1. Chapter 11 discussed heuristics as far as how we go about solving problems (how we attack problems) and chapter 12 went further into depth on heuristics as they are realted and effect our reasoning and decision making. Heuristics also referred back to our working memory because this process requires our working memory to begin the reasoning process by figuring out our initial conclusion might not be correct. Reasoning also utilizes our processing, in some cases top-down is beneficial and in others, bottom-up should be considered as well. One eye opener from last chapter came back to haunt me again in this chapter! 11 talked about our background knowledge and how it can effect our problem solving and again, it showed up in 12 too! 12 discusses how sometimes our background knowledge can conflict with logic and cause us to make an incorrect decision by clinging to our background knowledge and simply not looking at the facts presented. This chapter also reminded me of the testing effect from a previous chapter which discussed that students seem to think they do better on tests than they actually do. They have a confidence level that is unrealistic. Well, apparently adults do as well! Overconfidence also occurs in adults when making decisions. I am extremely guilty of this, have been convicted, and will try to be better about this when making decisions. I will be positive, yet look at all of the possibilities before making overconfident decisions.
2. As much as blackboard discussed the confirmation bias, I find it still questionable that others don't take the time to look for counterexamples. I believe this is true for most researchers, but I do believe that some people and their personalities lend themselves to find this incorrect. For example, aren't most kids guilty of this? I'm not a parent but I know that kids will give every option in the book as of to why their decision is correct against the theory/parent answer given. Just thought I'd use that and look at the other side of the theory to try and prove it wrong! I am trying to look at disproving the theory rather than proving it! But, in actuality, isn't it true that some jobs require oneself to look at the opposite and disprove?
3. Again, this background knowledge info from last chapter has come back to haunt me for a reason! I believe I need to be aware that my kids (I have low readers) often rely on their background knowledge to make a decision. They are unable to make good judgements based on information because they rely heavily on their background and add their personal info when making a decision. It is also important to come to the big realization that media can influence my kids' decision making. The other day we were reading a story and one student made a connection as of to how it was related to a Hannah Montana episode (fortunately, I had seen the episode). I realized it was similar, but knew the endings were different. The student was unable to see that the endings were different and added the tv show ending instead. Not only does that effect their reading strategies, but it also makes them believe everything they see and hear. I had two 1st grades boys fighting and wrestling. They told me that was ok because they play that on their playstation. Again, media is seriously hurting our kids' decision making because it doesn't allow them to see the outcomes (which was bruising and detention). Unfortunately, they had to learn the hard way.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Chapter 11
1. Problem solving is intertwined with other processes including "attention, memory, and decision making." Attention cannot be divided when problem solving or it will not be completed to the ability of the one solving the problem (divided attention). When placing the information into one's working memory, one must properly store and organize the information based on useful and not useful information just as we categorize information into our semantic memory. Mental images also play a key role in problem solving with visual perception with the features the images hold by using symbols and visual (written) representation to solve a problem. The visual representation of graphs, diagrams, and pictures allows those as visual learners to conceptualize the process and find an outcome.
2. I am still not clear on which problem solving strategy is the better strategy? Again, I feel as if the 3 given do not address my lower students because the three processes appear to be more higher level thinking. My kids do see it as it comes (they surely don't begin with the end in mind) but I still don't believe they have the critical thinking skills to figure out how to problem solve. They are used to their parents feeding them the answers so where is that strategy?! Where do my low reading kids fit?Does it depend on the type of problem, one's learning style or personality?
3. As far as the creativity section applies, it just continues to reinforce that intrinsic motivation is more effective that extrinsic motivation because extrinsic decreases creativity and I need to be aware of that because I want to foster creativity in my classroom. It was also eye opening to see that attention is important in problem solving because I believe that is where my students struggle and it explains why their problem solving is lacking due to their attention struggles. I am more aware of this and will now try to combat this in my room to create more opportunities to build problem solving skills in reading.
2. I am still not clear on which problem solving strategy is the better strategy? Again, I feel as if the 3 given do not address my lower students because the three processes appear to be more higher level thinking. My kids do see it as it comes (they surely don't begin with the end in mind) but I still don't believe they have the critical thinking skills to figure out how to problem solve. They are used to their parents feeding them the answers so where is that strategy?! Where do my low reading kids fit?Does it depend on the type of problem, one's learning style or personality?
3. As far as the creativity section applies, it just continues to reinforce that intrinsic motivation is more effective that extrinsic motivation because extrinsic decreases creativity and I need to be aware of that because I want to foster creativity in my classroom. It was also eye opening to see that attention is important in problem solving because I believe that is where my students struggle and it explains why their problem solving is lacking due to their attention struggles. I am more aware of this and will now try to combat this in my room to create more opportunities to build problem solving skills in reading.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Chapter 8
1. This chapter discussed 4 models or approaches to classify semantic memory: the feature comparison model-organizes items by their features, the prototype approach-organizes items by placing them up to the prototype to see if it fits or doesn't fit the category, the exemplar approach-categorizes information by allowing our background knowledge of items and their features to set the example for a category and to see if items fit into the category, and network models-interconnections allow concepts to connect and how and what is retrieved based on those connections. Along with semantic memory, schemas and scripts were discussed with how inferences can effect memory along with inferences made on gender types and the implicit memory tests developed in order to find the true validity of how we as a society have truly gender sterotyped.
2. This entire chapter reminded me of how we encode material into our long term memory, specifically I thought of the network models approach as the hierarchy technique mnemonics because it seems as if they are all "interconnected" to a specific hierarchy or stimulus at the top of the scheme (ex. apple from chapter 8 and the animal hierarchy from chapter6). It also reminded me of the features we learned about in earlier chapters and how items have features that make them what they are and "make an apple an apple." The 4 approaches all appear to use those features in order to categorize items into our memory.
3. I am still not clear on how to "fix-up" my students with conflicting schemas. The book seems to give warning signs and examples of the fact that it does happen, but I need to know how do I fix those with schemas that are what we as classroom teachers would consider not right because they are conflicting with their comprehension and basic understanding. I know that we are all guilty of this but it is really messing up my kids' comprehension. What can I do to better scaffold this misunderstanding and help them to be aware that what they know might not be right! They are already low level learners..how will they even be able to assess what's right and not right?
4. Schemas are important in reading especially when reading a book the student has ample schema about for it helps a student have a better understanding of what he/she is reading and one can make connections more easily when schema is present. I am also more aware that incorrect schema can be lethal to my students' understanding during reading and interference can also occur and interrupt their understanding or recalling after time has passed.
5. I see a possible discussion point from chapter 6 when discussing that students will remember more after a period of time (such as Jill's experiment where we had our kids look at the picture cards for 1 minute, recall them, and then 15 minutes later recall them again) and from this chapter when it discusses how a delay in recalling can occur over time. I realize this experiment was completed over a period of days and the stories were extremely similar and in the recall so the students did poorer but in the encoding recall as for learning, time is an advantage. I find these 2 to be contradicting because a lot can happen interference wise to one's memory during learning over time and cause information to become distorted or pieces lost just as the similar stories told interfered with the schema. My thoughts support my findings with the picture experiment with my students for they did worse after 15 minutes of recall because they were interferred by reading a book, talking with other students about the book, playing a game, and then getting ready to leave for the day. It was a disadvantage that I believe is more valid than the book supports.
6. It allows us to see that maybe we do store information in similar fashions (according to their features) but yet we place them there in different ways (encode them by prototype or exemplar approach) so maybe recall for some students when reading a book might pull out different information depending on which approach they used. Kids have different experiences and different perspectives so I believe they place those items in their memory differently so they must retrieve it differently. I also found the section on gender sterotyping to be eye opening for me as a researcher to be more aware that this exists and I must be careful not only as to the content I write to not be as biased but to also know that those I might study do have a bias and that could skew results to research studies.
7. I'm beginning to use it now as I think about my students when I am reading with them and how their schemas might be incorrect as compared to what they are reading might not match up and allow for comprehension errors. I would like to know more about how I can attend to more fix-ups with schemas but as for now I can begin to also see that when my students are making connections or asking I wonder questions during reading, they are each categorizing the information they are receiving from the text differently.
8. The section on inferences and gender sterotypes has come a long way as compared to how they used brain scans to assess thought processes and how it is now computer generated answers which is more quick and simple. But, I also question the integration and delayed recall for I would believe there has to be a better way of testing this method. Why not figure out ways of solving this problem rather than proving that it exists? That might be the better, more relevant method.
2. This entire chapter reminded me of how we encode material into our long term memory, specifically I thought of the network models approach as the hierarchy technique mnemonics because it seems as if they are all "interconnected" to a specific hierarchy or stimulus at the top of the scheme (ex. apple from chapter 8 and the animal hierarchy from chapter6). It also reminded me of the features we learned about in earlier chapters and how items have features that make them what they are and "make an apple an apple." The 4 approaches all appear to use those features in order to categorize items into our memory.
3. I am still not clear on how to "fix-up" my students with conflicting schemas. The book seems to give warning signs and examples of the fact that it does happen, but I need to know how do I fix those with schemas that are what we as classroom teachers would consider not right because they are conflicting with their comprehension and basic understanding. I know that we are all guilty of this but it is really messing up my kids' comprehension. What can I do to better scaffold this misunderstanding and help them to be aware that what they know might not be right! They are already low level learners..how will they even be able to assess what's right and not right?
4. Schemas are important in reading especially when reading a book the student has ample schema about for it helps a student have a better understanding of what he/she is reading and one can make connections more easily when schema is present. I am also more aware that incorrect schema can be lethal to my students' understanding during reading and interference can also occur and interrupt their understanding or recalling after time has passed.
5. I see a possible discussion point from chapter 6 when discussing that students will remember more after a period of time (such as Jill's experiment where we had our kids look at the picture cards for 1 minute, recall them, and then 15 minutes later recall them again) and from this chapter when it discusses how a delay in recalling can occur over time. I realize this experiment was completed over a period of days and the stories were extremely similar and in the recall so the students did poorer but in the encoding recall as for learning, time is an advantage. I find these 2 to be contradicting because a lot can happen interference wise to one's memory during learning over time and cause information to become distorted or pieces lost just as the similar stories told interfered with the schema. My thoughts support my findings with the picture experiment with my students for they did worse after 15 minutes of recall because they were interferred by reading a book, talking with other students about the book, playing a game, and then getting ready to leave for the day. It was a disadvantage that I believe is more valid than the book supports.
6. It allows us to see that maybe we do store information in similar fashions (according to their features) but yet we place them there in different ways (encode them by prototype or exemplar approach) so maybe recall for some students when reading a book might pull out different information depending on which approach they used. Kids have different experiences and different perspectives so I believe they place those items in their memory differently so they must retrieve it differently. I also found the section on gender sterotyping to be eye opening for me as a researcher to be more aware that this exists and I must be careful not only as to the content I write to not be as biased but to also know that those I might study do have a bias and that could skew results to research studies.
7. I'm beginning to use it now as I think about my students when I am reading with them and how their schemas might be incorrect as compared to what they are reading might not match up and allow for comprehension errors. I would like to know more about how I can attend to more fix-ups with schemas but as for now I can begin to also see that when my students are making connections or asking I wonder questions during reading, they are each categorizing the information they are receiving from the text differently.
8. The section on inferences and gender sterotypes has come a long way as compared to how they used brain scans to assess thought processes and how it is now computer generated answers which is more quick and simple. But, I also question the integration and delayed recall for I would believe there has to be a better way of testing this method. Why not figure out ways of solving this problem rather than proving that it exists? That might be the better, more relevant method.
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