Teacher's Question of the Week
Q. What are some other ways to use the Cognitive Map to improve student learning?
A. In the Question of the Week series, we have been looking at Feuerstein's Cognitive Map (listed below for reference). This answer will focus upon modality, the “language” of instruction, presentation or information processing, and integrates the phase of the mental act. The use of the cognitive map may help identify your preferred teaching style, and suggest other areas to consider while presenting information and while evaluating student work.
The following questions are offered as one way to address how students take in, process and express information while you are lesson planning. While intelligence or aptitude tests deal with auditory, language, and visual processing, visual-motor processing speed, "non-verbal", fluid reasoning, reasoning with crystallized knowledge, and various types of memory in a standardized way, learning style inventories are not standardized and reveal preferences for perceptual and processing (or transformational) styles. The list of questions below include both types.
Considering
Multi-Modality Communication
How
will I engage the students in the following communication modalities during
this lesson?
a.
In which phase(s) of the mental act will students be engaged?
(1) receiving (2) elaborating (3) expressing (4) all three
b.
What modality or language will I use to communicate?
Eg.: Visual: figural, graphic, cinematic; numerical; symbolic, code; verbal;
sign language, motoric and gestural; other:______________________
What modality or language will I ask the students to use to communicate?
c.
Which of the possible learning styles of the students will my lesson integrate?
(1.) a) auditory-verbal b) visual-spatial c) tactile-kinesthetic
(2.) a) concrete b) abstract
(3.) a) reflective (sees from multiple perspectives; assimilates by thinking
about it)
b) active experimentation (learns by doing something with it)
(4.) a) global; grasps whole picture b) sequential; specific details in order
(5.) a) independent b) dependent c) interdependent
(6.) a) creative b) analytical/evaluative c) executive (prefers to implement)
(7.) a) introvert b) extrovert c) ambivert (both internal and external)
d.
Would Kolb's learning
cycle be relevant? Will I create an experience, allow students to reflect
upon the experience, encourage students to conceptualize in an abstract way
about it, and then actively test out their concepts, conclusions or models?
e. What do I need to make or arrange for in order to teach in a multi-modality way?
Source:
"Lesson Plan Considerations", under "Cognitive Methods",
Lesson 4.1, at the bottom of the page, "Dig Deeper", Riverside College's
online course for teachers.
Related Links
on Modality from Question of the Week Series, Student and Teacher:
Dr. Richard Mayer, Professor of Psychology at UCSB, demonstrated that students gain the most from their online work by using a verbal and a visual modality for "input" or "receiving information".
Einstein described how he thought, using visual and kinesthetic abstract images.
Teaching and Learning Inventory
Background Information: What is the Cognitive Map?
The cognitive map provides an analytical tool by which to locate specific points of difficulty in a lesson for the ultimate purpose of drawing out students’ potentials. By pinpointing possible causes of student error, you can give precise feedback to students or make subtle adjustments in the lesson to increase accessibility.
The seven parameters include the following:
1. Content: subject matter.
2.
Kinds of operations involved: eg., classification, algorithmic problem
solving, syllogistic, analogical, or inferential reasoning, etc. (the abilities
and skills activated by your lesson)
3.
Modality or the “language” of instruction, presentation or
information processing: eg., visual, graphic, numerical, symbolic, verbal,
auditory, sign language, kinesthetic, tactile, etc.
4.
Phase of the mental act: reception, elaboration, expression.
5.
Level of complexity: number, quality, & degree of novelty of units.
6.
Level of abstraction: distance between mental act & object or event
on which it operates, ranging from objects perceived by the senses to hypothetical
propositions.
7.
Level of efficiency: rapidity/precision (often confused with capacity).
We
will explore some other ways to use Feuerstein's Cognitive Map in the Question
of the Week series.
Source: Reuven Feuerstein’s Learning Potential Assessment Device. (Used with permission.)