Cognitive Learning Theory purports that the brain must be actively participating in the construction of knowledge in order to be able to easily retrieve it at a later time. As a part of this, experiential learning is a method in which students learn through engaging, hands-on experiences, reflection and/or altering of current knowledge, and reentering into the hands-on experience (Orey, 2010).
Cues and questions are explicit methods of bringing prior knowledge to the forefront of student thinking (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). This sets students up to be ready for the construction of new knowledge as they proceed through the steps of experiential learning. Advance organizers pique students' interest and give their thoughts clarity as study begins.
Summarizing and Note Taking are ways for students to synthesize their knowledge. This is an active process of reflecting on the information a student just gathered or received, and making sense of it within the prior knowledge already possessed. When a student puts new information into his/her own words, it requires understanding of what has been learned. Students must be carefully taught how to take notes and summarize in a way that builds their cognitive strength. They must determine what was meaningful and important.
Although I have not yet tried concept mapping with students, it seems to get at the very heart of comprehension and understanding. Defining relationships between all important concepts in a text or activity would require higher level thinking skills (Novak & Canas, 2008).
All of these learning strategies and tools correlate well with Cognitive Learning Theory because they engage the mind in active reflection, synthesizing, and organization of knowledge. These strategies will help me teach for understanding because they will draw my students into a deeper level of thinking while allowing me as the teacher to view their cognitive process through their use of these tools.
Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct
and use them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008. Retrieved from the
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Web
site:http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf
Orey, M. (2010, January 1). Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology.
Retrieved November 12, 2014, from
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works
(2nd ed.). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
I understand that note taking is a great way for students to gather information and collect their thoughts. My question is how do you make sure that students are taking valuable notes? How do you keep them on task when they are all writing. I have seen many students take wonderful notes with good information but also many whose notes you cannot decipher. I do not remember taking many notes in elementary school, of course through high school and college we wore notebooks out. Do you have your 4th graders take notes? If so, when and is it beneficial to an elementary student?
ReplyDeleteEnsuring that students take valuable notes is a challenge. Depending on the lesson, the notes themselves could be viewed by the teacher for the purpose of formative assessment. This can be done by walking around to view notes, having the students email them to the teacher (either from the digital note-taking software they are using or by taking a picture of their handwritten notes) or having them turn in the paper notes. The issue then becomes making time to look at them and do something meaningful with the results.
DeleteTo answer your other question, I would have 4th graders take notes but I would choose carefully what was expected, model for them first, and provide scaffolding such as a graphic organizer. They benefit by remembering the information better, but even more by learning to organize information and choose what is important.
DeleteI agree with you when you say that students need to be taught to take notes and to summarize. They still don't understand, in 7th and 8th grade how to select the important information as notes. Summarizing is also still very difficult for them. I try to teach them to read information, then close the book and recall what they read. Using the concept maps will help them recall this information.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes feel at a loss as to how to explain to students what is important information and what is not. It seems like an intuitive skill that is difficult to quantify. How do you explain this to your students?
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting, the information that you provided was very insightful. Similar to others, I too believe that note taking, summarizing is a valuable tool, and the students need to be taught how to do it. Several times, I have found my eighth graders trying to copy everything down on the board and I have to explain to them that they do not have to do that. So far, in my math class, I have found that providing notes for them to fill out works the best and they can personalize the information that they are receiving by adding graphs or pictures. Because note taking and summarizing is such an important tool, the charter school that I work at (grades 6-12) has created a study skills course starting in the 6th grade that teaches students these valuable skills. What grade level do you feel students should start learning how to take notes?
That is a great idea to have a class just for those skills. I think very young students can be taught how to take notes in basic forms, and that the skill should be ongoing from as early as Kindergarten. If it is important for life, it naturally becomes needed for any and all learners. However, the key is making it appropriate for the age you are working with.
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