Cognitive Psychology/Information Processing Case Study Analysis

CASE 1

1. After participating in this activity, what do you think the students will remember? How might those memories differ from those students would have if they only read about the Civil War in their textbook?

I think that students will not necessarily remember how to perform each task that they did, but rather they would remember the hard work that they had to do. These memories will relate differently than the students who just read about the event in the text book in that these students will have somewhat experienced the setting and the tasks of the war. The students who had the experience will be able to empathize with the soldiers because they had time to let themselves feel the emotions and draining tasks that the soldiers had to experience.

2. How does Mr. West’s use of a Civil War re-enactment engage students’ emotions? What is the relationship between emotions and learning?

The re-enactment engaged the student's emotions in that it required them to live the way that the soldiers lived. I think that emotion can either help or hinder learning. If a person is emotionally overwhelmed then I think that it will hinder their learning ability. In his case, where students were re-enacting a historical event, I think that the emotions will create a greater understanding of the war and result in a greater interest of the war and what happened.

3. Based on the principles of dual-coding theory, what activities would be effective for Mr. West to use as a follow-up to the re-enactment?

For and effective follow up activity it would be great if the students could read journal entries from individuals during the civil war time to learn about their ideas about the war and how it affected them. The students would then combine stories and create either a skit, video, or story to illustrate the struggles that people had to go through during the Civil war. This activity will use the dual-coding theory by reading journals and then re-enacting those experiences.

CASE 2

4. Who do you think provides better instruction for his students? Support your answer from an information processing perspective.

Mr. Richards method of instruction is far superior to Mr. Dunken's methods because Mr. Richards classroom objectives and activities accommodate for all learning styles where Mr. Dunken's only accommodates for the auditory, and possibly the linguistic learner. Students need a variety of instruction to ensure involvement, understanding, and retention. Students only remember a small percentage of the material they learn if it is presented in lecture form. I also believe that Mr. Dunken's assessments are poor in that not all students do well with short answer style of tests. Students learn best when they can perform and experience a subject for themselves. Mr. Richards has a well rounded classroom that incorporates lecture and activities and his assessments are well balanced that it will accommodate for all learners.

5. How would you expect the students’ learning outcomes to differ depending on which teacher they had?

Students who had Mr. Dunken will have a difficult time recalling information despite the fact that he informed them what would be on their quizzes. Even though Mr. Dunken's students are doing problems from their text book, they will not understand why the information is relevant to real life situations. The students in Mr. Richards class will understand the subject much better through the use of hands on activities and active learning. Active learning allows students to experience the subject for themselves rather than just hearing about it from the teacher or from the text book. These students will remember the information for much longer than the other students and will find the information much more valuable and relevant when it comes to their daily lives.