Getting to "Got It!"

Helping Struggling Students Learn How to Learn

Betty K. Garner

• Publisher: ASCD
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781416606086
• eBook ISBN: 9781416612421
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

It's one of the great mysteries of teaching: Why do some students "get it" and some students don't?

In this book, Betty K. Garner focuses on why students struggle and what teachers can do to help them become self-directed learners. Difficulty reading, remembering, paying attention, or following directions are not the reasons students fail but symptoms of the true problem: underdeveloped cognitive structures—the mental processes necessary to connect new information with prior knowledge; organize information into patterns and relationships; formulate rules that make information processing automatic, fast, and predictable; and abstract generalizable principles that allow them to transfer and apply learning.

Each chapter focuses on a key cognitive structure and uses real-life accounts to illustrate how learners construct meaning by using recognition, memorization, conservation of constancy, classification, spatial orientation, temporal orientation, and metaphorical thinking. The author's simple techniques stress reflective awareness and visualization. It's by helping students to be conscious of what their senses are telling them, encouraging them to visualize the information for processing, and then prompting them to ask questions and figure out solutions on their own that teachers can best help students develop the tools they need to

* Gather, organize, and make sense of information,
* Become cognitively engaged and internally motivated to achieve, and
* Experience learning as a dynamic process of creating and changing.

Suggestions for using these techniques in daily classroom practice, advice on lesson planning for cognitive engagement, and guidelines for conducting reflective research expand this book's practical applications. Use it not only to help struggling students break through hidden barriers but to empower all students with tools that will last a lifetime.

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Chapter 1

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Cognitive Structures: What They Are and Why They Matter

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Imagine what it would be like to sit in a classroom and have nothing make sense. There are far too many students in our schools today who don’t have to imagine this, even though today’s schools are filled with dedicated teachers working hard and using research-based instructional practices in an effort to help their students learn. When we present a very well planned, logical lesson, we wonder why some students “get it” and others do not. After reexamining our methods and our curriculum, and after trying and failing again and again to reach a subset of students, we ask ourselves some hard questions: Are the students who don’t get it learning disabled? Are they unmotivated? Are they unfocused, inattentive, lazy? Are they just “slow”?

To try to reach these students, our schools offer after-school study programs, remedial reading and math programs, summer school, tutoring, resource services, and special education. Still there are students who do not understand and do not achieve. Concerned parents take these students to tutors and specialists or enroll them in expensive learning centers. Still these students struggle.

Meanwhile, sitting in the same classroom with the struggling students are the high-achieving students. They thrive on our well-prepared lessons, and secretly we suspect that they could learn from anyone at any time with any kind of method. They can do this because they know how to gather, process, and output information. They have well-developed cognitive structures.

Cognitive Structures Defined

Cognitive structures are the basic mental processes people use to make sense of information. Other names for cognitive structures include mental structures, mental tools, and patterns of thought. To clarify how cognitive structures function, I group them into three interdependent categories:

1. Comparative thinking structures process information by identifying how bits of data are alike and different. They include recognition, memorization, conservation of constancies, classification, spatial orientation, temporal orientation, and metaphorical thinking. Comparative thinking structures are foundational to learning. As the prerequisites to the more complex cognitive structures in the other two categories, they are the focus of this book.
2. Symbolic representation structures transform information into culturally acceptable coding systems. They include verbal and nonverbal language; mathematics; music and rhythms; movements, dance, and gestures; interpersonal interactions; graphics (two-dimensional drawings, paintings, logos); sculpture and constructions; and simulation, drama, and multimedia.
3. Logical reasoning structures use abstract thinking strategies to systematically process and generate information. They include deductive and inductive reasoning, analogical and hypothetical thinking, cause–effect relationships, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, problem framing, and problem solving.

One reason that educators don’t immediately identify underdeveloped or underused cognitive structures as a source of learning difficulties is that we assume they operate automatically. Our own ability to process information quickly and work easily with abstract ideas can make it difficult for us to imagine what it is like to struggle to do these things, or to grasp that it is even possible for someone over the age of 7 or 8 to not be able to gather and organize information, recognize patterns, or see “obvious” connections.

Often, neither the struggling students nor their teachers are aware of what lies behind the students’ failure. The teachers get frustrated and conclude that the students need to pay more attention, work harder, or change their attitudes. The students have no idea why they don’t get it; they think that the schoolwork is simply too hard or doesn’t make sense. They may quit trying and become behavior problems, or they may slip through the cracks in the system, passing from grade to grade with minimal competency. Those who do get by typically do so by using memorization or imitation strategies. Although these tricks can help students find right answers, using them gets students no closer to experiencing the joy and excitement of deep understanding. They get no closer to developing metability.

Two Key Points

The more educators learn about how cognitive structures affect learning, the more cause there is for us to be optimistic. There are two key points to keep in mind:

1. Each individual has to develop his or her own cognitive structures. However, just as good coaching helps athletes improve their performance, good teaching provides learning opportunities that stimulate students’ reflective awareness and visualization and help them develop their cognitive structures.
2. It is never too late to develop cognitive structures. From infancy through old age, everyone who has the neurological capacity to communicate, to be reflectively aware, and to use visualization can develop cognitive structures. When I work with students who are struggling in school, I explain that they already have the capability to learn; what they need to do is learn how to use their “mental tools.”

Andre: An Unmotivated 7th Grader

Andre was one of those seemingly unmotivated students who barely did enough to get by and really disliked school. I used an analogy to help him understand cognitive structures.

“Andre, do you know anyone who is really good at working on cars?” I asked.

“Yeah, my Uncle George.”

“Has he got some tools he uses?”

“Oh, yeah! His garage is full of wrenches and stuff.”

“He’s good, right? He knows how to use his tools and make them work for him?”

“You bet!”

“If you had his tools but didn’t know how to use them, would they do you any good?”

“Not really.”

“What if you found out that you have mental tools in your head?”

Andre looked at me suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“Your mind has tools, called cognitive structures, that will make learning a whole lot easier,” I explained. “They’ll do the work for you. Would you like that?”

“Wow!” Andre responded. “I didn’t know I had tools in my head. How do I use them?”

In class, Andre normally sat back and waited for the teacher to tell him what to do. He just followed directions. When I worked with Andre, he began to use his cognitive structures to create meaning, change his understanding, and learn. He actually became excited about his “mental tools” and enjoyed the challenge of figuring things out on his own.

How Students Use Cognitive Structures to Process Information

Students use cognitive structures to process information and create meaning by (1) making connections, (2) finding patterns, (3) identifying rules, and (4) abstracting principles.

Making Connections

Cognitive structures help students make connections with prior knowledge and experience by bridging from the known to the unknown. It is very important to ask students what sense they make of information we share with them. As we listen to their connections, we show respect for their uniqueness, encourage them to bring something to the learning situation, and identify the need to clarify misconceptions.

Finding Patterns and Relationships

Cognitive structures help students compare, analyze, and organize information into patterns and relationships. Patterns are repeated motifs or units. Relationships are logical or natural associations between any two or more things. All learning is based on relationships; that is, something has meaning when compared and contrasted with something else. From early childhood, patterns are part of the curriculum. However, patterning activities remain just imitation unless the teacher uses them to mediate students’ cognitive structure development. Here is an example of how Sandra came to understand patterns.

Sandra: Making Patterns

When I worked with Sandra, a 4th grader who was struggling in school, I gave her an assortment of colored paper shapes and asked her to make a pattern. She selected three big red circles and three big blue circles and then arranged them in an alternating red–blue line. She shoved all the other pieces into a pile.

When I asked Sandra to tell me about her pattern, she said, “Red–blue, red–blue, red–blue.”

“What makes it a pattern?” I asked.

“The same thing goes over and over.”

“What about all the other pieces?”

“They don’t make a pattern.”

“Help me understand,” I prompted.

Sandra then became a little impatient. “That’s all the big red and blue circles!”

“Are there other ways to arrange the pieces to make a pattern?” I asked.

She looked puzzled. “Huh? I don’t know what you mean.”

I was tempted to arrange a pattern element for her to imitate. However, for Sandra to develop her cognitive structures, she had to form patterns and relationships on her own. Too often, teachers make connections and point out patterns for students without realizing we are teaching them to imitate what we do rather than to construct meaning for themselves. Then we wonder why they cannot find patterns in reading, math, science, social studies, and life.

Sandra then asked, “What do you want me to do?”

I responded by asking her to tell me what she noticed.

“There’s different colors and shapes and sizes,” Sandra said.

“Tell me more,” I prompted.

She started to move the pieces around and group some together. “There are big and small ones. Red, blue, yellow, green circles, squares, triangles.…” Sandra continued to slowly move pieces around. “Wait a minute!”

“What do you notice?” I asked.

“Wow! There are lots of different ways to make patterns!”

I watched Sandra organize a complex matrix pattern. She was smiling now. “Hey! This is fun!”

“Are there other ways you could use the pieces to make patterns?” I asked.

She paused and studied the pieces. “Let me think. Oh, yeah! Lots of ways.”

“When do you see patterns in reading and writing?” I asked.

Sandra gave me a blank look and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t.”

“What if you could find patterns in stories, spelling words, and sentences?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Sandra replied. “Reading and spelling and stuff aren’t like this.…”

“Everything has a pattern,” I explained. “The secret to learning is finding patterns and relationships.” I opened her reading book and asked what she noticed.

“What am I supposed to be looking for?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”

“What do you notice? See if there are patterns.”

As she read, Sandra began to comment to me about how periods, commas, quotation marks, and capital letters were used. Since 1st grade, Sandra had completed many worksheets on punctuation. Now, for the first time, she noticed their patterns.

Formulating Rules

Cognitive structures help students formulate rules that make processing information automatic, fast, and predictable. When students notice relationships that are always or nearly always the same, they do not have to expend time or energy to think about them. They can divert their mental resources to new learning instead of constantly relearning the same things. Adults’ definitions of rules and students’ definitions often differ. Here’s a conversation I had with Greg, a 5th grader.

Greg: Exploring the Meaning of Rules

I started our exploration by asking Greg, “What is a rule anyway?”

He responded, “Something you can’t do.”

“Give me an example,” I prompted.

“Don’t run in the hall. Don’t fight. Don’t talk out in class.”

“Those are school rules. Do you have any rules at home?”

“I have to be in at a certain time,” he said. “I have to clean my room.”

“Do adults have rules?” I asked.

“No, they can do whatever they want. I will too, when I get big.”

“Do adults have to be at work at a certain time or do what their boss tells them?”

“Well, yeah!”

“What about laws? Are laws like rules that we all have to follow?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Where else do you have rules?”

“At restaurants you have to pay for your food and act a certain way. Don’t steal.”

“OK,” I said, nodding. Then I prompted Greg to think beyond the negative constraints. “Have you ever thought of rules as being there to help you and keep you safe?”

“Not really.”

“What about games? Could you win a game if there were no rules?”

“Sure! You can cheat!”

“How would you know if you were cheating if there were no rules? How would you know if you had any points, or won or lost?”

“Oh,” he said and then paused. “I never thought of it like that.”

“What if you thought about rules as being there to help you win, to make learning easier?” I suggested.

“What do you mean?”

“In math, for example, if you know the rules for multiplying and dividing, it’s a lot easier to do the work,” I explained. “In language arts, if you know the rules for punctuation or how to spell a word, you don’t have to look it up each time.” Through our interaction, Greg realized that a rule was a guide you could count on to be the same in most cases.

When working with rules, the ability to automatically predict builds confidence and enables students to quickly process more difficult and complex information. We cannot assume that knowing a rule is the same as knowing when and how to use that rule. Most teachers are trained to first teach rules and then have students apply these rules by making connections with content. I recommend instead inviting students to make connections and find patterns and relationships before asking them to formulate rules. For example, rather than teaching rules about punctuation and quotation marks, give students texts and have them work together to identify when, where, and why punctuation is used. When they identify patterns and formulate rules, they can test these rules with other texts. In addition, students are more likely to remember these rules...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Cognitive Structures: What They Are and Why They Matter
• Chapter 2. Recognition
• Chapter 3. Memorization
• Chapter 4. Conservation of Constancy
• Chapter 5. Classification
• Chapter 6. Spatial Orientation
• Chapter 7. Temporal Orientation
• Chapter 8. Metaphorical Thinking
• Chapter 9. The Spiritual Dimensions of Learning
• Appendix A: Lesson Plan Model for Cognitive Engagement
• Appendix B: An Invitation to Become a Reflective Researcher
• Glossary
• Resources
• About the Author
• Related ASCD Resources
• Study Guide
• Copyright