For this post I am going to answer the first question: What are the essential skills and/or learning outcomes you want your students to know and be able to do that relate to cognitive learning?
Memory is going to be the main skill/learning outcome that I want to focus on. I want to be able to teach my students ways to improve their memory and ways that their memory can help them succeed. Today in class, Molly and Drew did their teaching project on chapter 6 and focused on long-term memory storage. I gained a lot of knowledge from their project and I think that it is important to explain to students that memory is in fact an essential skill that they will need all throughout their schooling and in their future careers.
Through cognitive learning students can learn to encode long-term memory in several ways: verbally, visually through images, and semantically. Encoding memory verbally include skills such as knowing your name or your address. Imagery is when information appears perceptually. For example, you see an image of something in your head. Semantically encoding memory is when you are able to understand the underlying meanings.
Today in class I learned some great ways to increase my students' long-term memory storage. I will explain each of them. Reach is the first way. An example of this would be to start class with a discussion instead of a writing assignment. It will help students get their brains going when they first arrive to class. Second is reflect; let students write in a journal answering reflective questions that you have provided them with. Next comes recoding. You could have your students write a summary of what they learned in class that day, and you will check for understanding. Another way to increase long-term memory storage is by giving your students reinforcement. Walk around your classroom and let them know that you notice them doing the write things during work time. Rehearsal is another fun way to increase their long-term memory. As a teacher you can provide fun ways for your students to get their memory working. You can provide them with songs to remember certain concepts or take them on field trips. Along with rehearsal goes review. You can do this by playing games with your students, letting them draw, or giving them writing prompts. Lastly is retrieval which is where you give students a summative assessment.
All of the above are ways that you as a teacher can work to increase their students long-term memory storage. Personally, I feel that they are great ways to work with students. They require students to activate their prior knowledge and build on the knew knowledge you are proving them with while still working to increase their memory!
