Cognitive Processes Differ for Students

¶ … cognitive processes differ for students with diverse learning abilities? Describe how the classroom can be adapted accordingly to meet the need of such students.

One of the greatest challenges for any teacher is instructing a class of students with diverse learning abilities and strengths. In one 2008 survey of 1,000 teachers by Met Life "half of the educators polled said that the learning abilities of their students were so varied that they didn't feel they could teach them effectively" (Rebora 2011). Diverse students were "defined as students with low-income status, limited fluency in English, or learning disabilities" (Rebora 2011).

Each teacher must modify the curriculum so all students receive an equal -- although not necessarily identical -- education. A common way to strive to meet state requirements is to diversify the lesson plan for different students. For example, a student with a lower level of reading ability or command of English might be assigned a relatively straightforward, informative report on a historical or scientific topic. A more advanced student might be assigned a more intensive and open-ended research project that required him or her to persuade the reader or to disprove or to prove a certain hypothesis. However, all of the assignments would address the same topic and reinforce the same learning concepts.

Another common method of teaching diverse classrooms is allowing students to be 'pulled out' for additional resource room support, which supplements the mainstream classroom activities. or, if this is not available or students are not thought to require such intensive aid, assigning students work to be completed independently in their seats, while taking different groups of students aside to review their work and provide them additional help may be an option. Collaborative learning assignments between classrooms is another option to allow for greater personalization of instruction -- a 'guest' teacher with a great deal of experience in teaching ESL students can team- teach with the 'regular' teacher and offer different strategies for presenting the material while still engaging other students.

Giving longitudinal assignments, such as having each child assemble a portfolio of his or her best work, allows the child to demonstrate his or her progress in an individualistic manner. It also permits students to showcase unique abilities, if they are allowed to use a variety of media within the portfolio. A child who is a visual learner may be able to include an editorial cartoon he or she created for a currents event assignment as well as more conventional essays. Verbally astute children can include short stories; musically adept children can include songs.

Theories of multiple intelligences emphasize that while children may have different levels of innate aptitude, every child has the potential to excel in something, just as every child has his or her weaknesses. Team assignments with multimedia components allow children to learn from one another's strengths. Different children can research, present, or illustrate various aspects of the assignment. This bolsters their sense of confidence and autonomy as well as teaches them valuable social skills. It also breaks down the inevitable hierarchies that may exist in a class between students who believe they 'aren't as smart' as their peers.

Address how information is transformed into knowledge as it passes through the three stages of sensory, short-term, and long-term memory in these students. Cite examples of strategies employed during working memory to ensure processing into long-term processing.

The sensory memory stage is very transient. "Sensory memory briefly holds the tremendous amount of information coming in from the senses. Unless you focus your attention on some part of that information, the memory disappears in about one second" (Bennoit 2001). To retain the memory of a particular sight, sound, smell, texture or taste, the individual must usually be mindful and conscious of creating the memory. He or she must make an association with the sensory stimuli and currently-existing knowledge. Auditory memory tends to last a few seconds longer than other types of sensory memory, but even this aspect of memory is transient unless it is converted into short-term memory.

Short-term memory is called the 'problem solving' area of memory and reflects input from sensory memory and information recalled from long-term memory. "Most of the contents of working memory are lost after about 30 seconds, but some is converted to long-term memories" (Bennoit 2001). Long-term memory involves encoded short-term memory, which then can be retrieved to use in moment-by-moment cognitive processes. "Simple repetition (maintenance rehearsal) may help keep things in STM, but it does not work especially well at getting things into LTM. More effective is to repeat the information in some new meaningful way. This is called elaborative rehearsal because you elaborate on the material" (Bennoit 2001).