Unit 4 - Cognition: Memory, Language, & Thought
Week at a Glance:
MON - Finish Memory, Introduce Language & Thought -- Communication
TUE - Quiz Unit 4, Language & Thought -- Acquisition, Human Nature
WED/THU - Language, Thought, & Problem Solving (Cognition)
FRI - TEST Unit 4
Quote of the Day: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein
Learning Targets for Unit 4
1. Cognition is the study of mental processes.
2. STM seems to be limited to 7+ - 2 items at any given time.
3. The differences between encoding, storage, and retrieval are important.
4. Models of LTM deal with how we organize information that we need to know.
5. Problem solving involves applying what we know in an organized way to issues that we face.
6. Language is a complex system of communication that allows us to use complex symbols to talk about things in the past or future, not just the present.
Essential Questions
1. How do humans acquire language?
2. What are the milestones to human language development?
3. How would being bilingual influence your ability to think and use the cognitive process?
4. Which theory makes more sense to you: Chomsky (ability to speak is hard wired universal to humans - "language box") or Pinker (instinct/biological adaptation)?
Agenda:
1. DO NOW Question: "Curious blue ideas sleep furiously." - At what level is that statement ambiguous?
2. Video (finish what is left for each class):
Video Study: 60 Minutes Endless Memory
Video: Endless Memory, 60 Minutes, Part I
Video: Endless Memory, 60 Minutes, Part II
3. Notes, Discussion, Video: How do we use cognition, memory, language, & thought to COMMUNICATE?
Quote of the Day: "Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language." - Steven Pinker
Learning Targets for Unit 4
1. Cognition is the study of mental processes.
2. STM seems to be limited to 7+ - 2 items at any given time.
3. The differences between encoding, storage, and retrieval are important.
4. Models of LTM deal with how we organize information that we need to know.
5. Problem solving involves applying what we know in an organized way to issues that we face.
6. Language is a complex system of communication that allows us to use complex symbols to talk about things in the past or future, not just the present.
Essential Questions
1. How does language influence thought?
2. How can language reveal information to us about human nature?
Agenda:
1. Quiz - Unit 4
2. Do Now Question (after quiz): How does language influence thought?
2. Notes, Discussion, Video & Introduction: How does language influence thought? (Part II)
Video: Pinker language is a window into the mind. 7:23
Video: Steven Pinker Believes Language Reveals Human Nature, 27 minutes
Wednesday, Oct. 17 & Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012
Quote of the Day: “Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.” — Daniel Kahneman
Learning Targets for Unit 4
1. Cognition is the study of mental processes.
2. STM seems to be limited to 7+ - 2 items at any given time.
3. The differences between encoding, storage, and retrieval are important.
4. Models of LTM deal with how we organize information that we need to know.
5. Problem solving involves applying what we know in an organized way to issues that we face.
6. Language is a complex system of communication that allows us to use complex symbols to talk about things in the past or future, not just the present.
Essential Questions
1. Can a person 'think' without using language?
2. What are the four main strategies to problem solving?
3. How does the work of Kahneman and Tversky demonstrate that people's attitudes toward risks concerning gains may be quite different from their attitudes toward risks concerning losses.
Agenda:
1. Do Now Question: Can you "think" without language? If so, how?
2. Notes, Video, Discussion: Language & Thought, Pt. 3: Cognition at Work
Video Clip: Video: 60 Minutes "Secret Language of Elephants" 14:19
How do scientists study animal behavior to effectively understand human behavior?
Link to video on YouTube: TedTalk Daniel Kahneman - "Our Experiencing Selves" Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. What does Kahneman say the ideal length of a vacation would be?
Friday, Oct. 19, 2012
Quote of the Day: "I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma." - Eartha Kitt
Learning Targets for Unit 4
1. Cognition is the study of mental processes.
2. STM seems to be limited to 7+ - 2 items at any given time.
3. The differences between encoding, storage, and retrieval are important.
4. Models of LTM deal with how we organize information that we need to know.
5. Problem solving involves applying what we know in an organized way to issues that we face.
6. Language is a complex system of communication that allows us to use complex symbols to talk about things in the past or future, not just the present.
Essential Questions
Agenda:
1. TEST Unit 4