Key Conceps in Cognitivism: schema and information processing

Schema--an internal knowledge structure. New information is compared to existing categories within cognitive structures called "schema". Schema maybe combined, extended, or altered through to accommodate new information

. Advance organizers (see Ausubel, 1963,1968,1978) might be viewed as a way to activate an appropriate schema. Advance organizers are relevant and inclusive materials provided in advance of the learning materials, that serve to bridge the gap between what the learner already know and what he needs to know. Advance organizers as a technique is often used in classrooms.

Information Processing Model: The model has 3 stages:

• Stage I - input enters a sensory register.
• Stage II - the information being processed in short-term memory (STM).
• Stage III - transfer to long-term memory (LTM) for storage and retrieval.

1. STM can retain information for up to 20 seconds or more if rehearsed repeatedly. Unrehearsed information will be lost from STM in about 15-30 seconds.
2. STM can hold about 7 (5 plus and minus 2) items at a time.
3. STM can be enhanced if information is grouped into meaningful chunks.
4. LTM has unlimited capacity. After four reviews within one month close to 100% of the information will be passed on to LTM for long-term use (Buzan, 1996).

Dominant thinkers in constructivism are John Dewey, Jean Piaget, and Vygotsky (on-line www.funder standing.com). There are many schools of thought within this theory. The main two are social constructivism and cognitive constructivism (http ://hagar.up. ac.za).

Dewey and Vygotsky are leaders in social constructivism. To Dewey, knowledge and ideas emerged only from a situation in which learners had to draw them out of experiences that had meaning and importance to them (see Democracy and Education, 1916). Vygotsky (1962) and others emphasize the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in society and constructing knowledge based on this understanding. Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development consist of two main principle the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). MKO is not necessarily an adult or a teacher. Many times, a child's peers may have more knowledge and experience. And MKO needs not be a person.

The ZPD is the distance between the actual developmental level by oneself and the potential developmental level under adult guidance or with help from MKO peers (Galloway, 2004 in www.coe.uga.edu/epltt/vygotsky constructionism.him). To bridge the distance, Vygotsky suggested "scaffolding" as appropriate assistance to achieve the task.

Piaget's cognitive constructivism has contributed comprehensively to the development of learning in children. Two major principles in Piaget's work: adaptation and organization. For individuals to survive in an environment, they must adapt to physical and mental stimuli. Assimilation and accommodation are both part of the adaptation process. If new information is similar, the mind assimilates it to fit in its mental structures. If new information or event is unusual, the mind changes internal structures (schema) to accommodate new event.

Piaget's second principle, organization, refers to the nature of these adaptive Mental structures. Equilibration is an attempt to bring about a state of equilibrium. Equilibration involves both assimilation and accommodation. When external reality does not match with the internal structures (disequilibria), equilibration occurs as an effort to bring back a balance. Piaget defined "schema" and "schemata". A schema can be discrete and specific or sequential and elaborate, for example, recognizing a dog, or categorizing different types of dogs. Schemata are the basic building blocks of thinking (Driscoll, 2000). As cognitive development proceeds, new schemata are developed. Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development which he believed all children pass through.

Piaget and, to some extent, Ausubel, Vygotsky, viewed that development mediates learning. That is, the child must be ready or made ready for the subject. Bruner, another cognitive theorist, stated: "Any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development "(Bruner, 1960, the Process of Education.).

Unlike Piaget, Bruner believed the subject matter must be made ready for the child.

Constructivism and Education
The role of education in a constructivist view is to show students how to construct knowledge, to promote collaboration with others to show the multiple perspectives that can be brought to bear on a particular problem, and to arrive at self-chosen position to which they can commit themselves and live with others' views with which they may disagree"(D.J. Cunningham, 1992).

II. What Current Research Says about Teaching and Learning

• An individual teacher can have a powerful effect on student learning even if the school does not. This is a most conclusive research finding since 1972 until present (Marzano, et. al. 2001. Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement.p.2-3).
• Three elements of effective pedagogy are (1) instructional strategies, (2) management techniques, and (3) curriculum design. (Ibid, p. 10).
• Nine Effective instructional strategies that affect student achievement: identifying similarities and differences; summarizing and note taking; reinforcing effort and providing recognition; homework and practice; nonlinguistic (graphic) representations; cooperative learning; setting objectives and providing feedback; generating and testing hypotheses; questions,cues, and advance organizers.(Ibid, p. 7).
• Research on brain: We know a\ot more aboutfhow uiebrain functions in the last two decades than we had learned from the beginning of time(Hunter, 1994). Below are what we learn about human brain:
• Sensations and perceptions: stimuli when transmitted through receptors to our brain 's sensory register, the brain will hold them only when stimuli are translated into perceptions otherwise they fade away.
• The brain pays attention when it is related to self, emotion, and when it faces a puzzling siruatioa
• The brain is "meaning maker " regardless of the source of information.
• With different functions of the two hemispheres, learners need both right and left hemispheric inputs so they become facile with both, e.g. building visual representations gives a right-hemispheric assist to left-hemispheric generalization. (Right = visual-spatial, simultaneous and left = analytic, sequential) (Ibid, pp. 103-117).
• Current research on Teen brain: In Time, May 10 issue, Dr.Giedd has been working on his brain project for 13 years peering inside the heads of 1800 kids and teenagers every two years and building a record as the brain morphs and grows using high-powered magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Before Giedd and his collaborators at UCLA, Harvard, Montreal, and a dozen other institutions, most scientists believed the brain was largely a finished product by the time a child reached the age of 12 (Time, MaylO, 2004, p. 46). Giedd's scanning studies proved that: "not only the brain of the adolescent far from mature, but gray and white matter undergo extensive structural changes well past puberty. At first he thought he would follow kids until about 18 or 20. "Now we probably go to age 25," he said. One inteiestrng fmdmg is the last area of the brain to mature is the part capable of deciding. (Ibid, p.48). Another Giedd's long term finding is that there is a second wave of proliferation and pruning, and the final and critical part of this second wave occurs in the late teens. Unlike prenatal changes, this second pruning alters not the number of nerve cells but the number of connections (synapses) between them. It occurs at age 1 1 for girls and 121/2. Most scientists believe the pruning is guided by genetic and by a use-it-or-lose-it principle. In addition, amygdala which is emotional center (home to primal feelings as fear and rage) is what teens rely heavily on when processing emotional information while adults rely more on rational prefrontal cortex (this part is not yet mature in teen brain). This may expain why adolescents react more impulsively than adults. (Ibid, p.50).
• Daniel Goleman s E. Q. In his famous book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter than IQ (1995), Goleman identifies five areas ofE. Q. : (1) knowing one s emotions, (2) managing emotions, (3)motivating oneself, (4) recognizing emotions in others, and (5) handling relationships . Indeed, he made a distinction between "intellectual smarts " and "emotional smarts. "
• Goleman was convinced that if one had high E.Q. he/she would also have high I.Q. I found Goleman 's E.Q. interestingly counter-direction with that of Buddha s emotional intelligences: Metta, Karuna, Mudida, Ubekha in the sense that Goleman begins from self to others while Buddha begins from( emotion towards) others to self( at non-emotional state) as the highest stage.

Garner's (1983) eight multiple intelligences have redefined if not revolutionized the classical concept of I.Q. or intelligence. To Gardner, children are capable learners. They are all good in different ways. He defines intelligence as "the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings." (Vialle & Perry, 2002). The 8 intelligences are: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily- kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. The book "Teaching Through the Eight Intelligences" by Wilma Vialle and Judy Perry (2002) is a good source to try applying multiple intelligences in teaching.

IV. Thai Model of Lifelong Learning: JSF Model of Double Pyramids

1. Double-Pyramids of Learning:
1.1 The First Pyramid:Based on Jangwang (Surin) Foundation's view, learning essentially comprises of five steps: ¢Ç¹¢ÇÒ or be active, ¤é¹¤ÇéÒ to investigate, ÈÖ¡ÉÒ to study/to analyze, àÃÕ¹ÃÙé to understand/to learn, ½Ö¡½¹ to practice. To be a good learner, the first step is to be active in seeking knowledge. That means to go to the site. You cannot sit back and wait for spoon-fed knowledge. Next, once you get to the site, i.e. the library, then read several books of the same topic to see what each book says. To listen to people/ experts and find out what each expert says. The third step is to compare what is similar and what is different between these perspectives. This step will result in the next step-understand, or making sense from seeing relationships/connections. Then putting this initial understanding into practice. From practice, one will learn more. It is like testing the idea. Up to this point, one would complete the first pyramid of learning, which is halfway. Then it is time to flip the pyramid over to think back, look back, and ponder different perspectives in the second pyramid.

1.2 Second Pyramid: the
whole process in this second pyramid is reflection thinking. To think back or Swum is to reflect on your own thinking process in the first pyramid to self assess if anything irrational thinking occurred. To look back or uouvta* is to reflect on all events, behaviors, and experiences you were involved. By looking back, you would easily see and understand a lot more than when you were involved in the scene. Another reflection is to ponder different perspectives or ÁͧµèÒ§ÁØÁ Like constructivism, JSF's view emphasizes taking others' different views into consideration. The second pyramid does reinforce learning to be firmed and solid, and ready to go for a next cycle of new learning. Note that what is learned needs to be put into routine practice. Without continuing practice, one can lose what is learned.

1.3 JSF's View of Children as Clear Glass
A child is young, innocent, and vulnerable. He/she is like a piece of clear, translucent glass. Adults have to be careful in dealing with children. They have keen observations and remember things we adults did to them. From birth to teenage, adolescents may have gone through many "cracking" behaviors from authoritative adults. Overtime, they can become cracked glass. Just one more time may "break" the glass. Often times, we adults do not realize that what we say or miss to say something can cause a tragedy. "Broken" glass can be in a form of self destructive behavior, e.g. suicide, hurt oneself, or hurt others. Adults in latter cases may get hurt. Examples of broken glasses are numerous nowadays. Student violence, fighting, killing as well as adolescents committing suicide are on the rise. What is wrong with these teenagers? It is likely that they have accumulated a number of "cracks" for several years, or since birth, and just one last straw can break the glass.

1 .4 JSF's View of Teachers
There are 3 types of teachers: frosted glass teachers, mirror teachers, and clear glass teachers (¤ÃÙ¡ÃШ¡½éÒ ¤Ø³¤ÃÙ¡ÃШ¡ãÊ ¤Ø³¤ÃÙÍÒ¨ÒÃÂì¡ÃШ¡à§Ò). Frosted glass teachers are those who teach. And usually with little concern with students because they are more concerned with subj ect matter, at best what they can teach is like frosted glass. Mirror teachers are those who can reflect back to students completely like a mirror does. What these teachers do not see however is the back of the mirror. So they do not know the hidden, unexpressed side of their students. Clear glass teachers are like students. They can see both sides and understand their learners completely.

1.5 Five Sets of Principles for Teachers
For teachers to perform their duty fully and professionally, they need to follow five sets of principles:

• Philosophy: Frosted glass teachers' philosophy is "to teach". Mirror teachers' philosophy is "to give". Clear glass teachers' philosophy is "to sacrifice", (¼ÙéÊ͹ ¼ÙéãËé ¼ÙéàÊÕÂÊÅÐ)
• Psychology: Teachers need to know and practice child psychology.
• Teaching& learning: Teachers need to master teaching and learning principles.
• Duty: There are 3 principles in this set: duty, in duty, and principle in duty (vnrm IUTHJâ„¢ wanlwtttfifi) Duty means what you need to fulfill. In duty refers to a list of what you need to do, and must not do as a teacher. Principle in duty means that in performing your duty you need to adhere to principle(s).
• Logic: In dealing with many students, teachers need to be fair and rational.
• Yin-Yang in education refers to diversity in your students and things in the world roughly can be categorized into black and white or plus and minus (see pyramid). No one is perfect. And nothing is absolutely bad. Your duty as teachers is to show your students to find good things in black and to find bad things in white.

To be a frosted glass teacher is easy. Perhaps anyone can be. To be a good teacher, a mirror teacher, is much harder. It takes more time, effort, and experience. To be a great teacher who performs fully and professionally, one needs to empathize and identify himself/ herself with his/her students. To develop oneself to the highest stage is most challenging, yet not impossible. Your clear glass students need clear glass teachers!