Cognition in Education

Matthew T. McCrudden is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.Danielle S. McNamara is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, USA.

"Cognition in Education is a useful primer for both students and teachers about learning—how it happens and how to improve it. The authors have struck a good balance, with just enough theory to understand and appreciate the practical learning and study strategies and tips described. The chapter on comprehension is particularly helpful and rich with ideas and examples. I especially appreciated the included glossary—all in all, the book is a great resource and an appropriate supplement for many courses."—Anita Woolfolk Hoy, Professor Emerita, The Ohio State University, USA"Drs. McCrudden and McNamara have produced an excellent, clear, and concise description of human cognition. The book is eminently readable and explains sophisticated topics in an easy-to-understand style. It also includes an ample number of concrete, personalized examples that make the content engaging and even more understandable. The student perspective and teacher perspective sections, such as "Using Knowledge of Attention: Student Perspective," provide practical and real-world suggestions that can be immediately applied to learning and teaching. This is a fine piece of work, and I have cited it in several places in my own writing."—Paul Eggen, PhD, Professor, University of North Florida, USA

• CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN COGNITIONIntroduction and OverviewInformation Processing Model of Human CognitionConsciousness or Working MemoryLong-term Memory Declarative Memory Procedural MemorySummary of Key IdeasCHAPTER 2: ATTENTION AND PREPARING TO LEARNAttention Our attention is limitedAttention and Learning People focus their attention on things that are novel, emotional, or physically distinct People focus their attention on relevant stimuliUsing Knowledge of Attention: Student perspectiveUsing Knowledge of Attention: Teacher perspective Ensuring students pay attention to information helps them learn Ensuring students avoid attending to distracting informationSummary of Key IdeasCHAPTER 3: IMPROVING MEMORYDistributed Practice Distributed practice is more beneficial when there is a time gap between study episodes The distributed practice effect is more pronounced when there is a time gap between the last study episode and the final testUsing Distributed Practice: Student perspectiveUsing Distributed Practice: Teacher perspectiveRetrieval practice Retrieving information from memory is beneficial for learning When using retrieval practice, attempting to recall is more beneficial than attempting to recognize How much time should pass between initial study and retrieval practice?Using Retrieval Practice: Student perspectiveUsing Retrieval Practice: Teacher perspectiveSummary of Key IdeasCHAPTER 4: IMPROVING COMPREHENSION ComprehensionGenerating Questions Generating high quality questions is beneficial for comprehensionElaborating and Explaining Text Generating explanations is beneficial for learning When encoding information, making information meaningful facilitates memory Graphic Organizers Completing a graphic organizer is beneficial for learningImproving Comprehension: Student perspectiveImproving Comprehension: Teacher perspectiveSummary of Key IdeasConclusionsGLOSSARYREFERENCES