Cognition Observation Paper Sarah E. Davis The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1 Introduction In his book Why Don t Students Like School?, Daniel Willingham (2009) describes how students minds work and how to use that knowledge to be a more effective teacher. I created a cognition observation checklist of observable phenomena from Willingham s text to evaluate how well a teacher s lesson aligned with the suggested teaching methods presented in the book. The cognition observation checklist included phenomena on the subjects of memory, knowledge, deep understanding, transfer, and developing expertise. This paper examines the 10 th grade English lesson that I observed and its alignment with the checklist of phenomena created using Willingham s text. Content Taught and Pedagogy Used On Thursday, March 13 th, I observed a 10 th grade English lesson taught by Ms. Miller at Cary High School. She began the class by reviewing the previous days homework assignment; the class had been assigned reading from Oedipus the King. Ms. Miller then explained the day s planned activities: group work on Oedipus the King and writing personal letters from the viewpoints of the story s characters. She asked the class for any questions regarding the previous night s reading, then quickly moved on to divide the class into groups of five students each and assign each student a character. Ms. Miller then asked the groups to discuss and determine each character s viewpoint on Thebes problem and the tone they would use to address the other characters in the group. The students discussed the assignment in groups for approximately twenty-five minutes. Ms. Miller then asked the students to write a personal letter to the character on his or her left expressing the character s viewpoint regarding Thebes problem using first person and that character s tone. Students used the remaining class time to write their personal
2 letters. Ms. Miller used the final five minutes of class to describe the night s homework assignment: the completion of the personal letter and further reading of Oedipus the King. Alignment with Research and Ideas from Willingham Chapters 1-6 In Chapter 1 of Willingham s (2009) text, he introduces the cognitive principle stating that unless the cognitive conditions are right, students will avoid thinking (p. 3). Research has shown that the brain is not designed for thinking; instead, it is designed to avoid thinking, relying more on memory than actual thought to solve problems; people do enjoy thinking when it is successful, however (Willingham, 2009, p. 10). In light of this information, Willingham (2009) suggests that teachers seek to present an appropriate amount of new information to students in order to avoid overloading their working memory, and ask questions that are challenging to avoid boredom but also solvable to avoid discouragement (p. 19). In her lesson, Ms. Miller presents an appropriate amount of new information; students appeared to understand each step of the day s activities and were not overwhelmed or confused. She also presented an assignment, writing personal letters from the story s characters points of view, that captured the students interest by being challenging but attainable. Chapter 2 of Willingham s (2009) text concentrates on the cognitive principle that says that factual knowledge must precede skill; cognitive science research has revealed that reading comprehension and cognitive skills including analyzing and critical thinking require extensive background knowledge (p. 25). Accordingly, Willingham (2009) suggests that teachers request critical thinking only after students have gained some knowledge of the concept (p. 48). In Ms. Miller s English lesson, she assigned readings as homework and then asked students to write letters from the characters viewpoints. This teaching method is mostly in line with the text s suggestion, assuming the students completed their reading assignment and understood the
3 material; however, because Ms. Miller did not assess the class understanding of the reading, it is possible that students had not gained the required background knowledge. Willingham s (2009) focus in chapter 3 of his text is on the concept of memory as the residue of thought; the author states that whatever a person thinks about, that s what he or she remembers (p. 53). For students to remember a teacher s lesson, Willingham (2009) suggests organizing lesson plans like stories; the human mind is especially tuned to remembering stories more than any other type of material (p. 67). The author advises structuring the lesson into a beginning, middle, and end story format, where the beginning demonstrates importance of the learning goal, the middle manages attention by changing the pace of the lesson, and the end reiterates the main points of the lesson (Willingham, 2009, p. 67). Ms. Miller s lesson had a beginning that introduced the lesson plan, a middle that changed activities to foster student attention, but did not include an ending that reiterated main points; instead, she only introduced the homework for the following day. In Chapter 4 of Willingham s (2009) text, he introduces the cognitive principle stating that people understand new things in the context of things we already know; it is very difficult to grasp abstract ideas that we cannot relate to prior knowledge (p. 88). Accordingly, Willingham (2009) stresses the importance exposing students to many examples of a concept with the same underlying structure but different surface structures (p. 88). Ms. Miller s lesson included a group activity wherein students discussed each character s viewpoint on Thebes problem and the tone they would use to address each other character in the group. This activity aligned perfectly with the author s suggestion as it allowed students to practice the same skill in different scenarios to better understand the concept.
4 Chapter 5 of Willingham s (2009) text concentrates on the cognitive principle that says that extended practice is the only way to become proficient at a mental task (p. 107). A person must be able to master low-level practices so that they re automated in order to leave room for improving higher-level practices that will require more thought (Willingham, 2009, p. 108). In view of that information, Willingham (2009) recommends that teachers encourage students to give students opportunities for spaced, novice practice (p. 124). Spacing practice is very important because memory is more enduring when practice is spaced, and time in between practicing wards off boredom (Willingham, 2009, p. 124). I did not see any evidence of spaced practice in Ms. Miller s lesson, possibly because I observed only one day of her class. Willingham s (2009) focus in chapter 6 of his text is on the concept of developing expertise; he discounts the idea that educators should be training students to do what scientists actually do and makes the key point that cognition early in training is different from cognition late in training (p. 131). Experts have a lot of background knowledge about their fields, can access the right information from memory with accuracy, and transfer their knowledge to similar domains (Willingham, 2009, p. 132). Willingham (2009) recommends that teachers encourage students to practice novice skills deliberately with thought (p. 143). In her lesson, Ms. Miller allowed students to practice personal letter writing, which aligns well with Willingham s recommendation for novice practice. Teaching Suggestions Supported by Willingham Text Ms. Miller s lesson included most of Willingham s (2009) recommendations from his text that I included in the cognition observation checklist; however, there are several phenomena that I did not observe that could have been included in the lesson. In the lesson, Ms. Miller did not assess the class understanding of the reading before continuing on to critical thinking
5 exercises, so it is possible that students had not gained the required background knowledge. This goes against Willingham s (2009) recommendation to ask students to think critically after they have gained prior knowledge (p. 19). Instead, Ms. Miller could have led a class discussion to assess the students understanding of the reading before asking the class to engage in critical thinking. Additionally, Ms. Miller s lesson did not include Willingham s (2009) recommended lesson ending, used to reiterate the main points learned in class; it appeared that she did not leave enough time to recap the day s activities, so it may behoove Ms. Miller to set aside more time at the end of class for reiteration of the main points to help students better remember the lesson (p. 67). I was not able to observe spaced practice within the time constraints of my observation, but it is important to note that Ms. Miller could use spaced practice with the lesson s activities (personal letter writing) to help students better remember the skills they practice (Willingham, 2009, p. 124). Finally, Ms. Miller did not explain to students the meaning behind the material covered, and did not make connections between the schooled learning and the external world; according to Willingham s (2009) recommendations, helping students to understand why the material is important and how it relates to everyday life will boost students interest and understanding of the material presented (p. 50). A limitation of this evaluation is the time constraint of the observation; if I had observed further classes, I may have observed phenomena that require more time to observe, such as spaced practice. However, after observing the 10 th grade English lesson and evaluating its alignment with the checklist of phenomena created using Willingham s text, I found Ms. Miller s lesson to include almost all of the text s recommended teaching methods.
6 References 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. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
7 Cognitive Observation Checklist Questions are challenging but solvable Willingham Chapter 1 Totally Agree Mostly Agree Slightly Agree Questions are relevant and important to understand Teacher presents an appropriate amount of new information Pace is changed regularly to foster attention Willingham Chapter 2 Knowledge presented is culturally-assumed (assumed cultural background knowledge is realistic and possessed by students) Teacher presents the meaning behind the knowledge Reading is incorporated into the lesson (if relevant to class material) Critical thinking is requested after students have gained knowledge of concept Models of adults acquiring knowledge are presented Willingham Chapter 3 Lesson is structured into beginning, middle, and ending to eliminate distractions Lesson introduction demonstrates importance of the learning goal Middle of lesson manages attention (change of pace) Lesson ending reiterates main points Mnemonics are used for any meaningless content covered (ex: PEMDAS) Willingham Chapter 4 Multiple examples of problems are given with same deep structure but different surface structures Students are encouraged to compare/contrast examples Connections are made between schooled learning and the external world Transfer is rewarded and modeled Willingham Chapter 5 Practice is spaced appropriately Students are given the opportunity for novice practice Willingham Chapter 6 Students are encouraged to deliberately practice novice skills