During the latest tutorial (26th January 2009) we had a discussion on the models for teaching. My group, A.N.JELL was asked by Miss Aidah to find information on COGNIVITISM and INFORMATION PROCESSING. I remembered that we have learnt about this in Educational Psychology. But as the inputs that go into my brain were rarely encoded and stored in the long-term memory during the information processing, I tend to forget. =X
Nevertheless I have found some information on Cognivitism and Information Processing which I found very useful for my my dear friends and I. From our discussion, we found out that cognitive psychologists challenge the limitations of behaviorism in its focus on observable behavior. They incorporate mental structure and process into their learning theories. Their assumption is based on the principle that “you can’t force someone to learn”. Hrmm, let me quote some from a reliable source=)
“Cognitive theory defines learning as “a semi-permanent change in mental processes or associations.” Cognitivists do not require an outward exibition of learning but focus more on the internal processes and connections that take place during learning.
The main assumption of cognitive psychology is that there are cognitive processes that take place and influence the way things are learned. Explanations for how cognitive processes work are known as information processing theories or models. The three-component model of information processing is taught in Educational Psychology.
Important classroom principles from cognitive psychology include meaningful learning, organization, and elaboration.
Create an environment where there are lots of manipulatables, tools where they can develop an understanding. An instructor can ask questions to help students refine their thinking and recognize where they may be wrong.
Failure may be considered a good thing as it is a tool to help learners realize that they need to learn more.
Role of the instructor: monitoring their progress, asking lots of questions.”
As knowledge is seen as schema or symbolic metal constructions, cognitivists have even visualize the information procession that happened in our brain. If you want to see the visualization of how a mental process looks like, please click here http://www.innovativelearning.com/educational_psychology/cognitivism/index.htm
The server is really bad and I can’t upload the photo. I’m so sorry. =(
credits: http://www.innovativelearning.com
Cherish everything under the Sun 