Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
2.
Basic left- and right-brain cognitive styles, auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning
— This provided an introduction to the nature of knowledge and Constructivism.
3.
An introduction to memory and its relationship to learning styles, the primacy-recency
effect, and its relationship to note taking and revision practices; the conscious and
subconscious divide and make use of associative memory and mind mapping for recall
— This provided an introduction to problem-solving states and the IPRAM model (a
simple conceptual framework for establishing one's intellectual maturity with respect
to a particular knowledge domain), developed by Benson and Standing (2001b).
Because greater exposure to metacognitive resources and increasing self-critical
awareness would allow more motivated students to add to their metacognitive tool set, URLs
were posted onto the unit Web site, and these links gave students access to Web based
resources for learning, metacognition, and memory techniques, e.g., www.brain.com,
www.intelegen.com, etc. A relevant bibliography was made available.
A small amount of time was devoted to explaining the factors that exert significant
influence on student outcomes. Of these, student expectations (locus of control) and staff
expectations are the most significant. As a consequence, students were encouraged to
develop confidence in their own abilities.
CHANGES TO TEACHING PRACTICE
Although lecturers do not have time to present the curriculum from multiple perspec-
tives, I have found that it is feasible to present material from left- and right-brain perspectives.
It has been seen that abstract thinkers (left-brain) perform better than concrete thinkers (right-
brain) under certain conditions. This is most notable when the subjects have no prior
experience of the subject area. Left-brain thinkers are able to theorize and so make more rapid
initial progress (Benson & Standing, 2001). By contrast, right-brain thinkers cope less well
with abstraction and require examples and experience to ground their knowledge. Taking the
example of teaching normalization in a database course, left-brain thinkers are able to accept
a highly theoretical and abstract presentation of the concepts using set theory and are able
to apply their knowledge reasonably quickly. Presenting material from both perspectives was
the only concession made to learning styles. However, right- and left-brain thinkers require
practice and repetition for retention. Simply changing one's position in a lecture theater when
beginning a new topic is helpful to kinesthetic learners who associate learning with location.
Regular reinforcement of the metacognitive training program concepts was given
during the course. This took the form of brief examples of study practices and suggested
activities. In particular, students were referred to social constructivism (vonGlaserfeld, 1993;
Ernest, 1995) and were encouraged to discuss their assignments with other students. In order
to accommodate students who had a low social-need strength, assessments were con-
structed so they could be completed on an individual or group basis. A clear statement of
objectives was given for each lecture. This statement was revisited at the end of each lecture
to confirm that the objectives had been met. The number of objectives was restricted to seven
or fewer to correspond with Miller's (1956) thinking. In earlier lectures, students were given
suggested strategies to help them remember the subject matter. Subsequently, students were
encouraged to develop and use their own methods. However, in each lecture, I presented the
objectives in the form of a list and a mind map.
