IP&T 301: Applied Lesson Plan - Cognition

In order to help the students really grasp the information presented in this lesson and process it so that it will move to their long-term memories and be accessible information for them, I would focus on helping the children explore and apply the information throughout the lesson. As they are required to retrieve information about shapes throughout the lesson and use this in their working memories, this will help to enable them to also pull out this information at later times.

3 strategies I would use to achieve this would be the following:

1. Keyword Mnemonic Method: I would have the students, as a class, make up keyword nemonic devices to remember the names and characteristics of shapes.

2. Rote Memorization: I would teach the children the following song about shapes to help them remember the characteristics of certain shapes.

Shapes
(Sung to Are You Sleeping?)

This is a square. This is a square.
Can you tell? Can you tell?
It has four sides, all the same size.
It’s a square. It’s a square.

This is a circle. This is a circle.
Can you tell? Can you tell?
It goes round and round. No end can be found.
It’s a circle. It’s a circle.

This is a triangle. This is a triangle.
Can you tell? Can you tell?
It only has three sides that join to make three corners.
It’s a triangle. It’s a triangle.

This is a rectangle. This is a rectangle.
Can you tell? Can you tell?
My sides are sometimes short or long. I sing a happy song.
It’s a rectangle. It’s a rectangle.

3. Distributed Practice: I would teach the students and have them practice with shape names and characteristics over a longer period of time with breaks throughout the lessons to that the information the children learn will sink in more and make its way into the long-term memory.

Five considerations I would incorporate into this lesson plan:

1. Attention and Perception:
I would help my students to process information about shapes by using a hook at the beginning so that the children would be interested and pay attention during the lesson. The hook would be a game of "I Spy" using shape characteristics to describe objects around the room. By getting the children involved from the start and helping them to be excited about the subject, this will help them to pay better attention and get the information more effectively into their working memories.
2. Sensory Memory:
The children would utilize their sensory memories by doing visual activities with shapes throughout the lesson. When the students have the opportunity to see the physical shapes and use manipulatives to explore them, this will increase the amount of information that will go through the sensory memory and work its way into the working and long-term memories.
3. Working/Short-Term Memory:
Because the working memory has a limited capacity, this lesson would be spread out over a good amount of time so the children are able to process all of the information that is taught. As we take breaks from learning about shapes, and then return to the subject, this would help to make the information more accessibly to the children in the future.
4. Long-Term Memory:
By exploring shapes, shape names, and their characteristics through many different activities and in many different ways, the students would be able to strengthen their understanding and connections with the information presented. Also, the shape riddles and other activities in the lesson plan would give the children opportunities to problem solve and apply the information being taught. These components of the lesson plan will help the information to move into the children's long-term memories and be accessible for pulling back into working memory whenever needed.
5. Declarative and Procedural Knowledge:
As the children learn all about shapes in this lesson, they would develop declarative knowledge of which names go with which shapes. However, they would also develop procedural knowledge by learning how to identify the shapes of objects in their surroundings and how to construct shapes on their own.