(Wow, was it hard to keep this to 500 words or less! I don't feel I was able to get across everything that I wanted, but here are my most pressing thoughts on the subject:)
Self-understanding seems to be a critical part of learning. Noddings (2006) says that “The remedy, I think, is the honesty that should result from critical thinking directed at one’s own interests and work habits” (p. 22). James (1899/1962) spoke of how teachers should know student’s native reactions and interests, but he did not mention that students should know their own. This also reminds me of the Pashler et al. (2009) article about learning styles and the meshing theory. We saw that this did not work for learning styles, but I wonder if there would be an increase in retention and understanding if instruction was aligned with interests and work habits.
Self-understanding seems to be a critical part of learning. Noddings (2006) says that “The remedy, I think, is the honesty that should result from critical thinking directed at one’s own interests and work habits” (p. 22). James (1899/1962) spoke of how teachers should know student’s native reactions and interests, but he did not mention that students should know their own. This also reminds me of the Pashler et al. (2009) article about learning styles and the meshing theory. We saw that this did not work for learning styles, but I wonder if there would be an increase in retention and understanding if instruction was aligned with interests and work habits.
Incubation and illumination are important topics, as both Noddings (2006) and Pretz et. al. (2003) mentioned them as parts of the problem solving process. I remember Dr. Usher’s PowerPoints also mentioning incubation and the importance of taking a break from what you are doing in order to receive a new revelation about it and return with even more energy. I love the “Eureka!” moment in my studies.
Mnemonics came up again in this module, with Noddings’ (2006) quote on how “Cronbach asks us to consider whether remembering the mnemonic might be harder than simply memorizing the digits” (p. 25). This reminds me of a trend in high school where students would share the answers to the multiple choice vocabulary tests we all had to take. Rather than learn the 15 words, they would memorize long mnemonics for the answers (e.g. “Dudley Dooright drank a bottle and Doggy came along” for dddabadca). This was definitely an instance where it would have been much easier to learn the words rather than the cheating mnemonic.
The idea of multitasking is relevant for today. I am constantly trying to multitask throughout the day: working on a project at the office, while simultaneously working on schoolwork, checking emails, chatting on Facebook, and eating my lunch. I do feel like I am good at doing this, but I can see the points that Rosen (2008), Hamilton (2008), and Bregman (2010) make about how it may be impossible and inefficient. I definitely agree that multitasking is switching focus quickly rather than focusing on multiple things at once. I notice that I can switch focus easily if I am shallowly thinking about something, but if I concentrate on reading an email in a meeting, I realize that I have no idea what was said. It is important to make sure we put the most emphasis on the important thing and let the less important things only take up shallow attention. I think I personally agree with Silverman’s (2010) list of why and when multitasking is important, and I do not think it can be ignored in our stressful environment. I wonder if students can still learn while multitasking; I know Prensky (2001) explains a study where children watching Sesame Street while playing with toys still performed just as well on a test as kids who were only watching the show.
Bregman, P. (2010). How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/05/how-and-why-to-stop-multitaski.html
Hamilton, J. (2008) Think You’re Multitasking? Think Again. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794
Noddings, N. (2006). Critical lessons: What our schools should teach. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2009). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, 105-119.
Prensky, Marc. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently? On the Horizon, 9(6), 1-9.
Pretz, J. E., Naples, A. J., & Sternberg, R. J. (2003). Recognizing, defining, and representing problems. In J. E. Davidson & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The psychology of problem solving (pp. 1-30). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rosen, C. (2008). The myth of multitasking. The New Atlantis, 64, 105-110.
Silverman, D. (2010). In Defense of Multitasking. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/silverman/2010/06/in-defense-of-multitasking.html
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