The Relation between Cognitive Psychology and Learning - Assignment Example

Cognitive Development and its Implications A lot has been debated upon the relation between cognitive psychology and learning. Cognitive psychology helps in understanding how people perceive, think, learn, and remember. The primary emphasis is on how people process, acquire and store information. John Anderson focuses on accessible and systematic presentation of mental processes and every important idea is based upon concrete experiments and examples. According to John Anderson, it takes nearly 100 hours of practice and learning to obtain any substantial cognitive skill for reasonable extent of proficiency. In order to become proficient in varying fields, one needs to develop an appropriate strategy for improving learning. Ideas Important for Learning Process Humans make mistakes and students are no exception. Students are pressurized to perform their best in land prized scholarships, SAT scores, and getting admissions in the best universities. Psychologists support a number of developmental and learning theories that enhance the performance of students. Many educators have taken advantages of these psychological concepts that fuel the learning methods and prove to be an effective strategy for teaching students. Some of the important concepts that can be used in improving learning and studying in a better way involve the following. 1. Understanding the Science of Cognition Most of the times, students are confused, fascinated, or even troubled by the facts that clash with their beliefs or knowledge. They want to comprehend why and how and require explanations. Majority of the students find it difficult to learn courses such as science, mathematics or other complex domains. Fortunately for students, psychologists have evaluated and developed number of learning techniques that are meant to excel academic performance. Cognitive science states that techniques such as rereading material, underlining, and mnemonic devices are of low utility when it comes to learning. There are five techniques that can prove to be effective for improving learning, they include: i. Practice on tasks (practicing reading or writing) ii. Retrieval practice (practicing retrieving information) iii. Interleaved practice (practice for on subject is interleaved with practice of other subjects) iv. Elaborative interrogation (student interrogate themselves why the information they are learning is true) v. Self-explanation (explaining process or procedures to own self) 2. Performance and Attention Performance is associated directly with attention whereas attention is an independent variable. There are some students who get more productive through divided attention while there are others who are prone to selective attention, which means attending only one message at a time. Even for those who prefer multitasking, in some complex courses selective attention is required. Therefore, it depends on students to select appropriate strategy for given situation. 3. Human Memory: Storage and Encoding Memory is a single terminology but it reflects a number of different activities. Encoding is referred to as translating the information in a form so that it suits the memory system and can be stored. Encoding information also involves relating new information with the previous memories. The key to improve in this area is to enhance the process of encoding and guarantee techniques that result in effective retrieval. Good encoding techniques that can be used by students in order to make improvements in studies include forming mental images, relating new information with the past ones and creating linkages among information that needs to be recalled. In order to store information, one needs to use as many senses as possible in order to remember the information. 4. Human Memory: Retention and Retrieval Retention refers to retaining information and retrieval is defined as recalling information when required. Many students experience difficulties when it comes to retrieval and retention. The key to retain information is developing cues. These cues will then lead the student back to the information that has been encoded. Mnemonic system can improve memory abilities of a person. Other strategy for retaining information is comprehending the meaning instead of rereading without grasping the content. In order to make retrieval system strong, the material or information must be viewed again and again, repeated, written down or recreated the experience. Associating new information with something that is already understood can also help in recalling information. 5. Problem Solving Some of the problems are that students encounter in their academic situations include putting arguments together for writing an essay, ways for managing budget until the end of the semester, working out with complex algebraic questions etc. In order to deal with such situations, one needs to cultivate and improve problem solving skills. Therefore, students require evaluating situations or information, break them into major components, consider various modes of resolving or approaching them, and decide on the most suitable way. Some of the ways for developing problem solving skills include mind games such chess, crosswords, Sudoku etc. One needs to have an open mind in order to grasp as much ideas as possible. 6. Decision-making and Reasoning Decision-making deals in selection of one course of action from several available alternatives. It includes in knowing what you can get from what you know. Reasoning refers to thinking about a decision or something in a sensible or logical way, by providing reasons. Decision making skills can be enhanced by improving own self, abilities and values. Values are regarded as one’s opinion regarding what is right or what is wrong. Values give meaning to life by setting priorities. It helps in deciding which actions or goals are more valuable and which are less important. Therefore, own success, aims, and ambitions must be values for students. For improving in the area of decision-making, one needs to cultivate thought process and learn from experiences. These skills can be improved by improving by practice and study. Following mistakes must be avoided while taking decisions. Choosing an action without realizing outcomes Not taking a decision because the possibility is not known. Collecting unnecessary information Choosing a decision based on impulse instead of possible consequences. Neglecting to take a choice because not everything can be expected with certainty. Reasoning skills can be improved by read a wide variety of books, in this way abstract concepts become sharper. Moreover, taking classes or participating in activities such as drawing, photography, cookery, sculpture etc help in improving reasoning skills. Games such as Tetris and Rubik’s cube also help in enhancing reasoning skills. Ideas for Promoting Learning Perception plays a vital role in improving or disproving learning abilities of a person. Many psychologists have highlighted the impact of self-efficacy and self-confidence upon the performance of students. Therefore, perception regarding own abilities and skills must be optimistic. Past experiences contribute in developing perception therefore one need to involve in positive experiences. Another concept is perception based knowledge representation. This concept reveals different ways in which information is presented in the memory. Anderson, (2009) draws a distinction between meaning based representation and perception based representation. A lot of studies have drawn a fine line between pictorial and verbal knowledge representation. Anderson (2009) has mentioned a number of experiments that reveal differences between the two types. A distinction must be created between courses that require linear ordering and the ones that require mental imagery. Linear ordering is suitable for mathematics; science etc. and mental imagery will be useful in psychology, philosophy, composition, etc. 8 Step Process for Improving Learning I. Problem Identification In order to improve learning in every area, student needs to gather all the current and potential problems that are occurring in own way. A student might be having problem in memorizing or would be facing language barriers, all the problems must be jotted down in points. II. Fact Finding After that, one needs to gather information regarding who is involved with the problem and what elements contribute towards the problem, what solutions have already been tried and what new solutions need to be tried. Also, what are other’s opinion regarding the problem that is do they too consider it a problem? III. Problem Definition Writing problem definition requires setting boundaries around the problem. It helps in staying focused on the problem itself instead of wandering around. Here, cause and effect analysis can be done. IV. Idea Finding Ideas relating to the solution of the problem must be generated. The approach needs to be flexible and look for as many perspectives as possible. Reverse brainstorming and brainstorming are useful activities here. V. Selection After gathering ideas, one would have many available options. Discarding ideas at this stage is what comes in mind but it must be done very carefully so that there is least risk of rejecting a real alternative. Techniques such as Decision-making Analysis, Risk Analysis, Decision Matrix Analysis can be used here. VI. Planning Choosing a solution is not the end of a problem. Appropriate planning must be made in order to effectively implement the solution. This may involve lots of preparation and planning. VII. Analyzing solutions Solutions must be analyzed not by own self but by others as well such as teachers, parents, colleagues etc. It will help in comprehending whether the solutions are actually suitable for the problems. VIII. Action Once others are convinced, then proposed solution must be acted upon. This is the most rewarding part as it makes the process seem worthwhile. References Anderson, J. R. (2009). Cognitive Psychology and its Implications (7th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers. Read More