Complex Cognitive Processes

Metacognition - or thinking about thinking

Learning Strategies

Problem Solving - formulating new answers beyond what you already know to accomplish something

Creativity in Cognition - a process that involves independently restructuring problems to see things in new, imaginative ways.

Critical Thinking and Argumentation

Transfer - occurs when a rule, fact or skill learned in one situation is applied in another situation

Metacognitive Skills

Monitoring

Evaluating

Planning

Deciding how much time to give to a task.

which strategies to use

how to start

etc.

Real time awareness of 'how I'm doing.'

Make judgements about the processes of thinking and learning

Acting on those judgements

Types of Strategies

Applying learning strategies

What are learning strategies

Procedural knowledge - really knowing how to do something

Help students to focus attention on relevant, important aspects of material - help students think and process deeply

Mnemonics

Skimming

Summaries

help students regulate and monitor their own learning

effort in applying strategies are reasonable

students must care about learning and understanding

Understanding vs memorizing

Types of Problems

Argumentation - the process of debating a claim with someone else.

Critical Thinking:

Critical Thinking Skills

defining and clarifying the problem

Make judgements about the consistency and adequacy of info related to a problem

drawing conclusions

Overlearning

follow up with activities and additional practice to help extend critical thinking skills

take time and instruction to learn

Evidence: needed to support your position with and to refute your opponents claims

difficult for children to accomplish

Automatic transfer

spontaneous application of well-learned knowledge and skills

How teachers can help transfer learning strategies

providing practice with feedback

teach strategies directly

expanding the applications of strategies to new, unfamiliar situations

Mindful, Intentional Transfer

involves reflection and conscious application of abstract knowledge to knew situations

Assessing Creativity

supporting creativity in the classroom

Divergent (purposing many different ideas or answers) and convergent thinking (identify only one answer)

fluency - the number of different responses

flexibility - the number of different categories of responses

having students engage in more multicultural experiences

accepting unusual, immaginative answers

facilitating divergent thinking

brainstorming

being okay with students holding opposing views

Regulation in Metacognition

Declarative knowledge: knowing what to do

knowing how to use the strategies

knowing the conditions, when and why to apply procedures and strategies

Developing metacognition - self reflection

W: What do I want to know?

L: What have I learned at the end?

K: What do I already know about this subject?

outlining: highlighting, underlining, taking notes

All Caps

Concept maps

General problem solving strategies

Identify the problem

setting goals

exploring possible solutions and outcomes

Acting

Evaluating outcomes

algorithm - step-by-step prescription

Heuristics - general strategies

Availability Heuristic: judgements based off the availability of info from our memories

representativeness: what we think is representative of a category

Confirmation Bias: We look to the solution that already fits our ideas

Belief perseverance: the tendency to hold on to what we know is true and keep us from taking in new info

Originality - determined statistically

Sources of Creativity

Domain-relevant skills: talents and competencies that are valuable for working in the domain

Creativity-relevant processes: including work habits and personality traits

Intrinsic task motivation: a deep curiosity and fascination with the task