大脑:自己修理自己

在100多年的历史当中,神经科学大多信奉这样一个主要教条:成年人的大脑是个稳定不变、如计算机般的机器,有着一成不变的记忆和信息处理能力.     

感谢所有

My wife, Shirley, and I have gone on vacations to a quiet beach in southwestern Florida for most of our married life. If that beach could talk, it would tell of teenage newlyweds(新婚夫妇) who sunned and wrote "I love you" on its sands. It would tell of a little girl with eyes the color of the sea gathering seashells     

Instructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks

Limited processing capacity constrains learning and performance in complex cognitive tasks. In traditional instruction, novices' failure to adequately learn cognitive tasks can often be attributed to the inappropriate direction of attention and the related high or excessive load that is imposed on a learner's cognitive system. An instructional design model for the training of complex cognitive tasks should provide instructional strategies that control cognitive load. We propose such a model and recommend research in which the cognitive load of instructional manipulations is systematically investigated and determined with mental-effort based measures.     

爸爸的草帽

爸爸是个牧场老板,以养马为业,他对自己的衣着颇为自豪,他总是穿着干净的衣服,甚至在工作时也是如此:对于一个在马场工作的人而言,那是很困难的。     

Bilingual education for majority english-speaking children

A variety of second-language program options are available to anglophone children in Montreal’s public schools: French-as-a second-language (FSL), delayed and early French immersion, and full French-medium schooling. In this research, the achievement in French, English, and mathematics of two cohorts of anglophone students in each of these program options was evaluated longitudinally through grade 6 (12 years of age). The performance of these students was compared to that of comparable anglophone and francophone control groups who were attending conventional all-English and all-French schools, respectively. In terms of approximations to native-like command of French, the French-medium option was the most effective followed by the early immersion option: students in these programs were generally indistinguishable from the French Controls on all written French language tests and in mathematics. On tests of French oral skills, however, they scored below the French Controls, the extent of disparity depending on the opportunities available for social interaction with francophones. As well, no retardation in English language development was found for any of the options, even those that provided little instruction time in English. To the contrary, anglophone students scored significantly higher than English Controls on tests of English and mathematics, and in general the more concentrated the second language component, the better they performed relative to the controls on first language skills and mathematics. The apparent transfer of competence from second language to first and the bilingual advantages involved in these results are discussed in terms of time spent on the target language, the mode of instruction, and the opportunities provided for interaction with native-speaking peers.     

An Evolutionary Upgrade of Cognitive Load Theory: Using the Human Motor System and Collaboration to Support the Learning of Complex Cognitive Tasks

Cognitive load theory is intended to provide instructional strategies derived from experimental, cognitive load effects. Each effect is based on our knowledge of human cognitive architecture, primarily the limited capacity and duration of a human working memory. These limitations are ameliorated by changes in long-term memory associated with learning. Initially, cognitive load theory's view of human cognitive architecture was assumed to apply to all categories of information. Based on Geary’s (Educational Psychologist 43, 179–195 2008; 2011) evolutionary account of educational psychology, this interpretation of human cognitive architecture requires amendment. Working memory limitations may be critical only when acquiring novel information based on culturally important knowledge that we have not specifically evolved to acquire. Cultural knowledge is known as biologically secondary information. Working memory limitations may have reduced significance when acquiring novel information that the human brain specifically has evolved to process, known as biologically primary information. If biologically primary information is less affected by working memory limitations than biologically secondary information, it may be advantageous to use primary information to assist in the acquisition of secondary information. In this article, we suggest that several cognitive load effects rely on biologically primary knowledge being used to facilitate the acquisition of biologically secondary knowledge. We indicate how incorporating an evolutionary view of human cognitive architecture can provide cognitive load researchers with novel perspectives of their findings and discuss some of the practical implications of this view.     

How to make guided discovery learning practical for student teachers

Many innovative teaching approaches lack classroom impact because teachers consider the proposals impractical. Making a teaching approach practical requires instrumentality (procedures), congruence (local fit), and affordable cost (limited time and resources).This paper concerns a study on the development and effects of a participatory design based teacher training trajectory aimed at making guided discovery learning (GDL) practical for student biology teachers. First, we identified practical heuristics for designing GDL lessons by analyzing design protocols made by biology teachers who are experts in GDL. Next we inventoried student responses to their regular lessons and to GDL based lessons. Based on this we prepared a teacher training program for eleven student biology teachers in which they applied the heuristics and stepwise extended their teaching repertoire in the direction of GDL. The participants’ design processes and resulting lesson plans were scored on both use of design heuristics and GDL characteristics. The participants were interviewed about their motivational beliefs before and after the program. Results showed that student teachers are able to design GDL lessons and used the heuristics to design GDL lessons. Their motivation for implementing GDL in their classroom had increased substantially. The paper concludes with a critical reflection on our method of participatory design and its applicability.     

Training for reflective expertise: A four-component instructional design model for complex cognitive skills

This article presents a four-component instructional design model for the training of complex cognitive skills. In the analysis phase, the skill is decomposed into a set of recurrent skills that remain consistent over problem situations and a set of nonrecurrent skills that require variable performance over situations. In the design phase, two components relate to the design of practice; they pertain to the conditions under which practice leads either to rule automation during the performance of recurrent skills or to schema acquisition during the performance of nonrecurrent skills. The other two components relate to the design of information presentation; they pertain to the presentation of information that supports the performance of either recurrent or nonrecurrent skills. The basic prediction of the model is that its application leads to “reflective expertise” and increased performance on transfer tasks. Applications of the model that support this prediction are briefly discussed for the training of fault management in process industry, computer programming, and statistical analysis.