The questions I ask you to address each week are all related to theories of learning and are intended to help you

Really!

 

Please read this document to help you understand WHY I ask you to do this assignment and ease your fears about what I expect. 

 

 

 

 

 Identify ONE major claim and evaluate the kind of evidence used to support it?

            A claim is a statement about they way things are thought to be.  Here is a silly example:

Claim:   All Bermuda College lecturers are clumsy.

In psychology it is very important that all claims are SUPPORTED by some kind of evidence.  Obviously some evidence is better than others and that is your job to evaluate the quality of the evidence.  For example:

Evidence A:  I saw Dr. Faries trip on the way to class.

Is this solid evidence for the claim?  Why not?

Evidence B.  10 randomly chosen Bermuda College lecturers were asked to perform simple reaction time tasks.  Error rates were 72% compared to the error rates of 10 randomly chosen Cedarbridge Academy teachers which were at 12%

Is this solid evidence for the claim?  Why or why not?

    (note:  the above examples are fictitious!)

 

THE REASON I want you to do this is because critical thinking is a necessary part of your education.  I do not want to indoctrinate you nor do I think you should believe all or even most of the claims made in your text and by me.  Your “job” is to decide for yourself whether each theory we consider can help us understand and predict human behaviour.  Of course, in order to reject a claim or theory in this way you really need to know what the claim or theory is.  But feel free to disagree with it (see question 4).

 

 

        Briefly describe one example from your own experience or someone you know that is relevant for the topic in this chapter.

This is straightforward but an important exercise when learning new material.  The more you can relate the material to things you already know, the better off you will be. 

 

        Identify one thing you agree with about either the theories outlined or the use of the evidence to support them?  Be specific.

AND

        Identify one thing you disagree with about either the theories outlined or the use of the evidence to support them?  Be specific

 

Many students find disagreeing to be the most difficult thing I ask in the weekly assignments.  There is no reason why you should not be able to voice a legitimate disagreement with something an expert says.  Psychology is a growing knowledge and it will only be worthwhile if people are able and encouraged to disagree with current knowledge.  It is important both for the field as well as for you as a student to get in the habit of clearly thinking through your disagreements.  If you look hard enough you should be able to find something to disagree with. 

 

   Identify at least one thing that surprised you in this reading.

 

   Ask one good question about the chapter.

        ASKING QUESTIONS is the most important activity a student can engage in to really understand and retain information.   When you naturally ask questions you learn almost effortlessly and you certainly don't need to study as much.   As you read your chapters you should get in the habit of asking many questions.  Jot these down and see if you can't find an answer to these somewhere in the chapter.   Very often you will find that a question you ask is answered in the next few paragraphs.  The effect this has is that the information that answers your question is almost immediately learned.  No rote memorization required.