Learning and Cognitive Processes

Chapter 6

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? 

I am somewhat confused by this question, so I will do my best to answer it. I would love for my students to have adequate short and long term memory. By using different strategies of meaningful learning, the students would be able to use elaboration, organization, and visual imagery to create mental concepts and enhance their existing knowledge. I also want to develop good critical thinking skills. I think that if they can think critically about a topic, then they must first understand the foundation, upon which they can build to analyze whatever it may be that they are discussing. 

How might your knowledge of the memory processes guide your instructional decisions?

I would definitely explain to my students different strategies of remembering things. I still remember learning ROY G BIV in my kindergarten class. KINDERGARTEN. I think that if I can find ways to make the information more meaningful then the students would be able to understand it better. A memory process plus application would equal a greater understanding. What use is remembering PEMDAS (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction) if you can't apply it to a math problem. My teaching will be directly affected by my knowledge of memory processes because I obviously want them to remember all of what I teach them (ambitious, I know). By using these processes, I would have a higher chance of achieving this. 

I know personally, I was able to remember things especially well with songs. We used this particular song to remember the preamble during 3rd grade. After we had all memorized it, we talked in depth about what it meant and translated it into layman's terms. 

Also, the first grade teacher that I had the privilege of observing last year used this song almost every day for her first graders to learn all of the states in the U.S.