Cognitive Load On Reflection And Pre-Service Teachers Transfer Of Specific Teaching Behaviors

Submitted By dac40456
Words: 682
Pages: 3

September 6, 2013

For this assignment, I decided to use the journal article titled A Case Study Examining the Impact of Cognitive Load on Reflection and Pre-service Teachers' Transfer of Specific Teaching Behaviors and was authored by Thomas W. Broyles, Cory M. Epler, and Jessica W. Waknine, who are all from Virginia Tech University. The article goes into detail about a study in which twenty seven pre-service teachers in Career and Technical Education were examined. It showed how reflection and transfer of certain teaching behaviors are impacted by cognitive loads. Once all the teachers were selected, they were broken up into fourteen teams. The teachers were videotaped while teaching a lesson that was pre-written. After their teaching session was over, the different groups were then asked to reflect what they taught and how they taught it. From there, the groups were divided even further as seven groups were asked to be in an experimental group that was to have their reflective experience create a cognitive load that was higher than that of the other group. The second group was then placed into a control group that was designed to have a lesser cognitive load than their counterparts. Following the second round of teaching, focus groups were then used to engage the participants in discussion. Following the focus groups concluded their discussions; the individuals who were researching this subject came up with a conclusion of the higher cognitive load of the first group had a greater impact on the depth of reflection and transfer of specific teaching behaviors. The overall reflective experience of the pre-service teachers was greatly impacted and their behavior towards teaching was affected by their participation in the study. When I read this journal article, I couldn’t help but think “of course” because one would imagine that the better a teacher knows the subject that they are teaching, then the better that they will be able to teach it. Those teachers being more comfortable in that subject would then be able to find new and creative ways to teach the lesson. This would have a greater impact on their students. I have had some really great teachers and professors throughout my education experience and I have had some that weren’t so great. The teachers that were really good were the one that tried to get the proverbial wheels turning in the students head and had them thinking about the topics that were taught even after the class was over. When teaching, I have found that some students might wonder off mentally for