Chapter 7: Cognitive Processes and Academic Skills
Jan 04, 2016
Chapter 7:
Cognitive Processes and Academic Skills
Chapter 7: Cognitive Processes and Academic Skills
Chapter 7 has three modules:
Module 7.1 Memory
Module 7.2 Problem Solving
Module 7.3 Academic Skills
Memory
Origins of Memory
Overview• Memory origins laid
down in early life
• 2-3 mos: past events remembered but recall decreased over time
• Cue can elicit forgotten memory
Origins of Memory: Brain Development and Memory
Infants remember and forget, and can be prompted to remember forgotten things
• Improvements in memory are related to brain growth• Amygdala• Hippocampus• Frontal cortex
Strategies for Remembering
Memory strategies: activities that improve remembering
• Preschoolers use simple strategies
• Older children and adolescents use organization, elaboration, and rehearsal
Do you know the difference between these?
Strategies for Remembering
• Metacognition
• Metamemory
• Metacognitive knowledge
Metacognitive Knowledge
Important Features• Cognitive self-
regulation
• Understanding of connections among goals, strategies, monitoring, and outcomes
Knowledge and Memory
Knowledge helps to organize memory but can distort recall
• Scripts• Autobiographical memory• Infantile amnesia• Preschoolers’ testimony
Effects of Knowledge on Memory
• Adults remember more numbers than children
• 10-year-olds recall object positions more accurately
Do you know why?
Network of Knowledge
Fuzzy Trace Theory
• Memories stored verbatim or in gist form
• Older children represent memories in gist form instead of verbatim
Autobiographical Memory and Infantile Amnesia
Autobiographical memory
Infantile amnesia
Eyewitness Testimony
Memory distortion may occur with • Inappropriate questionings• Overheard comments• Conversations of adults or peers
Eyewitness Testimony: Interviewing Strategies
Problem Solving
Developmental Trends in Problem Solving
• Problem solving effectiveness increases with age
• Research shows that even young children sometimes show remarkable skill
• Adolescents often prone to error
Features of Child and Adolescent Problem Solving
Scientific Problem Solving
Children and even adolescents exhibit faulty scientific reasoning
• Confound variables• Reach conclusions prematurely• Have difficulty integrating theory and data
True or False?
Even young children can be trained to think more scientifically.
Academic Skills
Reading
Reading in a complex learning process• Prereading skills (phonological awareness)
• Reading skills • Sounding out and whole word recognition• Comprehension• Recognizing words and decoding• Changes in working memory, knowledge,
monitoring, and reading strategies improve comprehension
Reading
Readers use:• Context to recognize letters and words• Direct retrieval• Phonics• Complementary phonics strategies
Factors Related to Improved Comprehension
Writing
Older writers• Know how to organize their writing• Deal better with mechanical requirements of
writing• Are better able to revise• Have more to tell
Factors Related to Improved Writing
Knowing and Using Numbers
Babies learn that quantity or amount is related to object differences.
Knowing and Using Numbers
Early counting follows 3 basic principles• one-to-one principle• stable-order principle• cardinality principle
Children use many different, multiple strategies
Knowing and Using Numbers
Adding and Subtracting• 4 to 5 year olds encounter simple arithmetic
problems • Counting aloud and finger counting
strategies
Knowing and Using Numbers
Math skills lower in U.S. than many other countries.
Do you know why?
Educational Implications: What the Japanese System Teaches Us