Download If Procedural

Strategies for
st
Meaningful 21
Century Learning
By: Amy Gimino, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Education, Graduate &
Pedagogical Studies
[email protected]
What is meaningful learning? And
How do we get there?

Take a minute and think about something
you have learned really well,
Something you have MASTERED …
How did you learn this information?
Setting the Stage:
“The 5 minute University.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRBW8eJGTVs
http://videosrv6.cs.washington.edu/general/5minuteU.wmv
Setting the stage

What main point about teaching and
learning is made in the 5 minute university
clip?
 Do
you agree? Disagree?
 Why or why not?
Goals of Learning in the 21st Century
The goal(s) of learning are to ….
 Store information in Long-term Memory
 “Acquire information that can be used as
conceptual tools to facilitate subsequent
problem solving.”
 Help us manage information, novelty and
change effectively
 Help us reach our full potential as citizens and
contributing members of society
Key Questions


What is the difference between the
processes we used to acquire
information that we still remember versus
information that we have forgotten? and
What can teachers do help students
learn information (i.e., commit it to LTM
and effectively utilize it for future problem
solving) ?
The Information Processing Model
Short-term
Sensory Store
Working Memory
Long-term
Memory
Short-term Sensory Store (STSS)
A.K.A. “Sensory Register”
What do we know about STSS?
 Environmental input
(information) enters through our
5 senses
 Information only lasts a matter
of seconds.
 We must attend to information
in order for it to move to
working memory.
Working Memory
A.K.A. “Short-term Memory”
What do we know about WM?
 Center of Consciousness – where we “think”,
apply strategies, problem solve, and put forth
mental effort to process conceptual
knowledge and practice procedural-type
knowledge.
 Limited in Duration (without applying
learning strategies, info lasts approximately
20 – 30 seconds and then is “forgotten”)
 Limited in Capacity (Miller’s 1957 study
found it can hold approximately 7 +- 2 bits of
meaningful “chunks” of conceptual knowledge
at a time)
Working Memory
A.K.A. “Short-term Memory” (Cont.)
How does one overcome duration and
capacity limitations?
 By using strategies
 By developing elaborate networks of
schemas (categories and
subcategories of knowledge)
specifying relationships
 By automating procedural knowledge
(for more info consult John
Anderson’s 1995 ACT-R theory)
Types of Knowledge
Schneider & Shiffrin (1977)
Controlled, Conscious,
Conceptual or
“declarative”
(e.g., ideas, facts, events,
relations, knowledge that)
Hippocampus
Approximately 30%
Automated,
Unconscious
Procedural
(e.g., skills, how to..)
Neostratum
Approximately 70%
Metacognitive
Long Term Memory
What do we know about LTM?
 Our permanent store of factual, conceptual and
procedural (domain specific, general and
metacognitive) knowledge in organized structures.
 Well organized knowledge (e.g., chunked by “Big
Ideas” and Schemas) promotes prompt retrieval
 Both the developing brain and the mature brain are
structurally altered when learning occurs. (e.g., it is
Initially affected by the overproduction and loss of
synapses, and then by the addition and
modification of synapses)
Note: LTM can be lost due to senility, physical condition
or brain damage.
Learning Information
How do we move information into Long-Term
Memory?
 If Declarative (Conceptual)
 Rehearsal
(Repetition) only extends the amount of
time information remains in Working Memory
 Elaboration (connecting new information with prior
knowledge)
 Organization (sorting, categorizing, grouping or
representing information in meaningful ways)
Learning Information (Cont).
Directions: Read the following passage and see how much you can remember:
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into
different groups depending on their make-up. Of course, one pile may be
sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go
somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step, otherwise you
are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo any particular endeavor.
That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short
run this may not seem important, but complications from doing too many
can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. The manipulation of
the appropriate mechanisms should be self-explanatory, and we need not
dwell on it here. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated.
Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to
foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but
then one never can tell. (p. 722)
Learning Information (Cont).
Directions: Re-read the passage with the title “Washing Clothes” in Mind
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into
different groups depending on their make-up. Of course, one pile
may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you
have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next
step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo
any particular endeavor. That is, it is better to do too few things at
once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important,
but complications from doing too many can easily arise. A mistake
can be expensive as well. The manipulation of the appropriate
mechanisms should be self-explanatory, and we need not dwell on it
here. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon,
however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to
foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate
future, but then one never can tell. (p. 722)
Learning Information (Cont.)
Directions: Read the following list of letters once. Then
without looking at the screen, attempt to write out this list
(in order) on a separate sheet of paper
 FB
 IMT
 VU
 SAHB
 OC
 IA
Learning Information (Cont.)
Now let’s look at another list. Read this list once
and then without looking at the screen try to write
down all the letters you can remember in order.
 FBI
 MTV
 USA
 HBO
 CIA
Learning Information (Cont).
Visual Organizational Structures
1. Sequences: Use for Indicating Steps, Stages, Phases, Cycles etc.
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete
Formal
2. Hierarchies: Use for Indicating Kinds of, Types of, Parts of, Groups of,
Characteristics of, Perspectives of, etc.
3. Matrices: Use for comparing and contrasting information
4. Diagrams: Use to show visual relationships.
Learning Information
How do we move information into LongTerm Memory?
 If Procedural
 Practice
automatic
the
steps
until
they
become
The Information Processing Model
Maintenance
Rehearsal
Input
Short-term
Sensory Store
(D.K)
Elaboration
Organization
Attention
Long-term
Memory
Working Memory
(P.K.)
Practice
Forgetting
Loss
A few words on Expertise
Experts …
 Are made, not born
 Are metacognitive and deliberate in their actions
 Continually monitor their comprehension
 continue to pursue novel, challenging problems
 Continue to seek clarification and precision (by asking
higher level questions such as how, why and under what
conditions?)
 Continue to invest significant amounts of mental effort
over time.
Implications
What are the implications of the “5 minute
university,” the Information Processing
Model, your readings and this discussion
for …
(1) Teaching (curriculum, instruction and
assessment)
(2) Life-long Learning?
Some Additional Research
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who
developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in
learning. Bloom found that over 95 % of the test questions students
encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level...basic
recall. The same holds true for the types of questions teacher ask during
instruction.
Refer to handout “Task oriented question construction wheel”
John Sweller’s cognitive Load
theory and instructional design
John Sweller (Australia), Fred Paas (Netherlands)
and Alexander Renkl (Germany) have develop
an extensive theory on how to reduce cognitive
load to overcome working memory limitations.
For further information, visit:
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~jpd247/2251/readings/
paas_renkl_sweller_2003.pdf
Resources for Planning Instruction and/or
Assessing Learning
1. Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html
2. Utilizing the Information Processing Approach in
the Classroom
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/infoproc.html
3. The Lesson Plans Page
http://www.lessonplanspage.com
4. Ask ERIC Lesson Plans
http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/index.shtml
Resources for Life-long Learning
Dembo, M. & Seli, H. (2008) Motivation and
learning strategies for college Success: A selfmanagement approach (3rd Ed.). Maywah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.
Weinstein, C.E. & Hume, L.M. (1998). Study
strategies for lifelong learning. American
Psychology Association: Psychology in the
classroom series.
Videos for 21st Century Learning
A vision of 21st Century Learners
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8


Students today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=PlayList&p=
88CC8EE53DBF4B35&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=9

3 Steps for 21st Century Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yCB4i7GJuM&feature=PlayList&p=
88CC8EE53DBF4B35&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1