Module 9

Final Blog

             The first reading this week is from Pajares (2006).  “Academic self-efficacy influences cognitive strategy use and self-regulation through the use of metacognitive strategies, and self-efficacy is associated with in-class seat work and homework, exams and quizzes, and essays and reports” (p.343).  Due to its considerable influences on learning, teachers should pay enough attention to protect and cultivate their students’ self-efficacy beliefs.  Children are more fragile than adults.  They do not have much life experiences.  In China, most of the families only have one child.  The only child is so precious that their parents inclined to spoil and praise him all day.  When these children come to school, they still expect the same treatment from teachers and other students.  Failure might be such a strange feeling to them.  My10-year-old nephew hates to take his English classes because his English grades are relatively lower than other subjects.  He said that he can never learn English.  It is hard to identify which one is the reason and which one is the result, his lower grades or lower self-efficacy.  At this key point, teachers and parents should play their roles to rebuild their confidence of learning.  Teachers should clarify to students that people have different paces of study a new thing, and they can learn eventually as long as they keep trying.  If the students who show low self efficacy is not rare in a class, maybe it is time for teachers to adjust their instructional methods, homework arrangement for these students.  Patience of teachers is always required especially to students who start to get in touch with new knowledge. 

            However, lowering the learning standards will not be a good choice in the long run.  Dweck (2006) stated that  “lowering standards just leads to poorly educated students who feel entitled to easy work and lavish praise”, which explains the negative effect of Chinese parents who over spoiled their only kids.  Dweck also pointed that “simply raising standards…without giving students the means of reaching them…just pushes the poorly prepared or poorly motivated students into failure ant out of school”.  Setting higher standards is a good way to help students to raise their zone of proximal development.  But as Dweck claimed that teachers need to be fair to all students and care about the changes of their students. 

             Hard working is emphasized by Pajares (2006), Dweck (2006) and Gladwell (2008).  I often hear Chinese parents praise the smartness of their children but not their effort.  One negative but popular thought is that people who smart does not have to work hard and who work hard just because they are not smart enough.  Children who are influence by this thought will be easily met the problem of low self efficacy.  They are too easy to accept that they are not able to do that without even another trying.  Pajares suggested that teachers and parents should “praise effort and persistence, not ability”, which I believe not only influence the child being praised, but all the other students about what is more valuable.

Weekly Response #11 for EDP 610

R11

Question:  Since conducting metacognitive knowledge education in school is necessary but challenging, in what respects do teachers need to be cautious?

            Pretz, Naples, and Sternberg (2003) proposed that “knowledge, cognitive processes and strategies, individual differences in ability and dispositions, as well as external factors such as social context” (p. 9 ) are influential factors to the metacognitive processes that are involved in problem solving procedures.  Pintrich (2002) added that “Students who know about the different kinds of strategies for learning, thinking, and problem solving will be more likely to use them.  After all, if students do not know of strategy, they will not be able to use it” (p. 2002).

            Metacognitive knowledge is gaining incredible attention from researchers and educators because of its influence on cognition processes and learning results.  Before reading Pintrich (2002), my understanding of metacognition was that it was how people perceive their own cognitive strategies.  I did not relate motivation, self-regulation, or self-efficacy to metacognition.  I took some learning strategies courses at the after-school center while I was in high school.  They introduced different ways to take notes, build knowledge construction, and memorize information so as to pass the college entrance exam.  I was somewhat bored with the class because I felt they did not teach me substantive knowledge.  Although their methods appeared enticing, when I went back to class and did homework, I utilized my habitual ways of taking notes and memorizing facts  For example, one learning strategy introduced was to create our own symbol system for note-taking during class to save time.  I tried this method in my history class, but could not remember what the symbols represented, and sometimes spent too much time creating symbols rather than learning content.  Therefore, I abandoned the new learning strategies and maintained my prior study habits. 

            I agree that metacognition should be taught explicitly.  Although I did not change my learning strategies as a result of the class, I did learn that there were different learning strategies and that some of them may be better than mine.  I also noticed that some of my classmates did better than I, not because they were brighter but because they used more effective strategies.  However, there are some aspects of metacognition education that need to be improved.  First, I believe the information and importance of metacognition can be demonstrated to be the early stages of learning.  Students can intentionally select the learning strategies that are most suitable to them.  Otherwise, once learning habits are established, positively or negatively, it is considerably harder to change them.  As James (1962) said, “we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and as carefully guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous” (p. 34).  Second, learning metacognitive knowledge in a separate course is not as attractive to students, because isolating strategies independent of context may make the strategies appear abstract and vacuous to students.  Not all students can make the connection between the strategies and their own classes and learning.  “It is more important that metacognitive knowledge is embedded within the usual content-driven lessons in different subject areas” (Pintrich, 2002, p. 223).  If students have opportunities to practice  effective strategies for different subjects under their teachers’ supervision, these metacognitive knowledge processes will be  more deeply rooted in their cognition systems.  Lastly, teachers  need to pay attention to students’ individual differences.  There is no one optimal strategy for all students in all subject areas.  Teaching students to learn varying strategies for different content areas is a much preferred method.

Weekly Response #10 for EDP 610

R 10

Question:  The principles of constructivism are more frequently  recognized by educators in Eastern and Western cultures.  However, the application of constructivist instruction is being challenged at the same time.  What are the implications we can learn from these disputes?

Quotation: “The emphasis on the practical application of what is being learned seems very positive.  However, it may be an error to assume that the pedagogic content of the learning experience is identical to the methods and processes (i.e. the epistemology) of the discipline being studied and a mistake to assume that instruction should exclusively focus on application” (Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark, 2006, p. 84).

            Kirschner et al.(2006) discussed a critical issue in the field of education: the dispute of using minimal guidance approaches, one of which place students in “inquiry learning contexts and asked to discover the fundamental and well-known principles of science by modeling the investigatory activities of professional researchers” (p. 76).  The leading instructional pedagogy from elementary to high school level in China is an exam-oriented system.  For a substantial number of students, the main motivation to study science or math is to pass the College Entrance Exam.  Some students’ learning interests are decreased partly because they did not get chance to build strong connections between course content and real life.    Because of these negative consequences, Chinese educators began to pay attention to constructivist pedagogy.  It is believed that instructional methods including discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching will be the solution because they can preserve students’ interests towards learning and are consistent with the law of genetic epistemology.  Some experimental schools have been developed in which these new pedagogies are employed. 

           The trend of development in China is similar to that in the States.  During our class discussion, the criticism of teaching math or other subjects without giving students the practical purposes for learning appeared frequently.  I agree with the principle that “learning is not governed by internal maturation or by external teaching.  It is an active construction process in which people through their own activities build increasingly differentiated and comprehensive cognitive structures” (Piaget, course slides, p. 35).  However, understanding the utility of a subject is only one form of external motivation; it does not necessarily lead to increased learning interests. 

              Kirschner et al. (2006) concluded that even though the principles of constructivism are reasonable, the practical application of constructivism is not flawless.  They believe that minimal guidance may not effectively change students’ long term memory and may lead to excessive working memory loading.  Although I cannot fully support their statement that “if nothing has changed in long-term memory, nothing has been learned” (p.77), their emphasis on a change of education is justified.  It is also true that the distinction between epistemology and pedagogy is not small.  Just as Piaget statedabove, students have little chance to learn new knowledge if they do not actively construct cognitive structures, no matter how qualified their teachers are.  But the emphasis on the central role of learners should not be identical with the negligence of teachers’ roles.  The method of minimal guidance might be useful for students whose learning processes are faster than most students in a class, but may not be suitable for all students or all subjects.  For example, how could we expect a six-grader to find the circumference ratio with little guidance, while famous mathematicians like Archmedes, Ptlemy, ZuChongzhi, Maimonides spent hundred years discovering it?  Kirschner et al. (2002) indicated that learning methods for novices and experts are different.  For  elementary school students, unidirectional educational approachessuch as Chinese exam-oriented education or Western minimal guidance are two extremes, neither of whichmay bean optimal choice.  Scaffolding with sufficient instructional information while providing space and opportunities for students to think independently might be an acceptable alternative.

Module 7: The Mind's Storehouse

          This is a great resource for learning memory and retrieval.  Drs Loftus, McGaugh,  Bjork,,  Shiffrin, and Rugg interpret the concepts and process of memory very clear.  Memory is essential for our existence in the world.  It is what storage in our mind constitutes our recognition of ourselves.  They introduced their model from sensory register, short term memory, long term memory and retrieval.  Also, they introduced some interesting experiments and case studies.  The patient who got hippocampus issue cannot remember any new information and he became angry and inpatient.  It is so sad that when a person lost his memory it feels like he lost himself too.  This case reminded me a movie: 50 First Dates, in which the role played by Drew Barrymore met a very similar situation.  However, in reality, losing memory is not romantic, it confused the patients and bring suffering to their lives.  Some of the key points in this video includes that: 1) the stronger you learn, the longer in can keep it; 2) learning locations can influence the learning results; 3) hippocampus is a very important region in our brain to storage information; 4) the emotion and mood can also influence our memory; 5) memory can be wrong and planted, that is why we should be care for about treating the testimony from eyewitness.

            Enjoy this short lecture!

           Just notice that my video is the same with Molly's.  Hence, I found another one which is longer.  This one is mainly from Dr. Kandel and is about what constitutes memories.  It focused more on the biological foundation part of memories.  Implicit memory and explicit memories as two types memory have long term memory short term memory involved are discussed.

Weekly Response #9 for EDP 610

R9

Questions:  What is the relationship between memory and learning?  Why memory is so important?

         Learning and memory are closely related to each other.  If learning is the method for gaining new knowledge and skills, memory is the storage of, but is not limited to, acquired knowledge and skills.  Mnemonics is the study of ways to improve the capability and retention of memory that emerged because of the demands to explore the potentialities of human beings.  Simonides, a Greek poet who lived around 500 B. C., is believed to have first invented mnemonics.  According to Simonides, the association of a clear image and its location in our minds are the keys to recall of needed information accurately and quickly (Miller, 1968). James (1962) also stated that “an educated memory depends on an organized system of associations; and its goodness depends on two peculiarities: first, on the persistency of the associations; and, second, on their number” (p. 60).  The memory palace is an organized system that can be viewed as a concrete representation of these principles.  Factors that determine the quality of our memories include the decoration and organization of the rooms, the clarity of the images of each room, the size of the rooms, and the quantity of rooms in this memory palace.

         In modern society, we take our smart phones or portable computers with us everywhere.  They can be used to search and store information for us.  One might wonder why we still need to bother ourselves with remembering.  Foer (2011) indicated, “memory training was considered a centerpiece of classical education in the language arts, on par with grammar, logic and rhetoric” (page #).  I agree with him as my experience of using English, which is not my native language, is an appropriate illustration.  Learning a second language is interesting to me except for memorizing words on an alphabetically arranged word list.  It is not easy to recall an infrequently used English word based on its Chinese translation.  However, I enjoy reading English stories, since missing infrequently used words did not seriously affect my understanding of a paragraph or sentence.  Thus, I could save time for concentrating on other subjects.  Although my grades in English were good, my learning habits were not quite sufficient.  I did not plough my path of English learning deeply and frequently.  These learning habits become a hindrance when I needed to use English every day.  It is difficult to locate the right words and expressions quickly when the information is not well organized.  For example, in a recent conversation with my American friends, I tried hard to find the word “parade.”  I knew that I had learned it previously, and that I could recognize it  in a sentence, but at the time, all I could remember was “there is a large group of people walking along a street and showing their will or dissatisfaction.”  This kind of flawed recall interrupts my thinking and expression.

          Learning by scaffolding is important for children, who can recall and express their knowledge correctly after being shown appropriate tips or reminders.  However, this is only one part of life span education.  Putting newly acquired knowledge into existing cognitive systems and building strong paths so that we can find new knowledge independently when needed is a critical part of learning.  “Paths frequently and recently ploughed are those that lie most open, those which may be expected most easily to lead to results” (James, 1962, p.59).  Practices with proper memory techniques for the application of knowledge and skills are important for manifesting our learning.  Dictionary and Google can help us find the words or facts, but it is improper when instant responses during a conversation or presentation are needed.  When information systems are systematically created, information processing in our minds is preferable for more effective memory.

References

Miller, G. A. (1968). Psychology and information. [Meeting Abstract]. American Documentation, 19(3), 286-&. doi: 10.1145/165552.165556

Module 6

http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/edPsybook/Edpsy6/edpsy6_working.htm

The source I found for Module 6 is a website that introduces memory and information processing.  This website is built for the Educational Psychology course at Purdue University.  In that course, they explained the essential elements under this topic, including general introduction to information processing, sensory register, working memory, long-term memory, recalling information, forgetting and transfer of learning.   They discussed working memory instead of short term memory.  As we learned from Dr. Usher’s slides, working memory and short term memory are two different types of memory.  They also provided self-check quizzes for each part, so that we can practice and retrieval the information we learned.  I view this website as both a learning resource and a practical example of memory and information processing.  We can choose the topic we are interesting to read and learn, then we can take the test right after our reading or after several days.  During this procedure, we can experience the steps of information processing: information input, sensory register,  short term memory, long term memory and retrieval.

Weekly Response #8 for EDP 610 (Mar. 29)

R8

Question: Do stereotypes serve as an impediment or an impetus for exploring the reality of the world in which we live?  How should we, as educators, understand the role of stereotypes?

       According to Pinker (2002), naïve realism supposes that “we just see things as they are” (p. 199), which places much credit on people’s perceptual and cognitive ability to explore reality, and indicates that the world we perceive is the real world.  Pinker (2002) uses the visual illustration phenomenon and a gestalt-type experiment as evidence to disprove naïve realism and the disconnection between reality and mind.  This philosophical argument is insightful and illuminating, which reminds me the perspective of philosopher Karl Marx, who wrote that “the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought” (Marx, 1999, p. 14).  I agree that our mind and the material world are closely connected, and the function of our brains is to reflect the material as closely as possible, although sometimes with mistakes.  As Pinker stated “the brain evolved … to keep us in touch with aspects of reality that were relevant to the survival and reproduction of our ancestors” (Pinker, 2002, p. 201).  However, I do not agree with Karl Marx that our thought is purely equal to the reflection of the material world, because he dismissed the influence of “past experiences and education” (James, 1962, p. 7). The existence of stereotypes proves that what we perceive might not reflect reality, and may even mislead our action in the world.

       First impressions are typical examples of stereotype.  When we first meet a person, the information we perceive is limited:  race, gender, age, and appearance.  Our brains attempt to picture a whole image of the person, but without sufficient related information, what do our brains do?  We are inclined to recall our past experiences including impressions of former friends with similar backgrounds, or similar types of people from media, educational, or other sources.  We then complete the new image for this strange person in order to comfort our cognitive dissonance.  A new or strange objective would probably be ignored, especially by adults (James, 1962).  This seemingly complicated procedure of forming first impressions of a stranger happens in a second.  It is not realistic to expect this procedure to be perfect.  The information we recalled from former experiences and knowledge is likely not at all true for this stranger.  My first impression of persons with white hair as elderly or frail might not be accurate for someone in poor health or with dyed hair.  Sometimes, young people rinse their hair to white, and elderly people can be strong.  Therefore, the notion that what we see is how things really are, or that people’s thoughts reflect the reality, is not tenable.

       Pinker pointed out that “the partial accuracy of many stereotypes does not… mean that racism, sexism and ethnic prejudice are acceptable” (p. 205) and “the good news is that when the facts do change, people’s stereotypes can change with them” (p. 206).  For example, girls are traditionally viewed as poorer performers in math and science than boys.  This stereotype will be changed when more women’s achievements in science and math have been recognized.  However, as contemporary educators, we have a responsibility to do more than change perspectives as facts become known.  We need to change perceptions through efforts to overcoming stereotypes through education, by treating students as individuals, and by providing equal opportunities in all settings.

Marx, K. (1999). Capital, A Critique of Political Economy Vol. Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital.   Retrieved from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Capital-Volume-I.pdf