Study Guide for Unit 1: Cognitive Theory
Be able to describe what each of the letters in the acronym GAMES represents and how it is related to cognitive theory.
Be able to explain why psychology went back to the study of thinking from its former emphasis on behavior only. Be able to describe in general the areas of research that led to the emphasis on thinking and what it was about each that supported the cognitive model.
You need not know Piaget’s model in detail, only the concepts of stages, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration and how they relate to cognitive theory.
You need not know Vygotsky’s model in detail, only the concepts of inner speech and internalization of culture plus the zone of proximal development.
Be able to draw or label the basic cognitive paradigm diagram and describe what part each of the components plays in learning new information and using old information. How does the field conceptualize the factors that affect the different levels of memory (sensory, working, long term) and the processes that move information through the system?
Be able to explain the way we think that memories are created and stored, including types of storage, such as verbal/visual, episodic/semantic, declarative/procedural, explicit and implicit, schemas and scripts, concepts.
Do not spend time on 233-244.
Be able to describe how information is retrieved from memory, especially the concepts of construction and automaticity and what they mean for learning, and what causes that retrieval to fail (how we forget).
Do not spend time on 313-315.
In all cases you should be able to recognize or give examples of the concepts included in these chapters.
In class we will
go over ways to apply these principles to real examples and you will be
expected to be able to use them in the design of a remedy for a situation that
I will give you.
For all chapters where appropriate, pay close attention to the generalizations and summaries that the author includes near the end of each chapter, especially when she discusses implications for instruction. Think about how her recommendations would translate into real instructional practice.