Conceptual understanding
Discuss conceptual understanding and strategies for teaching concepts.
Concepts group objects, events and characteristics on the basis of common properties. It helps
us to simplify, summarize and organize information. It makes remembering more efficient. Students
form concepts through direct experiences.
The process begins with becoming aware of the features of a given concept. These are the
defining elements of a concept, the dimensions that make it different form another concept. Then the
process continues by defining the concept and providing examples. The rule-example strategy is an
effective way of doing this. (1) Define the concept, a part of this is to link it to a superordinate concept
and identify its key features. (2) Clarify terms in the definition, (3) give examples to illustrate the key
features and (4) provide additional examples, ask the students. Then the process continues by
hierarchical categorization and concept mapping. Then hypotheses are tested, these are specific
assumptions and predictions that can be tested to determine their accuracy. At last prototype
matching is used. It involves individuals deciding whether an item is a member of a category by
comparing it with the most typical items of the category.
Thinking
Describe several types of thinking and ways that teachers can foster them.
Thinking involves manipulating and transforming information in memory. Increased interest
has been shown to the development of children’s executive function. It involves managing one’s
thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior and exercise self-control. In early childhood it involves
developmental advance in cognitive inhibition, flexibility, goal-setting and delay of gratification.
Dimensions of executive function that are important for 4 to 11 year old children’s cognitive
development and school success:
1. Self-control/inhibition
2. Working memory
3. Flexibility
The most important change in adolescent cognitive development is improvement in executive
function. It is an increase in cognitive control, which involves effective control in a number of areas,
such as attention, thoughts and flexibility.
Reasoning is logical thinking that uses induction and deduction to reach a conclusion.
, Inductive reasoning involves reasoning from the specific to the general. It consist of drawing
conclusions about all members of a category based on observing only some of its members. An
important aspect is repeated observation, than a repetitive pattern can be detected and a more
accurate conclusion can be drawn. The conclusion drawn are never absolutely certain. Inductive
reasoning is basic to analogies. An analogy is a correspondence between otherwise dissimilar things.
Deductive reasoning is reasoning from the general to the specific. It is always certain in the sense that
if the initial rules or assumptions are true, then the conclusion will be correct.
Critical thinking involves thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating the evidence.
Mindfulness is a key to critical thinking. It means being alert, mentally present and cognitively flexible.
The students think from different perspectives and focus on the process rather than the outcome. The
activities concerning mindfulness are grouped under the topic of contemplative science. Several
cognitive changes occur during adolescence that facilitate improvement in critical thinking:
Speed, automaticity, capacity, more knowledge in different domains, increased ability to
construct new combinations of knowledge and a greater range and more spontaneous use of
strategies or procedures such as planning.
MindTools are used as technology to improve critical thinking, it scaffolds students creation of
knowledge and reasoning about subject content. Semantic organization tools, help students organize,
analyze and visualize information they are studying. Dynamic modeling tools, help students explore
connections between concepts. Information interpretation tools, help learners access and interpret
information. conversation and collaboration tools allow students to interact and collaborate with
experts and other students around the world.
Decision making is thinking that involves evaluating alternatives and choosing among them.
There are biases and flawed heuristics that affect the quality of decisions. Common flaws involve
confirmation bias, belief perseverance, overconfidence bias and hindsight bias. Decision making is
improved when we are aware of these potential flaws. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for
and use information that supports our ideas rather than refutes them. Belief perseverance is the
tendency to hold on to a belief in the face of contradictory evidence. Overconfidence bias is the
tendency to have more confidence in judgements and decisions than we should have based on
probability or past experience. Hindsight bias is our tendency to falsely report after the fact that we
accurately predicted an event. Adolescence is a time of increased decision making. One proposal to
explain adolescent decision making is the dual-process model which states that decision making is
influenced by two cognitive systems – one analytical and one experiential, which compete with each
other. It emphasizes that it is the experiential system – monitoring and managing actual experiences –
that benefits adolescents decision making.
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