For the next two weeks, we'll be looking at Cognitive Approaches to SLA. This view considers the importance of the brain and largely views errors as problems with processing, sort of like an overworked computer.
This is typically a favorite reading among students.
1. Please Sousa -- How the Brain Works.
Check the ARC schedule and post your role.
Happy Sunday Everyone!
ReplyDeleteI will admit - when I saw the title of this article I was really nervous about it - and then I started reading about how awesome our brains are...and I can say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this!
Here are my questions for Group C!
1. Why is likening the brain to a computer, problematic?
2. What is the function of the sensory register?
3. Why is it unreasonable to for teachers to expect elementary students to memorise eight different grammar rules in one lesson?
And here's the discussion question:
I found quite a few interesting points that I could apply to my classroom (e.g. motivation and its effect on working memory time limits, emotional security and learning etc.). What did you find interesting in the reading that you could apply to your own classroom? How do you think applying this would affect and/or improve your classroom?
Answers:
Delete1.It is problematic to compare the brain to a computer because a computer is limited. Although it is able to compute things quickly, it is limited by it's written code. It can only compute what it has been designed to computer. Human brains on the other hand, are able to analyze, integrate, synthesize information and abstract generalities by an open, parallel-processing system, which interacts constantly with the physical and social world that it perceives. Computers do not perceive.
2. The function of the sensory register is to filter in and out what we need to focus our attention on at that moment.
3. It is unreasonable for Elementary teachers to expect students to memorize 8 different grammar rules in one lesson because the brain's working memory has a limited capacity. Research indicates that only a few items can be handled at once. The number of items increases with age. Elementary students average working memory can handle 5 items at a time.
I think the time limits of working memory and the criteria for Long-term storage were interesting and have a lot of practical application. For pre-adolescents, the working memory is surprisingly only 5-10 minutes. This means that any NEW material in a lesson should be limited to 10 minutes, and reviewed in a future lesson.
The requirement for items to make sense and have meaning in order to be stored in long-term memory should shape our curriculum. What vocab, grammar structure, and discussion topics we use in class has to be relevant to our students. We definitely SHOULD be talking about their toys, the shows they like, the food they like, and so on.
Highlighter
Deletephonological loop: The phonological loop, also called the phonetic loop or the articulatory loop, is the part of working memory that rehearses verbal information. It consists of two parts: a short-term phonological store with auditory memory traces that are subject to rapid decay and an articulatory rehearsal component that can revive the memory traces.
visuospatial sketchpad: The visuo-spatial sketch pad (inner eye) deals with visual and spatial information. Visual information refers to what things look like. It is likely that the visuo-spatial sketch pad plays an important role in helping us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects as we move through our environment (Baddeley, 1997).
limbic system: The limbic system is a complex set of structures that lies on both sides of the thalamus, just under the cerebrum. It includes the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the amygdala, and several other nearby areas. It appears to be primarily responsible for our emotional life, and has a lot to do with the formation of memories
amygdala: are almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans. Shown in research to perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional reactions, the amygdalae are considered part of the limbic system.
cerebral: If you are a cerebral person, no one would ever call you a drama queen. You make decisions using your intelligence and cold, hard facts, instead of your emotions.
The word cerebral gets its meaning from cerebrum, which is Latin for brain. Cerebral people use their brains instead of their hearts. The cerebrum is a particular section of the brain, and anything related to that part is also cerebral, like in medicine. A cerebral hemorrhage, for example, means a hemorrhage has occurred in the brain — a phrase you'd never want to hear coming from a doctor.
Group C Questions:
DeleteMy very, very, very late answers :(
1. The computer is not a good model for the human brain because the brain performs more slowly than a man-made computer. A computer can do a math equation in a second(s) but for the brain it takes "time for a nerve impulse to travel along to the axon, and the synaptic delays." Also, the capacity of the human brain's working memory is very limited. In addition, with the brain remembering one piece of information a whole amount of information related to the one piece can be activated. For example: we can recognize a person by their voice on the phone but a computer has difficulty with doing this.
2. The sensory register allows your brain to focus on the task at hand and to filter out useless information. It is called "perceptual or sensory filtering". Example: if we hear noise outside our room while studying. At first, we might stop studying and notice it. But usually after a few minutes the sensory register blocks the noise as it is not seen as important to the studying.
3. Elementary students cannot memorize eight or more items because their "capacity of working memory" is limited. A study by Miller in 1956 found that from Elementary age into adulthood our working memory can handle five to nine items at a time with seven being the average. Therefore, if you want students to remember somethings it is best to give them less (that is more focused on) and as a result they should be able to remember and reuse the information. Going above this limit will lead to students remembering little or nothing.
4. For me the most interesting aspect is the capacity of working memory. I recently did a lesson with collocations and speaking skills. The collocations were about habits (good/bad) and the speaking skills about expressing surprise and empathy. In total they are over 25 vocabulary items. During the lesson the students were fine because they could use their vocab sheets during the bingo game. However, I found that most remembered only a few of the expressions. Usually 5-10 if I was lucky. Therefore, if I do this lesson again I will reduce the amount of vocabulary and focus on the ones that are most commonly used.
Group C Summarizer:
DeleteThe model used by the author for the brain is the INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL. This model "recognizes that learning, storing and remembering are dynamic and interactive processes."
Information from the senses passes through the sensory register to immediate memory and then on to working memory for conscious processing. If the learner attaches sense and meaning to the learning it is likely stored.
The senses include the five classic (sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste) plus the body's movement; balance and gravity; muscle contraction; and pain reception. Sight, hearing and touch contribute the most to our senses.
The sensory register decides what information is important and focuses on it and ignores the irrelevant stimuli.
Short-term memory: the early steps of temporary memory that will lead to stable long term memory. Parts of the short term memory are: immediate memory whereby information/stimuli is put until the our brain decides what to do with it; and working memory whereby all information/stimuli is build, taken apart and reworked for storage elsewhere in the memory.
The brain seems to use two key criteria for whether something will become part of long term storage. They are "Does this make sense?" and "Does it have meaning?". Sense means we understand the information/stimuli and meaning is when we decide that the information/stimuli is relevant (important) to us.
Meaning is more important to use for storage as we often understand things like forms of entertainment but we do not remember much about it later. For example: if we practice or use something it then has meaning and it is stored long term (personal experience).
*My Answers to Jeff's Questions (Group A):*
ReplyDelete1) Three parts of the working memory are central control mechanism, phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. As described in the reading, working memory has a capacity, which changes with age. Hence, if number of items is within one’s capacity limits, they will then be very likely to remember it. On the other hand, it exceeds this functional capacity, then one will most likely not be able to remember it.
2) Sense and meaning are the two important aspects that affect our ability to store information long-term. According to the reading, meaning is more important than sense. Comparing an item which has meaning, in other words it is relevant to the learner, but no sense versus an item which has sense, in other words the learner can understand the item, but no meaning, the former will have a higher chance of being stored long-term. This is because it has been shown that there is more cerebral activity, which leads to increased probability of long-term storage of this item.
3) The author states that the computer model is not relevant to describe learning as computers are not as apt to use judgment like human brain. In addition, computers are “closed linear systems” as opposed to human brain which is described by the author as an “open, parallel-processing system” interacting continually with the environment. Lastly, how human brain stores information is different from computers. Human brain stores information as “sequences of patterns.” The whole can be recalled just by recalling one piece. Human brain also has the ability to recognize a thing even in different forms. Furthermore, emotions affect processing done by the human brain as well as its creativity unlike computers.
*My Answer to the Discussion Question:*
The reading introduces the ideas of “making sense” and “having meaning” as important aspects to retaining information. Since most of us teach classes of varying sizes and proficiency levels, in what ways do you think we can regularly implement these ideas into our lessons in a way that will benefit the majority of our students?
I think that to tap into “making sense” aspect, we can make use of our comprehension check strategies (summarizing, paraphrasing, having students answer individually, student asks question to another student). On the other hand, to ensure that what we teach has meaning for our students, we need to allow them to personalize it whereby they relate it to their personal experiences. I believe that with a bit more time spent on lesson planning, we should able to implement these ideas on a regular basis with our students.
This week, I am the Summarizer for Group A. My summary follows:
ReplyDeleteInformation Processing Model provides a way to explain how human brain works. According to this model, human brain picks up information mainly through five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. Sensory register screens all this incoming information and decides how important each is.
Short-term memory is composed of immediate memory and working memory. Immediate memory serves as a place where information is retained for 30 seconds following which a decision as to what to do with it is reached. Sensory register has been shown to block data from moving into immediate memory in situations, which are not important for survival. Hence, we never become conscious of such data.
Working memory is a place where we work with data before stored long-term or disposed of. It has a capacity which increases with age and is maximized once we are over 14 years of age at about seven items. It also has time limitations beyond which mental fatigue or boredom could result. This also increases with age and is maximized at 10-20 minutes once we hit adolescence.
For information to be stored long-term, it has to have sense (how comprehensible) and/or meaning (how relevant). Between these two aspects, meaning is more important. How likely we are store information long-term increases when both are present.
Hello everybody, hope you had a great Monday and YAY it's over.
ReplyDelete1. What makes up the three-part system of the working memory and how does it work?
2. Explain the hierarchy of response to sensory input.
3. What is the recipe for successful storage of items to the long-term memory? Give an example of both.
Discussion Question:
The author says that meaning is more significant than sense. Do you agree with this? Why or Why not? Give an example from class supporting your view.
1. The working memory is comprised of a central control mechanism and two secondary parts, the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. The central control mechanism directs the actions between the two subordinate systems and long-term memory. The phonological loop uses things we hear to put information into working memory. The visuospatial sketchpad puts what we see into our working memory. This tells us that what we see and hear during learning determines how much we can remember.
ReplyDelete2. Basically, our brain main function is to keep us alive. Any information that is perceived as a threat will take priority. In addition, emotional data is also prioritized. The hippo-campus is affected by stress hormones and can block learning and memory acquisition.
3. For learners to create long-term memories, the information has to be pertinent and logical. An example of pertinent information was the fact about the dock workers vs teacher's salary average. The teacher will probably remember the teacher's salary because it affects him. An example of something being logical was that the teacher understands what the salary figures were.
Discussion Question: I agree that meaning is more significant than sense. I studied the part in SLA about the different types of morphemes many times and would still struggle to state which one is which. Although I completely understood the definitions and examples at the time, it is not relevant to my life, so I did not retain the information.
taxonomy - practice of categorizing things
ReplyDeletereticular activation system (RAS) - also referred to as the sensory register, this system is responsible for sifting through information to determine which information will be saved
immediate memory - averages about 30 seconds - this is where we store information until we decide what to do with it. compared to a clipboard in the reading
working memory - also a temporary place we keep memories but it is a conscious place, not unconscious like the immediate memory. Something in our working memory has our attention.
central control mechanism - a part of our working memory that manages the other parts. It is the 'boss'.
phonological loop - the part of our working memory related to sounds
visuospatial sketchpad - the part of our working memory related to visuals
Group A---Answer to Jeff's questions
ReplyDelete1) What are the three parts of “working memory” described in the reading and how do
they assist or hinder our ability to remember something?
2) What two important aspects affect our ability to store information long-term? Is one more important than the other? Why or why not?
3) Why does the author argue the computer model is not as relevant to describe learning as others believe?
Discussion Question
The reading introduces the ideas of “making sense” and “having meaning” as important aspects to retaining information. Since most of us teach classes of varying sizes and proficiency levels, in what ways do you think we can regularly implement these ideas into our lessons in a way that will benefit the majority of our students?
1.) Central Control Mechanism, Phonological Loop, and Visuospatial sketchpad. Central Control coordinates between the other memory systems and long term memory. The Phonological Loop refers to the use of sound to retain information (the example the text gives is when we are talking about what we are doing). The Visuospatial sketchpad is like the Phonological loop but it is in the visual and spatial realm. They help in that the more something is “working” in your working memory, the greater likelihood of it being retained in the long term memory. The person is “focused.” The drawback is that there can be sensory overload or confusion. It is hard to discern what is necessary and what isn’t if there is “too much.” Distraction is always a danger.
2.) Sense and Meaning are the two important aspects. “Does this make sense?” and “Should I care?” are the questions. According to the text, Meaning (Should I care?) is more important than what “makes sense.” Something could make complete sense and has no relevance to you whatsoever. That isn’t to say that “Sense” is not important, but a person is much more likely to remember something that has personal meaning for them, as opposed to what is solely “sensible.” The ideal is the two going together, and makes long term retention probable.
3.) People are not computers. A computer can’t think like a human brain, and vice versa. We have emotions, and those impact our thought processes for good or ill. We also are not limited to codes and computations, but we are constantly changing and growing in our environment as we interact with it. This affects how the brain stores and recalls information. This dynamic could never be present in a computer, which is limited in it’s hardware and capability.
Discussion Question: According to the reading, the highest probability for long term retention occurs when both sense and meaning are present. The challenge, I have found as a teacher is to attempt to make both aspects as present as possible. We can explain grammar points and connect the dots for the students all we like, but if they aren’t motivated to care, than they won’t retain it beyond what is necessary (IE, the Exam). I think some of the things that I can do (I can only speak for myself, and hopefully other people read this and maybe it helps them or contributes to the discussion) are to earnestly connect the material to their lives. In lesson planning, tailoring the lesson to their interests would increase the meaning to them. In addition, for the “sense” aspect this can be enhanced by more opportunities to apply what they are learning in class. Speaking opportunities, role playing, and activities which stimulate their senses can all be part of it.
Highlighter----Group A
ReplyDeleteThalamus--- “a subdivision of the forebrain that receives nerve impulses and sends them on to the appropriate parts of the brain cortex.”
IN OTHER WORDS: It is the place where input is received and then sent on to the processing part of the brain (The Cerebral Cortex).
Reticular Activating System---- “a part of the reticular formation that extends from the brain stem to the midbrain and thalamus with connections distributed throughout the cerebral cortex and that controls the degree of activity of the central nervous system (as in maintaining sleep and wakefulness and in making transitions between the two states)”
IN OTHER WORDS: It is what helps regulate the activity of the brain (such as wakefulness and sleeping) and serves as a filter of sensory input.
Cerebral Cortex----“the convoluted surface layer of gray matter of the cerebrum that functions chiefly in coordination of sensory and motor information.”
IN OTHER WORDS: The outer skin of the brain that functions as a place to sort all of the information the brain receives.
Spatial---- “relating to, occupying, or having the character of space.”
IN OTHER WORDS: When “spatial” is used in conjunction with another word, it often refers to how it relates to objects in space. In human terms, how people can relate to the things around them.
Pathologies----“ the anatomic and physiological deviations from the normal that constitute disease or characterize a particular disease”
IN OTHER WORDS: This is what to call something that is wrong or abnormal in a living organism.
Cognitive---- “of, relating to, or being conscious intellectual activity.”
IN OTHER WORDS: Thinking, Reasoning, Remembering and Imagining.
Implication----“ a possible future effect or result”
IN OTHER WORDS: That is a pretty good definition. Let’s go with that.
My answers to Jeff's questions!
ReplyDelete1- The three parts of "working memory" are:
central control mechanism- is what monitors the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad.
phonological loop- uses auditory signals to code new information
visuospatial sketchpad- uses visual and spacial to code new information.
These three are used to code new information we use, when they are working all pretty evenly we have a greater chance of long term memorization of the thing we are learning.
If one is over loaded then the ability to differentiate important from not is very difficult.
2- As I mention below the two important aspects are sense and meaning.
It is stated in the text that we usually do a good job of offering information that makes sense. So I would say that is less important to FOCUS on.
What we need to be doing more of in the classroom is focusing on meaning. Finding a way to frame information so it will be more relevant to the students.
3- One of the things the author points out is the limitations of the computer based model of the brain. A simple table calculator can do a long equation while our brains would be much slower. On the other side, computers have trouble recognizing a whole from its pieces such as how you can recognize a friend by only a part of them. (their voice, their walk)
We also have the ability to use emotional responses and create abstract thoughts. While a computer is still based on a single line of thought that is rooted in 1s and 0s.
My Role for this week is Applier:
My role for this week was easier, due to the exact parts of this article that pointed to what the author wanted teachers to take away from the reading.
The first point to take away from the model and the use of memory functions in the brain was the use of shorter lessons.
More can be remembered in 25 minute lessons than in 40 minutes lessons, the norm for most Korean schools.
This could be applied by breaking your lesson into smaller pieces. 15 minutes of this part, 15 minutes of this part.
This also works with the suggestions of chunking. Shorter lessons, mean less rules to learn at one time, therefor not going over what can be learned in the working memory.
I do this within my lessons, we usually limit the new grammar rules we learn in one class to two. If it goes over that, then it can be taught another day, because the students won't remember it.
Another point was the atmosphere that the classroom and school must have. In short, your students can't learn if they feel their safety is not secure in your classroom. (lowering the student's affective filter! ^^)
Some things I have done in my class have been to play music, ask the students about themselves in break times and pay attention to them when they are talking to you.
The main point emphasized in my opinion was the use of meaning and sense, as we have talked about before in class.
Having meaning in the lesson simply means as teachers we have to make it so the lesson is directly meaningful to the students. To be stored in long term memory and used our lessons have to have a REASON to be remembered to the students.
For the sense part of the paper, it pointed toward the MIC techniques we have learned. We could be making lessons that have lots of meaning, but are incomprehensible, the student won't remember them.
In the article it did state that most teachers already make lessons make sense, but need to build on meaning in the classroom.