Mod 26-27

Cognition: All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Thinking: The active, goal-oriented part of cognition, allowing for problem-solving and the ability to draw conclusions.

Concepts (Schemas): A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
Prototype: A mental image or best example of a category.
- Example: Think of a type of bird.
- Follow-up: Which type of bird were you thinking of? Which of these is the closest to what you had in mind?

Algorithm: A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; it is time-intensive.
Heuristic: A simple thinking strategy, or mental shortcut, that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; it is speedy but prone to errors.

Some ways that cognitive tendencies can lead us astray include:
- Confirmation Bias: The tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
- Fixation: The inability to see a problem from a new perspective; it acts as an obstacle to problem-solving.

Representative Heuristic: Judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent or match particular prototypes; this may lead us to ignore other relevant information.
- Example:
- Scenario: Sally is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful, has a need for order and structure, and possesses a passion for detail. Sally is most likely a:
  - a) Truck driver
  - b) Librarian
Availability Heuristic: Judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances readily come to mind, we presume such events are common.
- Example: Which is more likely to cause death: car accidents or airplane accidents?

Creativity: The ability to produce new and valuable ideas.
Convergent Thinking: Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution; it produces one correct answer.
Divergent Thinking: Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; it is creative thinking that diverges in different directions, producing many answers to the same question.

Think-pair-share: What are potential consequences of not fostering creativity in the classroom?

FIGURE 3: How often do certain activities happen in school (responses categorized as very often, often, sometimes, rarely, or never)?
- Students:
- 58% memorize facts and definitions.
- 49% practice what they've learned using exercises and repetition.
- 36% come up with their own ideas about how to solve a problem.
- 43% learn how to do well on standardized tests.
- 36% discuss topics that have no right or wrong answer.
- 16% try different ways of doing things, even if they might not work.
- 10% choose what they learn in class.
- Teachers:
- 59% memorize facts and definitions.
- 57% practice what they've learned using exercises and repetition.
- 40% come up with their own ideas about how to solve a problem.
- 31% learn how to do well on standardized tests.
- 56% discuss topics that have no right or wrong answer.
- 18% try different ways of doing things, even if they might not work.
- 26% choose what they learn in class.

Language: Our spoken, written, or signed words, and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

Lexicon: The words of a given language.
Grammar: The set of rules that are used to convey meaning through the use of the lexicon.
Phoneme: The basic sound unit; the smallest distinctive sound unit (e.g., ah, eh, etc.).
Morpheme: The smallest units of language that convey some type of meaning (e.g., prefixes, root words).

Example worksheets test understanding of various components of language such as:
- Lexicon
- Grammar
- Phoneme
- Morpheme

Semantics: The meaning we derive from morphemes and words.
Syntax: The way words are organized into sentences.
- Example:
- Proper Syntax: "She tossed the ball."
- Incorrect Syntax: "The ball tossed her."

Linguistic Determinism: The hypothesis that language determines the way that we think.
Linguistic Relativism: The hypothesis that language influences the way that we think.