Cognition and Learning
My field of study is Cognition and Learning. In reflection, the core text for the cognition and learning course, Why Don't Students Like School? (Willingham, 2009), became the catalyst for my own cognition and learning. This course provided the right conditions for curiosity and deep thinking about theories and issues in teaching, learning, and cognition. I revelled in this coming home to my psychological roots. I was re-immersed in Piaget and Dewey but pushed to build new connections to consciousness, neuroplasticity, memory, and brain/technology connections (Boyd, 2015; Ihde, 1978, 2011; Pasquinelli, n.d.; Seely Brown, 2006; Seth, 2017).People are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking.
Daniel Willingham, 2009
Since I continued to blog during this course, I am able to dip into my external cache of thoughts [Step By Step blog site] to explore my memories through my writing, the continuation of hupomnemata begun in DS1. I will demonstrate academic and scholarly readiness for the next steps in this labyrinthian PhD journey by discerning relevant ideas, culling and collecting those ideas together, contextualizing them, and entering into a conversation about them (Weisgerber & Butler, 2016).
In this course, I prepared two critiques of articles, as listed and linked here:
- The neuroscience of background knowledge: A schema about schema
- Just like riding a bike: A critique of caching to explain automaticity
The paper written as a culminating task for this course extended the workshopping experience from DS1 into a digital production where I explained the outline of my paper in a five minute video production. This video is shared here as it exemplifies how my future research directions are connected to this course and how I model my research practice.
As I state in this paper:
While not denying the existence of differing theoretical perspectives as they relate to open educational practices such as social cognition (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989), constructivism (de Vries, 2003) and connectivism (Couros & Hildebrandt, 2016; Siemens, 2005), this literature review is written from a cognitivist perspective (Codrington-Lacerte, 2018; de Vries, 2003). Cognition and learning are essential elements of OEPr. An awareness of cognitive processes is crucial in order to successfully navigate the complexity of teaching with OEPr, specifically internet-based, technology-enabled, accessible and multimedia-driven spaces. This literature review seeks to analyze, synthesize, and bring clarity to the relationship between cognition, specifically research on cognitive load, and technology-enabled OEPr. In order to transcend the limitations of the human brain, cognitive science can provide insights to inform teachers using internet accessed, multimedia resources in open educational environments."
It was here in this paper that I looked at bringing my research into focus. It was through the act of conversing with others and creating graphic images that the deeper impact of cognition and learning on my topic of research is revealed.
As a result of this comprehensive portfolio reflection, and continuing research for upcoming conference presentations at OER20 and OTESSA 2020, I have more recently dug deeply into the philosophy of technology as explored by Idhe (1978, 2004, 2008, 2012(a), 2012(b), 2019) and readings about the technologies of self (Foucault, 1982).
Ihde suggests that our embodied phenomenographic limitations are extended beyond our horizons, as exemplified by the visual and auditory limitations of physical parameters of sound and sight, by the technological mediations of magnification and translation. My husband's newly acquired hearing aids is one example of technological magnification that enables him to hear beyond what his physical boundaries would otherwise allow. The binoculars I use to magnify my vision to allow me to see the bald eagles swooping over the river is another such example whereby the human < > machine interaction between myself < > binoculars allow my embodied experiences to reach beyond the boundaries and barriers imposed by my physical limitations. When it comes to cognition and learning, my cache of memories in both short term and long term storage is limited by the horizons of the physical grey cells of my brain. My research for this course, and into future academic literature review work, examines how these horizons can be extended by enacting connections to the cornucopia of information, ideas, writings, images, and sounds that abound in digital space. One interesting conception is the notion of collective cognitive load theory (Kirschner et al, 2018) whereby my individual cognitive load limitations extend beyond the physical boundaries by being shared with that of others through digital, connected, networked thinking and cognitive activities.
In this way, the cognitive connections being made, both within my brain structures and memories, and outside my internal cognitive structures, as exemplified in this comprehensive portfolio, model a critical stance toward the concepts, theories and issues in my field of study.
References
Boyd, L. (2015, Nov 14). After watching this, your brain will not be the same | Lara Boyd | TEDxVancouver. (video). TEDx Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNHBMFCzznE
Foucault, M. (1982). Technologies of the self. Retrieved from https://foucault.info/documents/foucault.technologiesOfSelf.en/
Ihde, D. (1978). Technics and Praxis (Vol. 24). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9900-8
Ihde, D. (2011). Stretching the in-between: Embodiment and beyond. Foundations of Science, 16(2–3), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-010-9187-6
Kirschner, P., Sweller, J., Kirschner, F., & Zambrano, J. (2018). From cognitive load theory to collaborative cognitive load theory. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 13(2), 213–232. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-018-9277-y
Pasquinelli, E. (n.d.). Are Digital Devices Altering Our Brains? Retrieved September 13, 2018, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-digital-devices-altering-our-brains/
Seely Brown, J. (2006). New learning environments for the 21st century: Exploring the edges. Change, 38(5), 18–24.
Seth, A. (2017, July 18). Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality. TED video. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/lyu7v7nWzfo
Weisgerber, C., & Butler, S. H. (2016). Curating the Soul: Foucault’s concept of hupomnemata and the digital technology of self-care. Information, Communication & Society, 19(10), 1340–1355. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1088882
Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why don’t students like school? a cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom (1st ed). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.