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Chapter 7:
Cognitive Processes and Academic
Skills
Chapter 7: Cognitive Processes and
Academic Skills
Chapter 7 has three modules:
Module 7.1 Memory
Module 7.2 Problem Solving
Module 7.3 Academic Skills
Memory
Origins of Memory
Strategies for Remembering
Knowledge and Memory
Module 7.1 Memory
• How well do
infants remember?
• How do strategies
help children to
remember?
• How does
children’s
knowledge
influence what
they remember?
Module 7.2
Problem Solving
Module 7.3
Academic Skills
Origins of Memory
Overview
•
Memory origins laid
down in early life
•
2-3 mos: past events
remembered but recall
decreased over time
•
Cue can elicit forgotten
memory
Origins of Memory: Brain
Development and Memory
Infants remember and forget, and can be
prompted to remember forgotten things
• Improvements in memory are related to
brain growth
•
•
•
Amygdala
Hippocampus
Frontal cortex
Strategies for Remembering
Memory strategies: activities that improve
remembering
• Preschoolers use simple strategies
•
Older children and adolescents use
organization, elaboration, and rehearsal
Do you know the difference between these?
Strategies for Remembering
•
Metacognition
•
Metamemory
•
Metacognitive knowledge
Metacognitive Knowledge
Important Features
• Cognitive selfregulation
•
Understanding of
connections
among goals,
strategies,
monitoring, and
outcomes
Knowledge and Memory
Knowledge helps to organize memory but
can distort recall
• Scripts
• Autobiographical memory
• Infantile amnesia
• Preschoolers’ testimony
Effects of Knowledge on
Memory
• Adults remember
more numbers than
children
• 10-year-olds recall
object positions
more accurately
Do you know why?
Network of Knowledge
Fuzzy Trace Theory
•
Memories stored verbatim or in gist form
•
Older children represent memories in gist
form instead of verbatim
Autobiographical Memory and
Infantile Amnesia
Autobiographical memory
Infantile amnesia
Eyewitness Testimony
Memory distortion may occur with
• Inappropriate questionings
• Overheard comments
• Conversations of adults or peers
Eyewitness Testimony:
Interviewing Strategies
Interview quickly
after event
Encourage truth;
allow “I don’t know”
Ask for event
description in
child’s own words
Use open-ended
questions
Begin with neutral
events
Ask questions that
consider alternative
explanations
Problem Solving
Developmental Trends in
Solving Problems
Features of Children’s and
Adolescents’ Problem Solving
Scientific Problem Solving
Module 7.2 Problem
Solving
• Do older children and
adolescents typically
solve problems
better than younger
children?
Module 7.1
Memory
• What factors
contribute to
children’s and
adolescents’ success
in solving problems?
• Can children and
adolescents reason
scientifically?
Module 7.3
Academic Skills
Developmental Trends in
Problem Solving
• Problem solving effectiveness increases with
age
• Research shows that even young children
sometimes show remarkable skill
• Adolescents often prone to error
Features of Child and Adolescent
Problem Solving
Young children sometimes fail due to inadequate encoding processes
Young children don’t plan ahead
Children and adolescents use a variety of strategies to solve problems
(heuristics)
Successful problem solving depends on knowledge specific to problem
and general processes (means-ends analysis)
Collaboration often enhances problem solving
Scientific Problem Solving
Children and even adolescents exhibit faulty
scientific reasoning
• Confound variables
• Reach conclusions prematurely
• Have difficulty integrating theory and data
True or False?
Even young children can be trained to
think more scientifically.
Academic Skills
Reading
Writing
Knowing and Using Numbers
Module 7.3
Academic Skills
• What are the
components of
skilled reading?
Module 7.1 Memory
Module 7.2
Problem Solving
• As children
develop, how
does their
writing
improve?
• When do
children
understand and
use
quantitative
skills?
Reading
Reading in a complex learning process
• Prereading skills (phonological awareness)
•
Reading skills
•
•
•
•
Sounding out and whole word recognition
Comprehension
Recognizing words and decoding
Changes in working memory, knowledge,
monitoring, and reading strategies improve
comprehension
Reading
Readers use:
• Context to recognize letters and words
• Direct retrieval
• Phonics
• Complementary phonics strategies
Factors Related to Improved
Comprehension
Experiences=better
comprehension monitoring
and more effective strategy
use
Development supports
improved reading
comprehension
Increased general
knowledge=enhanced
understanding
Improved working
capacity=more effective
sentence storage
Writing
Older writers
• Know how to organize their writing
• Deal better with mechanical requirements of
writing
• Are better able to revise
• Have more to tell
Factors Related to Improved Writing
Greater revisions
skills
Greater knowledge and
access to knowledge
about topics
Greater facility with writing
mechanical requirements
Greater understanding of
writing organization
Knowing and Using Numbers
Babies learn that quantity or amount is related to
object differences.
Knowing and Using Numbers
Early counting follows 3 basic principles
• one-to-one principle
• stable-order principle
• cardinality principle
Children use many different, multiple strategies
Knowing and Using Numbers
Adding and Subtracting
• 4 to 5 year olds encounter simple arithmetic
problems
• Counting aloud and finger counting
strategies
Knowing and Using Numbers
Math skills lower in
U.S. than many
other countries.
Do you know why?
Educational Implications: What the
Japanese System Teaches Us
Provide more teacher time to
prepare and correct work
Improve teacher training through
mentoring
Provide instruction nested in
sound principles of learning
Set higher standards for children