Using Mental Representations to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills

Senge (1990) characterizes the creation and utilization of mental models as the assumptions held by organizations and individuals.  When considering mental models, it is important to recognize the need for these models to be based on fundamental and "deeply held images of thinking and acting” (Jacobson, 2000, p. 102).  Therefore, system dynamics and systemic thinking allow mental models to become more effectively coordinated and simulated during the process of learning.  Through the creation of explicit, clear, and easily communicated models, system dynamics extend mental models.  Through the improvement of the quality of dynamic decisions based on existing mental models, systemic thinking then provides the means to improve the mental models and thereby improve the quality of dynamic decisions that are based on those mental models.

While clear vision is accepted as essential for attaining goals, there is a need to embrace what vision means in relation to learning.  Effective educators embrace the concept that learning is improved through utilization of graphic mental representations.  Reason (2010) defined the establishment of a mental representation as the capacity to create a vision.  During the learning process, the opportunity for mastery of abstract concepts is optimized when progressively complex steps and increased independence are effectively communicated, respective of the stages of learning (Idol & West, 1993).  During the learning process, mental representations do not automatically emerge.  Therefore, teachers influence the capacity to learn through presentation of graphic mental representations. 

Below is a mental representation of the process for synthesizing two research articles.  Respective of the students’ acquisition stage of learning, students would initially be provided with the common theme by which to begin the process for comparing and synthesizing the two provided articles.  In this example, the expectation for students in a teacher preparation program would be to analyze, summarize, and finally synthesize the Navarete et al (1990) and Heritage (2010) articles based on the theme: Changes in Classroom Assessment Practices since 1990.  Teaching higher order thinking skills requires implementation of good pedagogy that respects the students’ zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1979) and utilizes formative assessment (Black & Wiliam, 1998).  

References:

Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Educational Assessment:

Principles, Policy and Practice. 5(1), 7-74

Heritage, M. (2010) Formative assessment and next-generation assessment systems: Are we losing

an opportunity. Paper prepared for The Council of Chief State School Officers.

Washington DC. Retrieved from:

http://www. edweek. org/media/formative_assessment_next_generation_heritage. pdf

Idol, L., & West, J. F. (1993). Effective instruction of difficult-to-teach Students: An inservice

and preservice professional development program for classroom, remedial, and special

education teachers. Austin, TX: Pro-ed.

Jacobson, R.D. (2000). Leading for a change: How to master the 5 challenges faced by

every leader. Boston, MA: Butterworth Heinemann

Navarete, C., Wide, J., Nelson, C., Martinerz, R., & Harget. G. (1990) Informal assessment in

educational evaluation.  Paper prepared for The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual

Education (NCBE) Washington, DC.  Retrieved from:

http://www. ncela. gwu. edu/files/rcd/BE017505/PIG3. pdf

Reason, C. (2010). Leading a learning organization: The science of working with others.

Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Senge, P.M. (1990). The fifth discipline. London: Century Business

Tudge, J., & Scrimsher, S. (2003). Lev S. Vygotsky on education: A cultural-historical,

               interpersonal, and individual approach to development. In B. J. Zimmerman &

D. H. Schunk (Eds.), Educational psychology: A century of contributions

(pp. 207–228) Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

To cite:

Anderson, C.J. (May 4, 2014) Using mental representations to promote higher order thinking skills.

[Web log post] Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/

 

The Need for Active Listening....wait, what???

As an element of emotional intelligence, social awareness is defined as the ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what is really going on with them.  This often means perceiving what other people are thinking and feeling even if you do not feel the same way (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002).  Perceiving emotions in others requires much greater listening than that done with one’s ears.  Being socially aware, which is certainly a core competency of any leadership model, requires listening and observing skills.  The effective leader and the efficient learner both understand the importance of watching and listening to people in order to “get a good sense of what they are thinking and feeling” (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009, p. 38)

Active listening is a core element for building strong collaborative partnerships, which is important for lifelong learning because, “the weaker the connection you have with someone, the harder it is to get your point across” (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009, p. 44).  Based on the information process model of learning (Ashcroft, 1994), active listening therefore promotes active learning.  As described by Gordan (1970), active listening requires the effective use of silence, paraphrasing, acknowledging without judgment, clarifying, and exhibiting empathy.  Covey (1989) exemplified four aspects of listening that includes:

·         Ignoring, (obvious),

·         Pretending, this usually involves hearing but not processing the information,

·         Selective listening, this involves processing only parts of the message,

·         Attentive listening involves paying attention and focusing on what you are hearing.

·          

Traits that affect listening effectiveness were described by Pearce, Johnson, and Barker (2003), in Table 1 (as in Ladyshewsky& Vilkinas, 2011):

·        

Objectivity Staying neutral and not getting involved emotionally, enhances listening.

Age Listening increases with age, until you get very old.

Open Mindedness Having an open mind improves your ability to listen.

Level of self-centeredness Over-preoccupation with self-image, knowledge or importance reduces effective listening.

Focus Don't do multiple tasks when trying to listen.

Intelligence A moderate relationship exists between intelligence and listening.

Level of anxiety and stress Stress lowers our ability to listen.

Managerial rank Managers tend to listen better than subordinates.

Presence of problems Diminishes hearing.

Gender Women are generally considered better listeners; men prefer to listen to the general, women to the details.

References:

Ashcraft, M.H. (1994). Human memory and cognition (2nd Ed.). NY: Harper Collins

Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J., (2009) Emotional Intelligence 2.0.  Talentsmart Service

Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Restoring the character ethic. New

            York: Free Press.

Dittmar, J. K. (2006, Fall). An interview with Larry Spears: President & CEO for the Greenleaf

            Center for Servant Leaders. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of

      emotional intelligence. Boston: HBS Press.

Gordon, Thomas. (2000). 1st rev. pbk. ed edition Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0609806939

Ladyshewsky R. Vilkinas, T.  (2011). Academic leadership: Fundamental Building Blocks for Fieldwork Coordinators [Resource book]. Strawberry Hills, New South Wales: Australian Learning and Teaching Council

Pearce, C. G., Johnson, I. W., & Barker, R. T. (2003). Assessment of the Listening Styles

            Inventory: Progress in establishing reliability and validity. Journal of Business and

            Technical Communication, 17(1), 84–113.

How Can You Become A Successful Student?

What makes an effective student? Are there characteristics exhibited by successful compared to unsuccessful students? YES! Successful students exhibit a combination of successful attitudes and behaviors as well as intellectual capacity. Ludewig (1992) identified ten key characteristics:
1) Successful students are responsible and active. Successful students get involved in their studies, accept responsibility for their own education, and are active participants in it! Responsibility means control. It's the difference between leading and being led. Successful students recognize their own efforts control their grade, so they earn the glory or deserve the blame, and as a result they make right choices. Successful students recognize their active classroom participation improves grades without increasing study time. Think it through: you can sit there, act bored, daydream, or sleep. By contrast, you can actively listen, think, question, and take notes like someone in charge of his or her learning experience. Either option costs one class period. However, the former method will require a large degree of additional work outside of class to achieve the same degree of learning the latter provides during the class period. A successful student recognizes the choice is his or hers. 2) A successful student has educational goals. As a result the successful student has legitimate goals and is motivated by what the goals represent in terms of career aspirations and life's desires. Ask yourself these questions: What am I doing here? Why have I chosen to be sitting here now? Is there some better place I could be? What does my presence here mean to me? Answers to these questions represent your "Hot Buttons" and are, without a doubt, the most important factors in your success as a student. If your educational goals are truly yours, rather than someone else's, then your goals will motivate your vital and positive academic attitude. If you are familiar with what these hot buttons represent and refer to them often, especially when you tire of being a student, then nothing can stop you. If you aren't setting effective goals then everything can and will distract you! 3) A successful student asks questions. Successful students ask questions to provide the quickest route between ignorance and knowledge. In addition to securing knowledge he or she is a seeker. Asking questions has at least two other extremely important benefits. The process helps you pay attention to your instructor and helps the instructor pay attention to you! Think about it. If you want something, go after it. Get the answer now, or fail a question later. There are no foolish questions, only foolish silence. It's your choice. 4) A successful student learns that a student and teacher make a team. Most instructors want exactly what you want: they would like for you to learn the material in their respective classes and earn a good grade. Successful students reflect well on the efforts of any teacher; if you have learned your material, the instructor takes some justifiable pride in teaching. Join forces with your instructor, he or she is not an enemy, you share the same interests, the same goals - in short, you're teammates. Get to know your professor. You're the most valuable players on the same team. Your jobs are to work together for mutual success. Neither wishes to chalk up a losing season. Be a team player! 5) A successful student doesn't sit in the back. Successful students minimize classroom distractions that interfere with learning. Students want the best seat available for their entertainment dollars, but willingly seek the worst seat for their educational dollars. Students who sit in the back cannot possibly be an effective teammate. Why expose yourself to the temptations of inactive classroom experiences and distractions of all the people between you and your instructor? Of course, instructors know students chose the back of the classroom because they seek invisibility or anonymity, both of which are antithetical to efficient and effective learning. If you are trying not to be part of the class, why, then, are you wasting your time? Push your hot buttons, is their something else you should be doing with your time? 6) A successful student takes good notes. Successful students take notes that are understandable and organized, and review them often. Why put something into your notes you don't understand? Ask the questions now that are necessary to make your notes meaningful at some later time. A short review of your notes while the material is still fresh helps you learn more. The more you learn now, the less you'll have to learn later and the less time it will take because you won't have to include time for deciphering notes. The whole purpose of taking notes is to use them, and use them often. The more you use them, the more they improve. 7) A successful student understands that actions affect learning. Successful students know their personal behavior affect their feelings and emotions which in turn can affect learning. If you act in a certain way that normally produces particular feelings, you will begin to experience those feelings. Act like you're bored, and you'll become bored. Act like you're disinterested, and you'll become disinterested. So the next time you have trouble concentrating in the classroom, "act" like an interested person: lean forward, place your feet flat on the floor, maintain eye contact with the instructor, nod occasionally, take notes, and ask questions. Not only will you benefit directly from your actions, your classmates and teacher may also get more excited and enthusiastic. 8) A successful student talks about what he or she is learning. Successful students get to know something well enough that they can put it into words. Talking about something, with friends or classmates, is not only good for checking whether or not you know something, it’s a proven learning tool. Transferring ideas into words provides the most direct path for moving knowledge from short-term to long-term memory. You really don't "know" material until you can put it into words or action. So, next time you study, don't do it silently. Talk about notes, problems, readings, etc. with friends, recite to a chair, organize a study group, pretend you're teaching your peers. "Talk-learning" produces a whole host of memory traces that result in more learning. 9) A successful student doesn't cram for exams. Successful students know that divided periods of study are more effective than cram sessions, and they practice it. If there is one thing that study skills specialists agree on, it is that distributed study is better than massed, late-night, last-ditch efforts known as cramming. You'll learn more, remember more, and earn a higher grade by studying in four, one hour-a-night sessions for Friday's exam than studying for four hours straight on Thursday night. Short, concentrated preparatory efforts are more efficient and rewarding than wasteful, inattentive, last moment marathons. Yet, so many students fail to learn this lesson and end up repeating it over and over again until it becomes a wasteful habit. Remember Einstein's definition of insanity? 10) A successful student is also a good time manager. Successful students do not procrastinate. They have learned that time control is life control and have consciously chosen to be in control of their life. An elemental truth: you will either control time or be controlled by it! It's your choice: you can lead or be led, establish control or relinquish control, steer your own course or follow others. Failure to take control of your own time is probably the single greatest study skills problem for students. It ultimately causes many students to become non-students! Procrastinators are good excuse-makers. Don't make academics harder on yourself than it has to be. Stop procrastinating. Don't wait until tomorrow to become a successful student! References: Cameron, N. E. (n.d.). Successful students. University of Manitoba. http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/economics/cameron/success.html Ludewig, L.M., (1992) Ten Commandments for Effective Study Skills. The Teaching Professor. December