Cognitive Learning

One important concept in cognitive learning is how information is processed. While the diagram showed in class may be advanced for students, I believe it applies to them and still have valuable information they should know. Students, and teachers, need to know why they remember certain things and why they forget others. It is important for teachers to recognize what information students might remember better and what information needs more work. One main thing about this process is that encoding or rehearsal must take place in order for the information to be readily retrieved. This means that whatever the teacher is teaching or whatever the students are learning must have meaning.  As a teacher, I want to know how to help my students remember important material that will be built upon, such as in math, and other important concepts in all areas that will help them as they continue. 

This may be using a certain learning strategy to help them remember “I before e except after c” or using an acronym. This could look like the teacher having students create projects that will help ingrain the information in their memory rather than having them memorize for a test and forget. Students may practice and rehearse a passage they have to memorize over and over until they have said it so many times and practiced it that they will never forget. Teachers can help students by telling students how the information is used in the real world or how it will benefit them. Many times math may seem pointless an useless, and after that class students will forget. A teacher could connect the importance of math to how it could be used in the real world and how it is built upon in 

additional classes.

In a different class, we learned about a great website that has a bunch of learning strategies for all subject areas. I believe this tool would be helpful to a teacher in helping give acronyms to difficult concepts or showing them the importance of a subject. The website is called The Learning Toolbox and it is a great resource to check out.