Working Memory and Schema Theory in Teaching - Coursework Example

Educational Psychology Name Institution Date Introduction Working memory is a brain system that offers temporary storage and manipulation of the information essential for complex cognitive tasks like comprehension, language, reasoning and learning. Working memory plays a major role in supporting children’s learning and it is vitally needed to store information whilst other material is being mentally manipulated during classroom learning activities which form the basis for acquisition of complex knowledge and skills. Schema theory of learning views organized knowledge and a sophisticated network of intellectual structures which signify an individual understands of the world. Schema refers to how a person develops what he knows about a concept or topic and how he integrates new information Main implications of working memory in teaching and learning Working memory is crucial in classroom teaching and learning because several learning activities that student are engaged in with in classroom, either linked to reading, science, mathematics or other areas of the curriculum, inflict considerable burdens on the working memory. Classroom activities usually require the student to hold in mind some information for instance, a sentence that is to be written down, whilst undertaking an activity that is mentally challenging for them, such as spelling the individual words making up the sentence. These are the form of actions on which students with poor working memory struggle with and usually fail to undertake them properly since they have lost from the working memory the vital information required to direct their actions. As a consequence, the students might not attain the learning benefit of effectively completing an activity, and this leads to a slowdown in their learning rates (Gathercole, & Alloway, 2008). The student requires holding the sentence within the working memory for adequately long to direct her or his efforts to write the individual words, and also to recall how far the words have got in this endeavor and locate the next work in working memory. Though this looks like a simple task to skilled writers, students with poor working memory capacities find it very hard and usually repeat or skip letters and words as they lose their location in this demanding mental action (Pickering, 2006). Working memory is vital for learning because it offers a mental workspace through which students can hold information while mentally involved in other pertinent activities. Without working memory we literally wouldn’t be able to learn anything. Even people possessing normal working capacity are severely limited because an individual can often hold approximately seven minus two or plus two chunks of information at time. After this, the chunks either go into long term storage of are completely forgotten. For people who want to study new material, be it biological system or vocabulary words, the restrained working memory has serious implications. Students have working memory problems and this is a serious and major cause of poor learning skills, poor confidence, low grades, and long time reduced motivation to learn. This requires teachers to be aware of working memory capacity of their studies so that they can come up with teaching strategies to teach, accommodate and enable all students to achieve higher grades( Gathercole, & Alloway, 2008). Limited working memory capacity weakens the capability to solve problems and think. Students with low working memory capacity could handle same tasks as regular students, but they do not successfully complete the task because they just cannot recall all steps. This apparently reflects a limitation in working memory capacity and if demands imposed on working memory can be lessened, better thinking can result. Particular teching strategies can be employed to reduce working memory load. Gathercole & Alloway (2008) states that teachers are not supposed not present a lot of information and thus must keep it simple by using simple, short sentences and present much of instruction as diagrams or pictures. The teacher should also get engaged, through taking notes, and developing concept maps and diagrams. The students can break down tasks into chunks successively, one at a time. Undertaking these things helps the process of thinking and also promotes formation of lasting memories. Students with small working memory capacities will struggle in learning activities merely because they are not able to hold within their minds adequate information to permit them to complete the task and under these situations their working memory is overloaded. Loss of vital information from working memory will make them forget several things, such as the instructions they are trying to follow or details of what they are undertaking (Kane, & Hambrick, 2004). Since students with poor working memory fail in numerous different activities on several occasions as a result of working memory overload, they are liable to struggle to attain normal learning rates and so will usually make poor universal academic progress. For such children, teachers are supposed to monitor the classroom learning activities of the child and modify them where necessary so as to ensure that working memory capacity other than being overloaded. This will enhance the child to complete and succeed in these actions and build up skills and knowledge across time in a manner that will enhance learning (Shuell, 2003). Example to show how an understanding of working memory can positively influence instruction in the classroom Having understood the role of working memory in learning, a teacher will be able to design classroom room based activities that will reduce working memory demands for children with poor working memory capacity. For instance, if a teacher orders a student to put some sheets on the table, his cards in the packet and his pencil away and to so back and sit on the carpet and the student forgets to put the sheets on the table. Then, the teacher asks the student if he could recall where he was supposed to put the sheets and the student could not, this implies that the student needed to be reminded. In this case, it is significant for the teacher to ensure that the student can recall what he is doing. On several occasions, students with low working memory just forget what they were required to do next, resulting to failure to complete several learning activities. Student’s memory for instructions can be improved through using instructions that are simple and brief as possible and an efficient strategy for improving the student’s memory for the task is regular repetition of instructions. For activities that take place for a long duration, reminding the student of vital information of that certain phase of the activity other than repetition of the novel instruction is also useful (Willis & Adams 2005). Main implications in teaching and learning Schemas are important in learning and teaching because people have inherent requirement to develop equilibrium or create sense of experiences that don’t connect with the information they already know. In order to attain this equilibrium, it is essential for individuals to either incorporate new information or accommodate the contradictory information. Assimilation takes place when people extend the information they have learned so as to integrate the new information. Both accommodation and assimilation may be utilized at the same duration to change of expand our schema. The schema, or what an individual already knows, helps learners to better comprehend the text. Therefore, it is necessary to engage learners in a range of texts and expose them to several experiences. For instance, when a person happens to come across a new learning concept or experience, he will contrast the new concept against the previous knowledge he has as a comparison. For instance when a young student is informed that a penguin is a bird, he will access his schema of the bird and come up with comparisons based on the information he has already attained on the concept of a bird. He will have the ability to contrast the penguin with on the features of beak, wings and feathers and assess his agreement with these notions (Brewer, 2002) Schema theory is significant in learning and teaching, because the individuals array of prior knowledge offers a context for a meaningful inference of new information. Since schemas are personal and individually organized, implying that two people may possess two diverse schemas for similar information and if new information might be linked to existing schemas, use of these schemas help students to develop anticipations on the nature of new information, attend to its most significant aspects and fill in the gaps where the information is implied other than explicitly stated (Schunk, 2004). The most significant implication of schema theory in teaching is the function of prior knowledge in processing. When individuals learn, they are either developing new schemas or connecting together the preexisting schemas in new manners. For learners to efficiently process information, their subsisting schemas linked to the new information requires activation. This is done through using outlines, advanced organizers, organized activities and meaningful materials like guides, or handouts. Teachers are supposed to utilize comparisons and analogies in their teaching so as to draw attention to the existing schemas of the students and assist them to make links between new information and existing schemas. Teaching must focus upon schema building strategies, particularly strategies for developing functional problem solving schema as, a basis for further development of the problem solving capability of the students. Teachers should also utilize familiar examples in teaching other than more conservative, theoretical information. Instruction enhance schema creation by offering learners feedback in form of numerical , wholly work out and elucidated examples that explicitly direct them in developing their own schemas( Driscoll, 1994). According to Anderson, (2005), in order to enable students in learning and to capitalize on links to a prior knowledge of the learners, teachers teaching materials are supposed to be organized in accordance to the conventional structures that learners might already be familiar with. Teachers are also required to acknowledge the cultural diversities in their pupils, since these diversities impact the familiarity of their students with the teaching materials, the examples they offer, and learning contexts that they create in their teaching. Because prior knowledge is necessary for comprehension of new information, teachers are required to assist learners construct the prerequisite knowledge or remind them of the concepts that they are already aware of prior to introducing new material. Schemata change and grow as new information is attained and students feel internal divergence if they are attempting to assimilate a schema which conflicts with their past suppositions and thus teachers are supposed to be sympathetic and understand this tension. Example to show how an understanding of schema theory can positively influence instruction in the classroom Schema theory has terrific implications for classroom teaching. It is vital for teachers to identify that learners are able to recall considerable amounts of new information only when they are capable of incorporating it into their interconnected existing concepts. Individuals usually forget information if they don’t work to incorporate it into their existing intellectual framework. Teachers are also supposed to recognize that the schemata of every learner are different from those of other students and even form the teacher himself (Hacker, 2006). Therefore, teachers are supposed to design instructional schemes that are solidly embedded in these realizations. For instance, in a history class, teachers can offer their learners the historical framework, thinking skills and reflective habits they require in later life. The best way of a teacher to activate the suitable schemata of learners so that increasingly conscious clustering of new information with the existing information can occur. For instance, to introduce a lesson about Shintoism, the teacher may activate the religion schemata of the students by allowing requiring students to think on their individual religions and their major stories, principles and lessons. The students are more probable to recall the main principles of Shintoism through directly locating them into their existing schematic organizations than when they are presented with these tenets without cognitive preparation. Additionally, teacher questions and concept maps are helpful for activating cognitive structures of students (Minsky, 2002). Conclusion Working memory and schema theory are important in teaching and learning. Working memory provides a mental working space via which learners hold information whilst undertaking other pertinent activities. This support student learning since it enables them to store information while other materials are being mentally manipulated during classroom learning activities which form the foundation for acquisition of skills and knowledge. Schema theory enable students to link prior knowledge to the new information offered in classroom teaching. Therefore teachers are supposed to help students to construct prerequisite knowledge before introducing a new material in order to offer a context for a meaningful inference of the new information. References Gathercole, E., & Alloway, P, (2008). Working memory and learning: A practical guide for teachers. London: Sage. Pickering, S. (2006). Working memory and education. London: Academic Press. Kane, J., & Hambrick, Z., (2004). The generality of working memory capacity : A latent- variable Approach to verbal and visuo-spatial memory span and reasoning. Journal of experimental psychology, 33, 189-221. Anderson, C. (2004). Role of the Reader's Schema in Comprehension, Learning, and Memory. New Jersey: Erlbaum. Brewer, F. (2002). Schemas Versus Mental Models in Human Memory. England: Wiley- Blackwell. Hacker, J. (2006). From Schema Theory to Classroom Practice. New Jersey: Erlbaum. Shuell, T. (2003). Teaching and learning in a classroom context. New York: Simon & Schuster Willis C., & Adams M., (2005). Working memory and special educational needs. Educational and Child Psychology, 22, 56-67. Minsky, M., (2002). A Framework for Representing Knowledge. New York: McGraw-Hill. Anderson, J. (2005). Cognitive psychology and its implications (6th ed.) NewYork: Worth. Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Schunk, D., (2004). Learning theories: An educational perspective (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall Read More