Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning environments focus on helping students encode information meaningfully to long-term memory so that it can be easily retrieved. I definitely think there are many methods that I can use as a teacher to facilitate this process. Since information is stored in long-term memory usually in either visual images or verbal units (or both) it is important to teach using varied techniques including visual images, verbalization and actually "doing".

I am currently teaching a unit on Alcohol in my Health classes. There are times when students use the textbook to research vocabulary words and key concepts. We also watch videos that show students real brain activity scans that demonstrate how alcohol affects brain activity. The video also shows students what a healthy human liver looks like and one that has been damaged by alcohol. It's one thing to study the effects of alcohol on the body from the text, to read about it and complete worksheets where students organize what the information they gather. However, when students see the effects, they do appear to understand, apply and remember the information better.

We also read and discussed the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol. Then, I showed a video depicting these dangers, including a story from the Oprah Winfrey Show about a young girl who was burned in a drunk driving accident. The students usually have a stong reaction to what they see and this seems to help them remember the lesson. Then we practice ways to say no to drinking and what to do if the person who supposed to be driving you has been drinking through role play activities. Hopefully, if my students find themselves in one of these situations at anytime in their lives they will remember what we practiced, what they learned and be able to apply that information in their decision-making. I know I can use technology more in this process too. There are a ton of sites dedicated to Health Education including Too Smart to Start where students can play memory games, do crossword puzzles and play other games to test what they remember regarding this particular topic. The textbook Teen Health also offers an interactive site where students can access information, take quizzes, play games, etc. The more varied the methods of teaching, I believe the more likely a student will store that information in their long-term memory.

Create a Radio Station

Wiki, Wiki, Wiki (just like saying it)

I'm having a delayed reaction because I attended Karen's Wiki Workshop weeks ago but wanted to reflect on a few things. First, the workshop was great. It was informative, clearly presented, easy to follow and overall an enjoyable experience. Because I was a novice, I was happy that I was following along in the workshop rather smoothly and I remember showing off the Wiki I had created to my friend Farryl at the end. I had created a Book Club where friends of mine could make suggestions on a book to read and we could use the Wiki to correspond about the chosen book. I remember thinking "this will be great". We always talked about creating a book club and this will be cool! So I sent out the invitations and people joined as members so I was psyched. Then I waited and would check periodically for added comments, book suggestions, anything. Nothing happened. I kind of forgot about it, but was just perusing my Delicious bookmarks and saw the link to my Wikispace. There was still nothing :(. So, I'm not sure where I went wrong. Maybe my friends are novice to the whole Wiki thing too and were scared off. Maybe I wasn't assertive enough in my Wiki follow-up. I'm definitely not giving up on Wikis and I hope Wikis don't give up on me!