Cognitivism+Theory+Page

[|Collaborative Document]

__Cognitivism __ “How we: Perceive, remember, think, speak, solve.” Introduction Cognitive theory attempts to explain human behavior by understanding the thought processes. The assumption is that humans are logical beings that make the choices that make the most sense to them. The human mind is compared to a computer as a way to describe the mental processes of the mind.  Focuses on how thought is processed and what type of processing thinking involves in the business of knowing.

Learner viewed as ‘information processor’ ~ take in, process, store, locate, respond  Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Cognitivism involves examining learning, memory, problem solving skills, and intelligence. Cognitive theorists may want to understand how problem solving changes throughout childhood, how cultural differences affect the way we view our own academic achievements, language development, and much more. (Feldman, Cognitivism)

Knowledge as schema: People use schema as a framework for knowledge. Actions as a result of thinking.

cognition ( [|Latin] : cognoscere, "to know", "to conceptualize" or "to recognize")

Some Key Players

__ Piaget __ : Introduced the idea of stage theory of cognitive development and headed congnitivism to constructivism. __ George Miller __ : Presented the idea that short-term memory could only hold 5-9 chunks of information (seven plus or minus two). Also introduced the idea of the computer model of human learning.

__ Ausubel __ : Asserted that we acquire knowledge primarily by being exposed directly to it rather than through discovery. “Ascertain what the learner already knows and teach him/her accordingly.”

__Alan Newell:__ Mathematician who designed computer systems based on cognitivist process:

__Marvin Minsky:__ Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive psych, computational lingusitics, robotics...

__Ulric Neisser:__ Book on Cognitive Psych in 1967 focusing on perception, attention, language and thought.

__Piaget:__ Headed congnitivism into constructionism Studied young learners: Stag theory of cognitive development sensorimotor: birth to 2 preoperational 2-4 concrete operations: thinking abstractly begins 7-11 formal operations 11-15

Social / Historical Timeline

Early 20th Century Tolman: Expectatons of animals Kohler: Sultan the ape in the cage, given to sticks, banana outside cage. reflection. success. Bartlett: past experiences Skinner: All but eliminated any research in cognitive psychology until...

Congitive Psychology (re-emergence) around 1950 - 1970

Noam Chomsky: Paper on Verbal Behavior in 1959. ‘Language cannot be explained by stimulus response.’ Behaviorism timeline leads to Cognitive Cognitive  American History timeline The Cognitive Theory emerged due to the following:
 * Behaviorism had existed for awhile and questions were arising. the thinking aspect was not answered with Behaviorism
 * 1946 - Baby Boom
 * 1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat - people starting to think more independently
 * 1958 - First Computer Modem - people starting to communicate more
 * 1960 - Civil Rights Movement

How it’s used today: More interested in the process of learning than the outcome.

 George Miller: 7 +/2: Most folks can remember 7 plus or minus two bits of info in their short term memory. Memory is better when things are chunked together (grouping of phone numbers, social security numbers).