Cognitive Tools in the Classroom

1. Cognitive Tools in the Classroom Dr. Lloyd Rieber The University of Georgia Department of Instructional Technology

2. Cognitive Tools • Tools that enhance the cognitive powers of human beings during thinking, problem solving and learning • Consider the analogy of how physical tools extend our physical limitations • Hammers: pounding things • Saws: cutting things • Cars: move about quickly

3. Poll: Which would you rather have? (But hurry, you only have... • [PlaceWare Multiple Choice Poll. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.] • A penny today, with the amount doubled every day for a month. • $10,000 every day for a month • Each day for a month $1000 multiplied by the day of the month • One million dollars

4. Sometimes, intuition doesn’t help… • $10,737,418.23 • One penny doubled every day for a month. • $300,000 • $10000 each day for a month • $465,000 • Each day for a month $1000 multiplied by the day of the month • $1 million

5. Cognitive tools help people by… • Easing demands on working memory • Amplifying thinking processes • Modeling relationships (within data) • Representing knowledge in ways that facilitate understanding

6. Time honored cognitive tools • A simple list • All calculating devices (even an abacus) • Mnemonics • Maps and other performance-enhancing visuals

7. Zone of Proximal Development • Vygotsky Things Cannot Even Do With Help Things Can Do With Help Things Can Do Without Help Help - Knowledgeable Other or Cognitive Tool

8. Cognitive Tools – How to use them • Constructionism and cognitive tools • Learn by building • A cognitive tool helps the construction of the artifact

9. Poll: An example of a cognitive tool is... • [PlaceWare Multiple Choice Poll. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.] • A calculator • A cheat sheet • A list • All of the above

10. Can you solve this equation? 4x-14 = 4 – 2x If so, do you know what the answer means?

11. Answer = 3

12. Use Question Field to Respond • Can any of the MS Office tools that we have covered be considered a Cognitive Tool? Why?

13. Spreadsheets • Designed to do tasks which normally involved pencils, paper, and calculators • Conceptually, think of it as a very large piece of graph paper divided into cells via rows and columns

14. Spreadsheets • Enter Data From Whatever Project • Graph Data • Hypothesize Trends • Conduct Experiment • Test Hypothesis • The power of “what if?” questions

15. Live Demo: Excel example - Penny Doubling • [PlaceWare Live Demo. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.]

16. Spreadsheet Idea • Your school is having a fund raiser • Which of the following would be the best thing to have the Fund Raiser? • Dunking Booth, Air Trampoline, Other • How would you have your kids solve this?

17. Use Question Field to Respond • What are some ideas for using a spreadsheet in your area as a cognitive tool?

18. Spreadsheet List of Ideas • Comparing Winter Temps • Having a party with a budget to decide what to buy • Heart Rate by Minutes of exercise • Relative Costs for Fast Food and Cafeteria Food • Entering number of notes per measure and look for patterns a musical piece

19. Poll: Which is not a cognitive tool use for SS? • [PlaceWare Multiple Choice Poll. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.] • Storing temperature data collected each morning by students • A grade book • Analyze data from a student administered questionnaire • Calculate the average height and arm span of class

20. Spreadsheets: Thinking Outside the Box • Using a spreadsheet to create a Civil War simulation • Particularly good example of “what if?” questions

21. Live Demo: Civil War Simulation Spreadsheet • [PlaceWare Live Demo. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.]

22. Databases • Letting the computer do what it does best – organizing information! • Database structure Files Records Fields (columns) (categories)

28. Database or Spreadsheet? • The difference between a database and a spreadsheet has been blurred in recent years • Each can do pretty much what the other can • However, each still has its strengths (affordances) • SS: Numeric relationships • DB: Classification of data

29. Live Demo: Demo of the United States Database • [PlaceWare Live Demo. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.]

30. Use Question Field to Respond • What are some ideas for using a database in your area as a cognitive tool?

31. Database Ideas • Reader/Listener Response Database • Survey Data • Dendrology Data around school • Polling Data on the Election (opinions) • Descriptions of a Garden • Supply and Demand Simulation

32. Beyond DB and SS • While the focus this week has been on databases and spreadsheets as cognitive tools, the other tools we have already covered can be used as cognitive tools • Powerpoint and Word Processing

33. Powerpoint • Able to express one’s self in more than just words • Non-linear telling • Publication!

34. Word • Classroom News • Science Reports • Social Studies Reports

35. 6 Words on Projects • Choice • Challenge • Control • Collaboration • Constructive Comprehension • Consequences Turner and Paris, 1995 on Motivation

36. Poll: Cognitve Tools are best used in the context of • [PlaceWare Multiple Choice Poll. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.] • A worksheet • A homework assignment • A project • All of the above

37. Custom Built Tools • Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education • http://hi-ce.eecs.umich.edu • Data Grabbers • Music Tools

38. - The Trekker • Collect Data Automatically • Remotely Download to Excel • Data: pH, temp, turbitity, DO, pressure

39. http://hi-ce.org/ • [PlaceWare Web Page. Use PlaceWare > Edit Slide Properties... to edit.]

40. Few Teachers Use Spreadsheets & Databases! • Did you use a spreadsheet or database as part of at least 3 lessons last year? • Elementary: 8% • Middle School & High School: • Science: 17% • Math: 13% • Social studies 11% • Ravitz (1999)

41. Emerging Technologies • Global Positioning Systems (GPS) • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) • Educational applications: • http://www.globe.gov/

42. Cognitive Tool Assignment • Develop a brief lesson plan that integrates either a database or a spreadsheet in a meaningful way to accomplish the learning goals of a lesson. • The computer tool should be central to your lesson plan such that the lesson would not be possible without the tool. • The goal of this lesson plan is not to teach the tool, but to use the tool to help teach about the content. • The lesson plan isaccompanied by at least one sample/example of the computer tool "at work" in your lesson.

43. Cognitive Tool Assignment • Use the tool to tackle a difficult concept or principle • If it’s easy to understand already, there is no need to use a cognitive tool • Think Affordances • What is it about the content that makes sense to use that tool? • Spreadsheets: Understanding numeric relationships • Databases: Understanding categorical relationships

44. Cognitive Tool Example • I have been doing this activity with my second grade students in which we get a small bag of m&m's and estimate the number inside and how many of each color. After we recorded our answers we would open the bags and count them to see where we were in terms of our estimates. We would then chart our results. This activity with excel allows students to focus on making the comparisons between the company estimates and their own. They do not need to spend time drawing charts and coloring them in. They can spend all of their time thinking.

45. Cognitive Tool Example • The idea behind this project is to verify truth in packaging.  The students will bring in specific brands and sizes of potato chips. We will number each bag for identification.  They will then weigh the packages using sensitive scales in the lab to determine if there are differences in the actual weight.  • As a secondary activity, once the basic one is done, each student would open a designated package and count the chips.  They will input that number into the spreadsheet and will determine whether there is a correlation between the weight and the number of chips.

46. Cognitive Tool Example • Each year my students build their own derby cars. We roll them down an inclined plane and measure the distance. Each student “gets” three rolls and we take the average. My students are sixth graders and not all of them are quick or very good with math. I found that by using the Excel program, students could enter their three distances and the computer will average it for them.

47. Cognitive Tool Example • For a different education course I developed a science lab on evaluating the effects of fertilizer on plant growth response. However, what I did not include was a means for the students to process their data. For this cognitive tool project, I used Microsoft Excel to develop a spreadsheet for them to enter data as well as analyze their findings. After analyzing the data I would have students make graphs to better help them understands their findings. In the past, I have used Excel to analyze my own data. However, this project help me to format a spread sheet beyond analyzing data but to design it to enhance student learning and critical thinking.

48. Cognitive Tool Assignment • Submit a brief lesson plan/description (as a word doc) and your SS or DB as separate files to the “cognitive tool” assignment on WebCT. • What are your ideas? I will use the rest of class time to discuss your ideas.

49. That’s all folks! Time for questions