the aspects of this chapter when thinking about studying for quizzes in order to retain the new information.

8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, or better?

I think with any aspect of cognitive psychology, it is important to do the research to find other studies that have been done on the same material and make a decision on what you personally believe based on other sources. Its important to compare the ideas that other researchers have, especially since it seems that over the history of psychology, theories change and develop with each new studies that prove something different.