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Science of Learning

Science of Learning. Overview of Cognitive Science for Teachers. Psychological/Cognitive Revolution. Freud (1890) Kohler’s monkeys(1908) 1900-1960: Two directions US: Behaviorism Europe: Gestalt 1960’s- Cognitive Science Formerly artificial intelligence Only Nobel prize for psychology.

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Science of Learning

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  1. Science of Learning Overview of Cognitive Science for Teachers

  2. Psychological/Cognitive Revolution • Freud (1890) • Kohler’s monkeys(1908) • 1900-1960: Two directions • US: Behaviorism • Europe: Gestalt • 1960’s- Cognitive Science • Formerly artificial intelligence • Only Nobel prize for psychology

  3. Behaviorism • Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike & Skinner • Create a science of behavior • No mention of thinking • Only visible factors considered • Reinforcement of desired behaviors • Treat all students the same • Feedback is most important • Teaching machines

  4. Gestalt Psychology • Kohler, Wertheimer, Piaget • Focus on Perception • Illusions suggest some of the inner processes • Brain as an active processor • Not simply taking in information • Fish is fish • http://faculty.uca.edu/~lglenn/gestaltimages.htm • Research on understanding

  5. Constructivsm • Jean Piaget (1940-70s) • Knowledge must be constructed • Assimilation • Accomodation • Ignore/segment knowledge • Looked at students mistakes and developed theory of development • Sensorimotor stage • Preoperational stage • Concrete operational stage • Formal operations

  6. Problematic Initial ideas • Earth is flat • When you throw a ball it naturally slows down and stops • It is much less likely to get ‘heads’ four times in a row than to get h-t-h-t • Astronaut Question

  7. Astronaut question The astronaut is walking on the moon when he lets go of his pen. Does the pen: • Fall to the moon surface • Float up into the sky • Float in place

  8. Misconceptions? • All ideas are the product of some experience • Students initial ideas are the building blocks of future ideas • If misconceptions are not addressed many students will retain them after instruction • How to you promote “conceptual change” (aka accommodation that involves major change of ideas)?

  9. Cognitive Science • Understanding thinking using many perspectives: • Psychology • Computer Science • Linguistics • Anthropology

  10. Artificial Intelligence • Starts with Allan Newell and Herb Simon (1956) General Problem Solver • Computers can solve well structured problems (e.g. geometry, chess) • Identify the goal • Search the “solution space” • Hill climbing • Most problems are not well structured • Later efforts focus on gestalt type approaches (neural nets)

  11. Contemporary Learning Theory • Constructivism - Role of prior knowledge • Metacognition - Control over thinking process • Expert/Novice - How do experts think • Transfer - Evidence of understanding • Social Constructivism - role of peers, community • Sense Making - actively trying to understand • Mental Models - representations of phenomena • Constructionism - learning through building

  12. Metacognition • Literally - thinking about thinking • Awareness of ones thinking and knowledge of skills and limitations • Planning • Checking • Reflection • Epistemology: knowledge of ideas and their origins • General knowledge of ideas • Specific to field of study eg Nature of Science

  13. Experts vs Novices • Experts do not • Think at a faster rate • Use more of their brain • Instantly know the answer to everything • Learn without effort • Experts do • Organize knowledge by important factors • Chunk information for easy use and retrieval • Identify patterns and make inferences

  14. Transfer • Best test of understanding • Three key types • Near transfer (parallelograms) • Far transfer (fortress - tumor) • Transfer to real world • Keys for promoting transfer • Abstraction • Representations of knowledge • Use of analogies

  15. Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) - Social Constructivism • “Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level” • Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) • The difference between what you can do by yourself and what you can do with the aid of a coach

  16. Problem Solving & Sense Making • Problem Solving • Humans work differently than computers • Students assume they should just know • Experts spend more time planning and checking • Sense Making • Somewhat undefined: “I know it when I see it” • Effort to try and understand/explain something something

  17. Mental Models • A mental representation of a phenomena or event • Depictive simulations allow people to see things in their minds eye • Representation that is “run-able” so you can simulate what will happen and make predictions • Similar to Schemas but bigger?

  18. Constructionism • Learning by creating new things • From Paper (1979) Mindstorms • Research on LOGO programing • Computerized “Microworlds” where you can build anything you want • Extended to engineering type projects • Instead of experimentation, build something

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