Cognitive Views of Learning

How could software applications and/or other technologies help you provide opportunities for your students to access their prior knowledge and better organize new information? That is, describe a lesson for which you might use technology to help with organization and describe the technology(ies) you might use. There are so many ways that technology and software applications can be used for students to connect with material and to organize the material to make it more memorable and accessible. I always teach with images and animations available on the internet and conceptual diagrams with these images. However, just recently I decided to make an assignment for the students to create their own concept map using the equation for photosynthesis and some other bits of information from our class. I felt the easiest and best application for the students to use was Gliffy.com. At the end of the assignment, the students shared their link with me and I posted their concept map on my webpage. I also presented each of their diagrams to the class and printed it for their notebooks. By showing the class each of their diagrams, it was evident how differently each of their minds visualized the material even though it was taught to them in essentially the same way. Here are two of the concept maps built by Yoon, Amber and Julie. I also used Gliffy.com for the students to create animal and plant cell diagrams. A website I love to use with my students to help them organize their information is similar to the traditional flashcards with a more technological twist. I use studystack.com to ask specific questions or to enter vocabulary words into interactive flash cards. The best part about studystack (besides being free) is that once you have entered the information, you can choose a variety of ways to present it. For example, you can enter the information in the form of flashcards but with a click of a button you can play hang-man with the same words or a matching game. In addition, the cards can be printed in a variety of formats for review. I encourage the students to make their own study stacks and to share them with the class for extra credit. Check out Kristina's study stack. All in all, technology helps in cognitive learning by preventing the overload of the working memory and helping the student integrate the material into his/her long-term memory. Technology helps organize the material and makes the material more visual so that it is easier to remember. By creating and producing using technologies, it becomes more evident to the teacher how well the student is understanding the material. Technology is a great facilitator for cognitive learning.