Cognitive Psychology/Information Processing Case Study Analysis

Case 1:
1. After participating in a civil war re-enactment, a student will use their sensory memory so much and remember and understand this activity more than if they just read it in a book or text. They will remember how it feels, what it looks like, how the food tasted and smelled etc... These memories will be different than just reading in a book because they involve so many more of the students senses and will be easier to remember and engage in.

2. Emotions will be provoked more in the re-enactment than in a book because students will understand the hardships because they have somewhat experienced parts of it. Emotions are easier to feel if you live the process other than imagine the process. If you have passion or emotions towards what you are learning, you are more likely to pay attention and store these experiences into your memory.

3. Dual coding would mean that Mr. West would try to encode this information into the students memory by using other sensory memory that he didn't use in the activity. For example, reading a story about the civil war or writing their own fictional story or their experience with the activity down. This will help them to remember what they experienced as well.

Case 2:
4. Obviously, Mr. Richards wins this battle in the teacher's lounge. His class will satisfy many different learning types, where Mr. Dunkin will only satisfy the remembering level learners, that is if they even stay interested in his book work. A lot of teacher think that routine is effective, but students get bored and you will lose their attention. Some students might thrive in Mr. Dunkin's class, but most will hate it because of his boring organization and routine. Mr. Richards uses the information processing model because he combines his activities in his class for the visual and auditory learners, as well as pacing his class and making sure that he does not overload them with the same kind of boring work, and then his class gets to practice the curriculum in many different ways! Not just by reading the information and copying it down every Monday through Thursday and testing on Friday.

5. I personally think that it doesn not only depend on the teacher, but also on each individual student. Some students would thrive in Mr. Dunkin's boring class and just fail miserably in Mr. Richards class. I think that this is because Mr. Dunkin's class does not make the students learn at a high level of learning. If you look at Bloom's Taxonomy, Mr. Dunkin's students are remmaining in the lowest level of learning, which is remember. Now, if students are more hands on, visual and audio, they will be so much more successful in Mr. Richards class. He covers more types of learners and will entertain their attention more than Mr. Dunkin. A lot of students need this kind of motivation and being routine and organized like Mr. Dunkin will force the kids to lose interest. I think as long as you reach your objectives and goals, differientation is HUGE!!!!