Educational Psychology Issues - Article Example

Running Head: EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY Name Educational Psychology Education Tutor Date Educational Psychology Learning is a term that refers to a process that makes use of the human brain, as it is the main driving force that compels learning to take place. The modal model or rather the cognitive processes that are involved in learning refer to the structure that the human memory exists in, how it inputs, processes and outputs information. According to Atkinson and Richard, a human memory has a number of partitions that serves as the stages that the input data goes through before it is output; sensory memory, short-term memory and the long-term memory. A piece of raw data that needs to be processed in order to yield learning has to go through these stages, as in the case of classroom learning (Hays, 2006). A human body has senses that are used to detect and perceive stimuli from any environment. However, these senses don’t have the ability to store this information in a fairly unprocessed way even for a very short time interval. This visual system has a memory called iconic that visualizes stimuli without eliciting a meaning from it. The sensory memory hence acts as a temporary storage for the visualized stimuli before it is processed in the next stages. It stores stimuli such as size, shape, and color (Phillips & Soltis, 2004). In the short term memory, information is kept acoustically and in a visual way that it can be used within a certain time interval. It is a memory that has the possibility to be in a semantic level. The long term memory is the last section in which information is retained, and can take minutes or even a lifetime. The memory here is limitless and stores information in terms of meaning, procedures and images. In some situations, a human memory can be transported directly from the sensory section to the long term memory section (Phillips & Soltis, 2004). This happens under certain conditions as being in a state of recalling a major thing that happened a long time ago. This makes use of the memory called the flashbulb memory. In the process of learning as in a classroom, students are able to learn effectively when they are able to let information be encoded in a way that will follow the procedures above. Information in the long term memory has to be rehearsed always in order to avoid being lost or forgotten. Modal model refers to a classical development of memory in a way that passes from the short term to the long term over a very small period of time. The idea that different people are able to learn new concepts and facts and also the ability to retain a given amount of information in a given time, depends on the modal model structure of the person’s memory. The memory can too be impaired by certain actions as newly-learnt words (Milton, 2008). There are three basic categories of cognitive structures that are in operation in the human mind: the comparative cognitive structures, the symbolic orientation structures and the logical reasoning structures. The comparative cognitive structure refers to the structure that is used in the processing of information. In order to do this, they have the ability to identify the various ways in which information are similar or different from one another. The structure has the ability to identify a resemblance between a numbers of pieces of information. It is one of the first cognitive structures that develop in a new field, for instance the ability of an infant to recognize the face o f his or her mother (Sternberg & Zhang, 2001). This structure enables students in a classroom, first of all to be alert and detective. It gives them the ability to recognize what they learnt before and be able to remember it in a clear and precise way, hence develop their critical thinking skills. Students are even able to connect different information and be able to make up rules that govern this information. Memorization is another structure that involves classifying information in a way that is easy to access, label, contextualize it and make logical interrelations (McGovern & Halstead, 2002). This enables students to reflect on how they make connections, formulate rules and derive meaning from the abstract principles. It also enables students to use their memories to make meaning for them. Conservation of constancy is a cognitive structure that involves the ability to understand how certain characteristics of a particular thing can be made to change while others remain the same, for example when a prefix or a suffix is inserted on a word. In a classroom, students who have mastered this structure are able to think in an abstract way, make plans, solve daily problems and use same information in different situations and yield fruit (Milton, 2008). Constancy enables students to do well in assessments as it is very crucial in learning. It also enables students to use and benefit from their experiences. They will be able to develop perceptions that are not limited to concrete sensory data and interpretations that are literal in nature. Classification is a structure that creates an ability to make comparison, identification and ordering of information, to an extent that a meaning is elicited in accordance with how they are related to one another. In this case, the students are to subject given information to a process that will render it accessible. Students are made to manipulate real objects and use criteria that will tell whether these objects belong to a given set or not. They are given the ability to classify abstract information by using the principle of membership in a set, as a null set that has no elements or members. In a classroom, when students are presented with a set of properties as physical objects and they have the structure of classification, they will be able to think on ways of organizing them in relation to one another (Milton 2008). The students are enabled to discover how classification is used in everyday life, and they will be able to think of other concepts and conclusions as regards the absence of these classifications. The students will then have used their own criteria to classify objects hence have been given the chance to develop their own cognitive structures of learning. Besides this, the students will be able to make progress in every content they are presented with. There is also the structure of spatial orientation. This involves the ability to come up with relationships that exists among objects, and that these relationships have great implications involved in learning and in general life. It is the structure that brings with it the answer to confusion that normally disturbs many students either in or out of class. Students who always suffer disorganization, confusion of the right and left, or even those with difficulties in cardinal directions and backward formation of letters can be helped by the use of this structure (Sternberg & Zhang, 2001). There are basically three types of space that are dealt with: abstract, representational and physical space. Physical space entails objects that are in three dimensions. It studies how these objects are related to people and to them. Representational space involves objects with two dimensions, as in symbols and graphics, and how relationships can be built from them. This representation includes disciplines such as writing, geometry and physical education. Abstract space makes use of the mental images in its representation of spatial relationships. This structure makes great use of direction and location of objects. This structure enables students in a classroom to develop the senses of reflection and be able to listen to and respond to their senses in an appropriate way. Temporal orientation is a cognitive structure that entails the ability to process information by making comparison of the events in relation to their time of occurrence. This structure is normally used in the understanding of most of the content areas.( Galotti 2009). Moreover, its is vital in planning, making organizations and keeping of records besides communication. Temporal orientation will assist the students to consider thinking always before being involved in any action. They will be able to sequence their actions systematically, with their thoughts inclined to the concept of what happens before and after in relation to what is happening at the moment. Students will thus be able to appreciate the importance of time between stimulus and response. The students will thus be helped from the act of confusion when presented with new and unfamiliar tasks (McGovern & Halstead, 2002). Metaphorical thinking is another cognitive structure involved at the process of learning in a classroom. This structure involves the idea of true emphasis of the similarities and at the same time paying no attention to the difference between any two or more objects or items. It stresses creative thinking that will result in the learner recognizing that their understanding is a metaphor as it is based on comparative thinking. Students are made to come up with unusual connections through their thinking, hence are able to build their insights. After this, they will be able to generate the appropriateness of these thoughts in everyday lives. This will eventually lead students to develop the habits of being able to grasp new situations whenever they encounter in life, at the process of learning. There are other structures as the symbolic representation structures. These are structures that are used in the transformation or conversion of information into information that is acceptable by cultural coding systems as non verbal and the verbal language, graphics and other systems of communication. These structures enable students to be creative and inventive in their methods of communicating to one self or one another (Galotti, 2009). Finally, there is a structure called the logical reasoning structure. It involves other structures as inductive and deductive reasoning, making of analysis, evolution of synthesis and evaluation. These ideas enable students to process information and enable synthesis of other new information. It is very inevitable in classroom learning. In conclusion, developments in cognitive psychology as the theory of semantic memory and that of solving problems have proved to provide the base for firm and continued developments in the field of education and learning. These developments are based on vibrant representations of cognitive stages that are involved at the outcome of the instructions of learning (Gray 2010). Cognitive structures and processes are essential in a learning environment as the classroom. They are also of great importance when it comes to teaching as it is the teacher to take an initiative of implementing them in a classroom and afterwards make a follow-up of the same up to the point that they will be useful among students in a learning environment such as the classroom. They have positive influence on the instruction in a classroom and hence are seen to promote and improve the academic work of the students and subsequently the delivery of the teacher. 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