Category Archives: Learning

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Article # 1: Getting it wrong: Surprising Tips on how to learn

In this article by Henry L. Roediger and Bridgid Finn the researchers mentioned different affective strategies that can be used to help student learn a material better. The methods the researchers suggested contradicted the use of the no errors permits. The no error method basically provided students with correct answer to a problem and repeat this process till the students remembers it. This type of technique is supposed to help the student slowly learn from their mistakes and get the question right. According to Nate Kornell, Matthew Hays and Robert Bjork they believe that it would be better that “learning becomes better if conditions are arranged so that students make errors.” When it comes to people remembering, things they would remember it better and longer if they are given hard questions knowing that they can fail. In a series of experiments that was conducted, it was shown that if students were to make an unsuccessful try to retrieve information before receiving the answer, they could remember the information better than in a control condition in which they are simply to study the information. They conducted another experiment where they have a group students that required to learn pairs of “weak associates,” words that are related in some way. The word that they chose to give them was star-night. So they gave they the students the first word then they were ask to think of the word that associates with it. There was a pretest condition they were given the first word which was star and then was given a few seconds to think of a word that goes with it. The thing about this is the students is just going to think about the first word that comes to mind think it’s right but it’s not. Because they were only given a short time to think about it. They might say bright because of the word star. In the control condition, the students were given the pair to look at for 13 seconds. Because of the little more time they had, some students was able to guess the word. They found out that the students remembers the pairs better if they first tried to think the answer before they were shown the answer. Since they were given such a short time, they didn’t really have time to think about their answer meaning that they most likely get it wrong. But if they were given more time there is a chance for them to get the answer right.

A similar interesting article which can relate to “Getting it wrong: surprising tip to learn” targeted towards youth and providing different learning techniques to learn to bolster schools method to teach. There is a definitive issue of students being left behind in an educational system. With the combined effort of multiple educational psychologist, an experiment is conducted on students in efforts to alleviate this problem. The psychologist went forward knowing that the educational system would have to be corrected in many aspects. There are ten techniques that were applied during this experiment. Some techniques were chosen because of their accessibility, and the other chosen because the techniques students often use. These techniques are elaborative interrogation, self-explanation, summarization, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic, imagery use for text learning, rereading, and practice testing, distributed practice, and interleaved practice. In order to make an accurate hypothesis the psychologist applied those ten techniques to four categories of variables: learning conditions, student characteristics, materials, and criterion tasks. The article defines all these variables as the following: Learning Conditions are environmental (I.E alone or in a group), Student Characteristics are age/ability/prior knowledge, Materials vary from simple mathematics to complicated science text books, and  the Criterion Task are tapping memory, problem solving, and comprehension. The information that is provided generalizes the information because of the findings being extensive. Before the article gives results, it gives a disclaimer that the findings are generalized across the different variables combined with techniques. Meaning some techniques could not be properly evaluated. The techniques with the highest utility assessment were practice testing, and distributed practice. Just shy of high utility were elaborative interrogation and self-explanation. The lowest were summarization, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic, imagery use for text learning, and rereading. It seems like the psychologist here really done their homework, and made sure they had all variables accounted for. My only gripe is if any of these findings are being properly utilized. I believe it is of the utmost importance to make sure students are provided with an environment that which they can truly grow in intelligence, and not be forced fed knowledge with no retention in mind. So my question is anyone using this information to change the educational system? And if not than why not?

Throughout human lifespan they will always be a period of time that consist of learning. Furthermore, learning is a process that is never ending and human has been finding ways to improve on this process. The researched that Nate Kornell, Matthew Hays, Lindsey Richland, Liche Kao,  and Robert Bjork conducted at U.C.L.A has taken us one step forward towards the improvement of the never ending process of learning. A series of experiments was done to defy the idea that the best way to learn something is to be given the correct answer to a problem and study it. The researchers mainly focused around the concepts that we all learn from our mistakes, and painting a clear images in our mind before illustrating it on paper helps us paint a better picture. They prove their ideas through a series of different experiments which shows that we tend to do better at something if we fail at it first. This idea gives us a fundamental concept to focus on when approaching a problem. Although this methods might raise some questions such as: does not failing at something lowest a person confident to do better. The experiments shows still shows that the retrieval attempt is most effective.

I think the authors in the first article “Getting It Wrong’’ surprising tips on how to learn by Henry L. Roediger and Bridgid Finn give good enough reason and data to support their conclusion in the first experiment, because I believe if you continuously repeat something to an individual they will remember it eventually. I feel like this is the most common way to learn. In Nate Kornell, Matthew Hays and Robert Bjork also give good enough reason because if we would arrange questions so that person can get the question wrong and the reason I believe this is a great method is because for an example you give a 8th grader an easy question he isn’t really learning but if you give him questions that you know he will get wrong not only will he get the questions right from multiple attempts but he will be required to think and he will know why he got it wrong and know what he did to get it correct. The last method is an experiment of time if kids have more time on the test they will have a better chance of getting the problems right on the exam. If you are given a short amount of time you will be thinking at a faster rate and you may end up taking a guess and getting the problem wrong. Out of these experiments I personally like Henry L. Roediger and Bridgid Finn the more you repeat something our brains will process it and sort of have a photographic memory on what was said and what exactly happened. I do think the author provided good enough reasons and data to support their conclusions because the techniques with the highest utility assessment were practice testing and distributed practice. The reason I felt this is a great and successful experiment because students will have a better understanding of what is going to be on the test but also improve their test taking abilities. What I like about the work is that we get to see what a long term change in the student’s grades after using this experiment. The author should have asked what did the students who did not have a practice test do. I will personally go to the first experiment in the article “Getting It Wrong’’ by Henry L. Roediger when you repeat something a person will eventually remember it just like how we know the national anthem we have heard it so many times. The second article would be my backup but it is also great because you will have a practice test see what you got wrong and know why and then be ready for the actual test.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking psychologically

 

Members:

Philippe Paul

Shawn Villeta

Kiara wright

Justin Casiano

Research Project #1 Learning

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Introduction to Psychology 1101

9/28/16

Angel Dominguez

How do babies learn?

Babies are one of the most fascinating creatures, the way they absorb information like sponges absorb water. They retain information a massive rate. Whether they perform the task as well as humans, is another story entirely. I was observing my nephew Joey the last time I was there, a couple months ago. I was throwing out the trash and he was asking why i would do that, to throw paper plates out. I could tell he thought I was doing something wrong. I told him that once you  finish eating, it becomes trash that needs to be thrown out. I had to explain this to him quite a few times until he finally started incorporating it into his to do lists. He finished eating a couple hours later, and he looked at me is he wanted me to remind him of something, so I told him to throw out his food and He asked me to accompany him to make sure he did it right. I opened the trash bin for him and he dumped it out, asking if he did it right once the food was disposed of. Every once in awhile, he won’t even ask me to go with him, he just walks up and I find him throwing away the food after he’s done.  It amazes me how awesome my nephew is, because there was a point where I got lazy after eating a lot of food, and he tells me that I have to throw away the food because it’s trash.

There was another observation I made which I believe is quite fascinating, I have a pet lizard who my nephew was scared of because it was so small. I tried to get him to put it on his hand for quite a while repeatedly telling him that he won’t hurt him and he was always scared of him. It’s crazy because, in my case at least, you don’t just get over your fears out of the blue.Last Monday, the 19th of September, I had it with me and he just walks up to me and asks if he can hold it. I say yes and he holds out his hands the way I’ve been showing him for the past few months before. It fascinate me, because I think he’s so scared of the lizard that he completely forgets what I taught him, here we are a few months later and he just does everything I’ve been showing him as if I just taught him yesterday. I tried something different the very next day, I visited him after my college class, the 20th of September. I showed him different pictures of lizards and I told him what specific type of lizards they were, I showed him bearded dragons, leopard geckos, the African fat tailed Gecko, and then I showed him a picture of my lizard, who just so happened to be a leopard gecko. He immediately said that it was my lizard and he a made  motion with his hands, as if he was recalling when he held the lizard the day before.

While the other two observations I made were based on experiments I made,this last one I tried was how babies try to lie to get out of things they don’t want to do. Every single time I sleep over at my brothers house, Joey needs to sleep at a certain time so that a pattern can be established. I was in the next room about to sleep, and Joey comes in saying that his gave him permission to sleep with me. In comes his father not long after, telling Joey that he needs to go to bed in his room. !0 minutes later, he wants milk, but while his father is preparing it for him, he sneaks off to hang out with me. He sent my brother to make milk for him, so that he could be distracted long enough to see me just a little bit more. It’s crazy how at such a young age, babies manipulate people so that they can get a desired outcome. He lied to me, saying that my brother gave him permission to sleep with me for the night, but it was a lie. He asked my brother to make him milk, only for him to sneak off and talk to me for a bit, only when my brother gave him the milk he said he wasn’t hungry. He was just trying to find any excuse to go off and talk to me more before he sleeps. Babies, learning at such a young age, that this item is hot, or that item is cold. They know they aren’t allowed to go to a certain section of the house by themselves because of the dangerous things inside it, such as kitchens and the knives inside them.  They manipulate to get what they want and they learn this as at a very young age. It amazes me how smart they can get and the information they retain when they haven’t even been enrolled in Pre-k.

 

Elu Saif

For everyone that knows me I’m an unofficial soccer analyst so when I am viewing a soccer match is not just a game for me. When everyone is watching to see their favorite team win I’m observing to see how the teams playing technically, tactically and strategically, so when is time to give an observation it will not be based on being biased it will be an open minded opinion with logic and reason. While I was watching the game I started to see a lot of flaws in both teams from the minute the whistle was blown from Trinidad and Tobago perspective there were a lot of miscommunication and tactical errors defensively that the Trinidadian team was making hence the reason Guatemala scored the first goal. On the other hand Guatemalans strikers were not technically good in front of goal because they did not capitalize on the errors that their opponents was making hence for all the miss opportunities the Trinidadians were able to scrape through and score to make both teams level before the first half ended. During the halftime both teams had their work cut out to come and give a better second half showing because it was a nail biting clash and who ever won was going through to the next round and the other team was being eliminated.
In the second half the Trinidadians came out fresh all hyped the team was much more composed the defenders were very tight at the back the coach made some adjustments and the communications was on point the way the team was possessing the ball because of that they were able to score and lead 2-1. Guatemalans on the other hand was baffle on the field the chemistry that the Trinidadian team was playing with because the composure in which they were playing with was flawless. Guatemalans started to play aggressively and to dirty which resulted in players getting sacked from the game because of their ridiculous challenges on the Trinidadian players. The game started to get so dirty that the Trinidadian team started to make changes with different players which affected their chemistry that they started with in the second half and the miscommunication started back again and they stared to do what the Guatemalans was doing in the first half started to create a lot of miss opportunities and therefore Guatemala got right back into it and scored a goal in the last minute when the game was near end. The game actually ended 2-2 which both teams earning a point and because Trinidad and Tobago had one point above them before the game the Trinidadian team advanced and the Guatemalans were eliminated and the move on to the next round.
 From the game I observed a lot of things from a football fan perspective when you miss a lot of opportunities the next team will make use of them and both teams had the price to pay for that. The other thing is when something is not badly broken do not fix it because when the Trinidadian team started to make changes it started to affect them and it also had an effect on the outcome of the game. Sometimes when you are confused you do not have to start playing dirty or aggressive to win it will only result in your team getting hurt more and you are hurting other people at the same time.
Meshal Muhammad
Observational learning is a form of cognitive learning in which new responses are acquired after watching others’ behavior and consequences/ out comes of their behavior. An example of this type of learning occurs is when long time prisoners come out of prison and are faced with the challenge of adapting to society. Majority of the prisoners who get out of jail end up going back or committing suicide  because they revert to their old ways and were unable to adapt to the new environment due to the gap between life; before and after they’re release. Many prisoners forget previously learnt skills such as driving and have to relearn. Technology, seems to be a big hurdle for many prisoners. Something that is now unconscious like turning on a smartphone takes focused learning for these freshly released prisoners. Prisoners also have very little contact with outside world during their sentence and as soon as they are released, bombarded with changed culture  and complex political agendas. Prisoners are forced to throw out all they know and adapt to a whole new environment to merely get by. We all learn how to adapt to society and how to be a productive member of it at an early age, making us forget how difficult and demanding it can be to relearn such a basic thing. Such in the movie Shaw shank redemption where the librarian decides to take his life because he is unable to coup with being treated like as an inferior . Minuscule tasks which would usually take very little time to perform take extra focus which can make one feel lesser than and exhausted.
Fatima Bah
Though the dog mind is way different than human mind, dogs can learn up to 10 skills a day depending on the type of dog. All dogs go through the same series of processes when learning a new behavior. Dogs have a short attention span and learn best with short, 5 minute, bouts of teaching, several times a day. Start teaching a new behavior somewhere with no distractions. When your dog is FLUENT, introduce distractions gradually, so that GENERALIZATION takes place. The quickest learning will take place when your dog can focus on you and the task in hand. I took some time out of the week to sit in a dog park near my house to observe the behaviors of a dog and how they learn. I witnessed a lady with a German shepherd training, she would throw a ball on the other side of the park and the dog will fetch coming back to a reward such as a treat. As well as picking up what you teach do a lot of learning of their own. They learn from other dogs that they see, and imitate their actions. There are more complex tasks that dogs seem to learn by observation as well. Some are of sufficient complexity that it would be difficult to design a program to train dogs to do effectively.
Ricardo Condado
Learning is to naturally apply new information. Everyone has different ways of learning. For example, in my math class during my junior year in high school, I sat at the back of the class. There was a group of friends who would always talk through the teachers lectures. Eventually, the teacher got tired of it and decided to separate them throughout the classroom. One of them sat next to me. He usually got lower than 50 out of 100 on his quizzes. But as soon as the teacher switched his seat, his grades started going up to a 70’s and 80’s.
This student didn’t focus at all in class because he was distracted in his conversation with his friends. His mind blurred out everything in his surroundings, including the teacher, and put all his focus on his friends. The mind works in a very interesting way, as it focus into what seems to be most important at the moment.
This is an example of behaviorism. Due to this students surroundings, which are his friends, he became oblivious to his teacher’s lectures. His behavior also changed in the class, as he used to be one of the loudest students in the class. But after being separated from his friends he became really quiet. Again, another sign of Behaviorism. This can also be a form of negative reinforcement, as he was taken away from his group of friends and it benefited him by having higher test scores.
There are many ways a person can learn. It would all just depend on the situation and the type of person they are.
Group 7
Angel Dominguez
Ricardo Condado
Meshal Muhammad
Fatima Bah
Elu Saif
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Observation of learning

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Learning is an ability that is essential to all living things in other for them to progress and evolve. Not only human beings but animals as well have the ability to absorb data that is presented to them through their surroundings and then it is interpreted in different ways, shapes and forms. We will be observing different form of learning and how it helps us to grow and form our own dependencies. We will observe operant conditioning, social learning, and classical conditioning, through familiar scenarios.

You want to get your son to do his homework, so you walk into his room nicely and you see him playing video games and you ask him to do his homework and he says ok, so you leave and then after a couple hours you go back to check up on his homework and then he says he didn’t start on it yet so you take away his video game console and then you told him if he finished his homework efficiently not only he gets back his game but he can stay up later.  So by the parent taking away the video game is an example of negative reinforcement because that parent wanted to be obeyed the first time but then that parent added a reward if it was done so this is an example of positive reinforcement . Now the child knows to do his homework not only because his game will be taken away but he can be rewarded for his job. Operant conditioning which is a method used through behavior, punishment, rewards and consequences. This scenario can be used as an exemplification for operant conditioning.

One form of learning that we observed that is most effective is social learning. Social learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely throug observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. We human’s are what can be called political creatures which means we are very dependent on one another. From birth are parents’ holds our hand in order for us to maintain our balance till we can do that ourselves. Parents know when the child no longer needs their hand to be held when the child pulls their hands away from them. Philippe experiences this with his nephew. He would hold on to his nephew hand just as when he started to walk but as time went by his nephew refused to have his hands hold when trying to walk. This observation taught us that kids are very much dependent on their guardians, but at the same time they’re learning to be independent through experiences. Behavior like so repeats itself as a child gets older. They go from wanting to hold your hand while crossing the streets to “mom I’m too big for you to be holding my hand.”. This statement is proof that a child has absorb information bestowed upon them from their guardian(s).

Another example social learning is, when Kiara was making an observation of a child swimming with her mother, but what kiara notice was that The child was struggling a little. You can tell by the expression on the little girls face that she was filled with determination not to give up. The mother offered assistance by the child refused as she wanted to learn on her own. So the mother went off to swim on her own.. The mother didn’t notice that the child stopped swimming to watch her swim. As she watched her she stayed in place and mimic the body motion of her mother. After some time has passed the child prodded the mother to watch her progress, in which she agreed. There was a noticeable difference in the child’s form so much so that even Kiara noticed, but was solidified when the mother said “ Wow you’re doing good, keep going!”. The amount of pride the mom had on her face could not be hidden, and asked the little girl how did she get so good so fast? The answer she received was “ I did it by watching you”.

Classical conditioning is a learning process that would occur through environmental stimulus an naturally accruing stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a signal before the actual natural reflex occurs. Kiara gives us a simple a example “ I would pick up a bag of cat food and th and shake it every time I feed my cat. I am teaching my cat a signal that every time she hears th bag of food being shook, she will be fed. My cat will build a natural reflex because of this ritual. The reflex is to respond to the signal of the food. The signal was the shaking the bag of cat food . The natural reflex was when the cat responded to the food.”.

 

In conclusion learning has become vital for our survival, and has also become a almost transparent act that we do everyday. There are different forms of learning like Operant conditioning, Social learning, and classical conditioning. Mostly these types of learning happen beyond our cognitive functions.

Education is what survives when what has learned been forgotten

Author.B F Skinner “ Education in 1984” New scientist 21 May 64

This digresses to a perverse reality, that the only time something is relevant in our minds is when we must learn it.

 

 

 

Thinking psychologically

Observation on learning

By:philippe paul, kiara wright, shawn villeta, Justin Casiano Continue reading →

Observation on Learning

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My little nephew, who is about 3 years old, would always follow me around and ask what is it that I am doing. I remember one day I was washing the plates, since I have chores. He asked me why I was washing the plates, since he didn’t know what it was that I was doing. I explained to him that we need to keep the plates clean so we could eat, he would ask me this every day and little by little he would start getting the hang of what it was to clean plates. I saw him at one point, he wanted to clean his plate so he went to the kitchen, and he started putting water on the plate and washing it with his hand, granted he’s a baby so he still doesn’t know how to clean the way grown ups do. there were still bits of food stuck to the plate,  he was there for a while and I asked him if he needed help, he said he couldn’t do it, so I proceeded to use the sponge and I saw the way his eyes lit up like he just saw magic for the first time. The food wiped away by some object that absorbs water, he’s like a sponge in a way too, he’s learned so many things and absorbed them in a relatively short amount of time. Still, it was amazing to see him absorb this information and try to clean the plate for himself. Needless to say, every time I have to clean piles of plates at the end of the day, he always helps me clean them. At the age of 3, he doesn’t really know to clean plates properly, but its remarkable to see the progress he’s made with only about a weeks worth of explaining the art of cleaning.

Observation on Learning

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Ricardo Condado

Psychology 1101

 

 

Learning is the ability to obtain a skill through the process of experience or it being taught. I personally experienced an example of learning. I own a dog named, skipper. We took him from a family friend since they didn’t want skipper. Before owning him, he didn’t know how to cover himself in his blanket. Skipper loved to sit next to my father. Every time skipper sat next to my father, my father would cover him up with his own sheets. Eventually, skipper learned to cover himself up in his blankets. And hasn’t been cold since then.

Observation on learning

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Jared Wiggins

Hello readers. Today I would like to tell explain to you an observation about learning. My little sister Jordyn who is only 5 now is someone I observe a lot when she learns new and exciting or even difficult stuff. She never gives up when trying to learn so it is often easy to teach her new things if you know how to teach her that is, and try to not sweat the small stuff. A few months ago I was teaching her how to pronounce the name of a character on her game we brought her 2 years ago. Everyone( or a large majority) of people are familiar with the game smash brothers I presume? Well if you don’t know smash brothers is a game that puts all or most of the Nintendo characters together in a classic fighting arena to fight against each other. My sister loves playing smash brothers on the wii u and enjoys it. However there are some characters she used to have a problem saying and even now still has some small minor issues, I however was able to teach her how to say a few character names. She knows how to say simple names like Link and Pit of course but some more intermediate names such as the names of the pokemons that come from the pokeballs she has trouble with. Such as Chespin. She used to say Chest man. I however taught her how to say it the right way but breaking down the words in a more simple way. I told her to say Chess. I then asked her to say Pen. After that I simply put the words together and she started saying Chess- Pen witch translated to Chespin. There are other words I see her say correctly that she learned eventually such as Refrigerator she used to say ‘Frig frazor’ but she got past that and has learned to say her words more efficiently.

Mitchell Landero’s Learning Observation.

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Who: My Girlfriend’s Nephew.

When: September 10, 2016.

With Who: My girlfriend’s family gathering.

Throughout our daily life we are constantly observing and learning. On Saturday night, my I attended a family party from my girlfriend, she has a three year old nephew that always misbehaves in family gatherings. However, he got used to being given chocolate every time he stayed close and didn’t hit another child. the more he behave the more chocolate he received. The chocolate would serve as a reinforcement to behave well and I witnessed how he would act just to receive one. He was learning and observing that his parents will reward him with a chocolate if he behaved good and if he did something bad her nephew would learn that his actions caused him not to get a chocolate. Eventually he learned and observed by other children how to receive a chocolate.

Learning Observation – Amanda Martinez

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When: September 9-11

Who: My little brother

During our last class session we learned about different learning methods. I’ve tested two of these methods while helping my little brother complete and learn his homework.

My little brother is 6 years old so he is very easily distracted. One day while helping him complete his homework I told him if he got majority of his reading questions right I will reward him with ice cream. He immediately sat up with excitement and did what I asked.

The next day I told my little brother if he got majority of his questions wrong then I would take away his iPad. My little brother had a confused and concerned look on his face. As he tried to read he kept thinking about the punishment I mentioned and kept losing his focus. He began to cry but still continued doing his work. Over all the positive reinforcement method had a greater learning experience than the negative punishment method.

“Learning, Yet Not Obeying” by Andrea Zambrano

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My three year old nephew Mateo was given a four wheeler motorcycle to ride around on. At first, he found it a bit strange since he had never encountered one like it before. In order to ease things a little, his mother got onto it with him to teach him the buttons and their functions. There were only two buttons on the vehicle: the upper button to go forward and the bottom button to reverse. In addition to the acceleration pedal which he had to press upon every time he wanted to move. Mateo seemed to have understood how the motorcycle works pretty well so he put it into practice. He was doing great at first, as he kept riding, he got a little carried away and forgot to push the bottom button to reverse. His mother and I reminded him about the reverse button once again. Right after that, he crashed one more time. Once again, we told him “no Mateo, not like that.” So now he took it as a joke or a game even though he learned that it wasn’t okay to crash it. Bottom line is that humans tend to always lean towards doing the opposite of what somebody tells them to do. If a person says “no, don’t do it” you are more eager to commit the act.

Reference | Personal Experience

Who: my 3-year old nephew Mateo

When: around the end of July

Where: home, in my backyard

Group 3 Ying Ren observation on learning.

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location: At class

observation on the girl who sits in front of me for math class for 2 days

I was in math class with my friend, and there is girl who’s sits in front of me who seems to get very stress out every time when the professor is asking us to try to do a question, she seems to give up on every question that she doesn’t know how to do, and me and my friend was asking her if she needed any help with the questions but she said no, but we also told her if you need help then she can ask us. I think she does need some help because she was stressing out on one question I think its probably because she was shy to ask us, but after a few minutes pass by she was slowly turning back and ask us for help . so we taught her the process to do the question and she also repeated using the formula, on the second day of the class she was abel to solve the qustion using the formula with out any struggle. on this case learning can be something that you can try to do that you were afraid to do also learning can be something that you take in to get a solution.