Attention & Metacognition
Name 3 types of attention.
Sustained attention, "also known as concentration, is the ability to focus on one thing for a continuous period. During this time, people keep their focus on the task at hand.."
Alternating "attention involves multitasking or effortlessly shifting attention between two or more things with different cognitive demands.3 It's not about focusing on more than one thing at the same time, but about stopping attending to one thing and then switching to the next task. "
"Selective attention involves being able to choose and selectively attend to certain stimuli in the environment while at the same time tuning other things out."
Focused attention is "being able to be suddenly drawn to a specific visual, auditory, or tactile stimuli such as a loud noise or a flash of light. It is a way of responding rapidly to external stimuli"
"Limited attention, or divided attention, is a form of attention that also involves multitasking. In this case, however, attention is divided between multiple tasks."
What is epigenetics?
Environment/stress can physically affect the expression of genes
What three elements are emotions built from?
Past experiences, our bodily sensations, and our current context.
What is dual coding?
Dual coding is combining words and visuals such as pictures, diagrams, graphic organizers, and so on. The idea is to provide two different representations of the information, both visual and verbal, to help students understand the information better. Using visual spatial and phonological loops at the same time is more beneficial for cognitive load.
What is noise?
Chance variabilities in judgment
What is the difference between metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation?
The former is awareness of one’s own thinking, and the latter is the ability to manage one’s own thinking processes.
In what stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory does someone begin to think less egocentrically?
During concrete operational thought (ages 7-11).
What is a fixed mindset?
A belief that failure is due to innate limitations in intelligence; refusing to take risks in order to learn and grow.
What is the difference between spacing and interleaving?
"The two concepts are similar but essentially spacing is [reviewing periodically] throughout the course, whereas interleaving is switching between ideas while you study. Although interleaving and spacing are different interventions, the two are linked because interleaving inherently introduces spacing."
Describe System 2 thinking.
rational thinking (5%):
-takes effort
-slow
-logical
-lazy
-indecisive
What does research demonstrate about the impacts of decorating a classroom?
Don’t decorate excessively, as this will distract the students while they are learning.
What are Vygotsky’s 4 Principles
Children construct their knowledge
Development cannot be separated from social context
Learning leads to development
Language plays a central role in mental development
Describe self efficacy.
Belief that "I can succeed at this"
What are some ways to check your student’s understanding?
Ask question
Reject self report
Cold calling
No opt outs
Sample all students
What is phonemic awareness?
The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds, phonemes, in oral language.
What are the 3 elements of self-regulation?
Cognition: using a strategy; paying attention; rehearsal; elaboration.
Metacognition: deciding what strategy to use; monitoring to see if it's working and you're reaching your goals.
Motivation: self-efficacy beliefs, interest, emotional reactions to a task
What are the 3 requirements for association to form in classical conditioning?
Repetition
Temporal Continuity
Differential Continuity
What are the two most easily perceived emotions?
Fear and Anger
Give an example of a retrieval strategy when studying
Flashcards, mind mapping, practice tests, quizzing yourself
What 3 elements make up Bandura’s Social Learning Theory?
Observing- learn through observation
Assess- cognition part of observational learning
Initiate Behavior- just because behavior is learned does not mean it will be behaviorally enacted
Name any three elements of being in a flow state.
In what mode of the brain would an “a-ha” moment happen due to random connections being made?
Diffuse mode or default mode network
What is the function of the amygdala regarding emotions?
Fear Processing
What’s the benefit of interleaving over chunking? Do they always serve the same purpose?
Interleaving is better than chunking in that it not only stresses meaning, but also differentiates between topics and concepts. Contrasting the ideas makes it easier to distinguish their individual implications and their relation to each other. Chunking might help with learning a particular concept through practice and repetition, but incorporating interleaving creates a more thorough understanding and promotes recall rather than just recognition.
What level of Brofenbrenner’s Ecological System would laws in society be placed in?
Macrosystem
What is discrepancy reduction theory?
A metacognitive principle noting that we study new material by selecting a target level and studying until we reach our target level
Describe 2 of the laws of Gestalt Psychology.
law of proximity - group things that are close together into units, the law of similarity - tend to group things that are similar together, law of closure - fill in additional information to create a complete picture, the law of pragnanz - tend to organize things as concisely, simply, and symmetrically as we can
What should you praise children for if you want them to choose to learn new things?
You should praise process and effort.
What is wise feedback?
- Start with specific actionable feedback
- State high expectations
- Express your confidence in the students' ability to accomplish the task at hand
What are the difference between summative and formative assessments?
Summative is an overall cumulative assessment of a student’s current skill level (SAT) while formative assessments are just to see where a student is at (quizzes)