Describe one or two key ideas that helped you better understand how children (or you) learn.

(This supports conceptual understanding and depth of reflection...)

Paraphrase or summarize a key point from the reading or video that helped deepen your understanding.

(This supports integration of course content...)

Be specific—think about strategies for diverse learners.

(This supports application to practice...)

1. What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?

One thing that stuck out to me is how limited out attention actually is. The brain is only able to focus on a small amounf of information at a time, this means that distractions can heavily impact learning. I also found it helpful to understand how memory works, first there is sensory input, then short-term memory and finally long-term memory. I can see how this connects to repetition, visuals, and how making personal connections to students learning helps information stick.

2. What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, and why?

Something that stood out to me from the TED talk was how mcuh our decsiions can be influenced by how choices are presented. This makes me think that we are not as in control as we think to be. This also made me think about how students also face decision overload and maybe the reason why they become overstimulated. Students need time to process new information, rushing them through content does not give them the opportunity to understand/comprehend the topic.

3. What’s one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK–8 classroom?

I feel like a strategy that supports student attention, memory and decsion making would have to be chuncking. Breaking information into smaller parts makes it more meaningful and allows students to make proper connections with the content. It also helps with them getting overwhelmed and not participating or engaaging which ultimately strays them from learning. In addition, providing students with choices can support their decision making and it makes learnign more enagaging.

1. What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?

I learned that attention is the first step to learning; if students are distracted or stressed, they will not process new information. Their distraction or stress could be caused by the home environment, emotions, or even the classroom. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s memory model helped me understand that information moves from sensory memory to short-term memory, and only through repetition and connection does it reach long-term memory. Since short-term memory is limited, students require support to retain information. I learned that I can help students retain information by providing visuals, incorporating movement and repetition, and making lessons meaningful for them. Something that stood out to me is how a child’s emotions and home environment can affect their focus and memory. When students feel safe and valued, they pay closer attention and remember information more effectively. As a future teacher, I will build relationships with my students and use strategies that will help them reach long-term memory in their brains.

One of the things that stood out to me the most is that learning isn't just a cognitive activity, it's also a deeply social one. Attention and memory are strengthened when children interact with someone they view as an "expert" who can guide them. The concept of the ZPD really helped me understand this better. It showed me that children are more likely to stay focused and retain information when a task is just within their reach, and when they receive the right amount of support or scaffolding. This kind of support will make learning possible without overwhelming the brain.

One idea that stood out to me was how Santrock explained that students remember better when they connect new information to personal experiences, especially when they organize it in a way that makes sense to them. This is not just about remembering facts but more about giving that information context so that it becomes a part of a bigger picture in their minds.

Using students' cultural backgrounds and lived experiences is one thing a teacher can do to help their students learn the information. Even something as simple as including family traditions in a writing prompt can help students feel connected to the content. Allowing students to build upon their own existing knowledge forms stronger memory connections and makes learning more meaningful for them.

1. What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?

I learned that the brain processes information selectively, and attention is a limited resource, and is an important part of what we actually learn. I was able to realize that attention acts like a gatekeeper to memory. Without focused attention, along with the fact that new information doesn't even enter the short-term memory, let alone long-term memory. This helped me better understand why some students can “forget” some information quickly, since it never really registered in the first place. Another interesting point was that working memory is like a mental workshop with limited capacity, and that it works like an overload, learning suffers. This is why repetition and visual cues help students store information better.

 2. What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, and why?

One idea that stood out to me from the TED talk video was how the illusion of decision-making can trick even experts. One example was when doctors were given two similar options for a patient's treatment, they avoided making a choice altogether because of its difficulty, even if a better option was available. Visual illusions were compared, showing that our brains make consistent and predictable mistakes not only in what we see, but also in what we decide. This makes me think about how students may also struggle to make choices in learning unless options are presented and simplified. Challenging my thought that decisions always come from conscious, rational thought, I often find that they don't.

3. What’s one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK–8 classroom?

One strategy could be to limit cognitive overload by using structured choices and visual supports. For example, instead of saying “choose any book,” we could instead offer three reading options with a brief visual summary. This would mirror Ariely’s point that too many or poorly designed options can cause students to shut down or make irrational selections. One other strategy is to use graphic organizers or anchor charts to reinforce students' working memory. These visual helps chunk information into better digestible parts and help reinforce long-term recall, especially for the English Learners or students who have learning difficulties.

One practical thing that a teacher can do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making is to create learning menus for assignments and activities. The teacher can provide a menu of 3-5 different ways a student can complete an activity. This supports attention because it allows the students to engage with material that interests them and supports their strengths in learning. It also reinforces decision-making skills because it gives the students the opportunity and control cto choosehow they want to show what they have learned.

One idea from Santrock that stood out to me the most was that there are 3 types of memories depending on how long someone can remember something for. The first type of memory is sensory memory, which is information that is remembered for a fraction of a second to several seconds. The second type of memory is short-term memory, where information is held for about 30 seconds. The 3rd type of memory is long-term memory, where information is remembered for a lifetime. This was interesting to me because I didn’t know that the information we remember can be classified by how long we remember it. I thought memories or the information I remembered were just simply that, different types of memories. I know I have forgotten multiple things in the past, and without knowing, I was engaging in sensory memory.

One key idea that helped me better understand how I learn is the concept of elaboration from Stroop-Information Processing. Elaboration is extensive information that is being processed in encoding. An example of this is when a teacher discusses a concept and then provides a personal example or multiple relevant examples that resonate with the student. This will allow the student to remember the concept and information, thus elaborating information. I have noticed that the things I remember are due to me coming up with an example about the concept that also connects with me somehow. In a way, elaboration is highlighting the importance of making meaningful connections between two things to better remember the information. 

1. What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?

   From the sources, I learned that attention, memory, and learning all work closely together in the brain. Attention is the first step in the process and it decides what information gets retained in that brief moment. The information is then sent to a person's short-term memory where it remains for 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed. If we don’t pay attention, the brain quickly forgets what it saw or heard. One idea that helped me understand learning better was the concept of deep processing. This concept highlights that just repeating information (like memorizing facts) doesn’t help memory unless we really think about what it means and connect it to something we already know. The text gave the example that if a child learns the word "boat" and thinks about a fun trip they had, they’ll remember it better than just saying the word over and over. Research has shown that individuals remember information better when they process it at a deep level. 

2. What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, and why?

   The idea that stood out to me most from Santrock was the difference between declarative and procedural memory. Declarative memory is when we remember facts or events we can talk about, like naming the capital of a country or explaining a math rule. It has been known as the “knowing that” or explicit memory. Procedural memory, on the other hand, is when we know how to do something, like riding a bike or making a sandwich, but can’t always explain the steps. This has been known as the “knowing how” or implicit memory. An example that explained this concept clearly was a student Maria who was asked to describe in detail the making of a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. She skipped several steps in the process and struggled to describe exactly how. However, she could construct a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich perfectly. It also made me think about how we learn and teach: sometimes kids might be able to do a task well even if they can’t explain it. So as teachers, we might need to implement different strategies depending on whether we’re trying to build knowledge or build skills.

   
   

3. What’s one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK–8 classroom?

   One practical thing a teacher can do to support student memory is allowing students to create self-tests. This allows them to review their notes they took in class and reinforce those ideas by creating their own questions. They would have their questions on one side and the answers on the other. This supports memory as students are just seeing their questions not just the answer. It gives them an understanding of what the test looks like before class and they are better prepared for what to expect.

1. One key idea I learned is that attention acts like a filter. If students' attention is divided, they are likely not to retain the information taught. I found it interesting that working memory has limited capacity, which means teachers need to chunk the information so students (especially younger ones) can benefit from it.

2. Dan Ariely's TED talk stood out when he explained how we often make decisions based on how choices are framed. So when given a more complicated option, people tend to avoid making a decision at all because of the comparison. Students who are still developing decision-making skills need clear guidance and support so that they can make good decisions in the classroom.

3. One effective strategy is using visual routines to help focus and memory. Posting an agenda on the board and color coding it helps student organize tasks in their head, especially those with ADHD. Incorporating movement like talking, sketching, or acting it out also re-engages attention.

(Part One)

1. I think learning about metacognition and schemas, and how they constantly change as we learn and develop. Piaget's theories make a lot of sense when thinking about how we learn and grow: for example when we're young we have notions and schema that we get from our environment. Then, when we're in a larger environment (such as a classroom) our preconcieved notions become challenged. Our professor from the first summer session put it very succintly: when kindergartners enter the classroom they believe themselves to be the smartest kids in the world; then after the first week or so, they kind of figure out that they aren't. Their schemas are challenged and new ideas are introduced, then they have to make a conscious effort to decide what to do next.

(Part 2)

I read the Santrock Reading, and I think what stood out to me the most was the Fuzzy Trace Theory (pg. 10/286). Reading about it (and living it too) made a lot of sense. For example, when kids are very young, around pre-school age, they have a verbatim understanding, meaning that they can remember if you told them that there's 7 candy bars, 3 popsicles and 5 ice creams. Whereas, students who are in elementary and above, they would use gist memory where they can give a fuzzy recount rather than a verbatim recitiation. That's not to say that pre-schoolers have the best memorization of things, fuzzy traces are usually not easily forgotten.

I really liked this, because it stood out to me in the sense that I use a lot of gist memory. When I have to give presentations, I try not to read off the slides as they're written, but instead try to remember the main talking points and go from there. If I tried to remember all of the talking points verbatim, I'd forget as soon as I step up to talk.

(Part 3)

3. I think the most practical thing that a teacher can do in order to foster student decision making and attention is to allow for learning menus when creating assignments. It sounds easy in terms of letting students create skits or put together a presentation, but one also has to be aware of putting together a solid grading rubric too so that it stays fair for anyone who decides to do an assignment a different way. Through giving students the opportunity to decide how to do their classwork, it involves them in the process and gives them autonomy; thus encouraging them to take responsiblity (care!) about their education.

I learned that memory is the retention of information over time. There are three different types of memories, which are encoding, storage, and retrieval.  Memories are important as they allow us to connect our actions to our past or foundation. Memories allow us to obtain information, retain that information over time, and also use that information in the future. This reminds me of how students can retain lessons based on what activities they did that day or what video they viewed that day. Our memories become our social identities from our experiences. We claim to be experts whenever we remember being successful in certain tasks, talents, and sports. If we remember our failures, it allows us to reflect and provide growth and reflection. We choose what we want to focus on and what we decide to keep in our memories. This is what forms who we are and what we will grow into later on.

In the reading, the working memory is the system that holds information temporarily as a person performs tasks. It is a way that lets a person use their information to manipulate, assemble, and construct those ideas to make decisions, solve problems, and comprehend what is being said or spoken. It reminds me of my high school math class, I felt my brain being fried as I was processing the information, but I was able to obtain the information due to rehearsing it in practice problems. I often had to remember lectures through acronyms or based on the outfit my teacher wore. I was able to retain the information throughout school. However, I find it trouble to remember the theories that were taught and what I even scored on these tests or practices.

A teacher can support their students in helping them pay attention, encode, and rehearse their memories.  For example, if a student tends to feel overwhelmed by workload, they are able to have a select number of choices.  This can be seen in writing prompts. There will be students who feel overwhelmed to create their prompts, so having a template and selection will let them incorporate these habits of sentence structure. Eventually, they will be confident enough to develop their writing prompts.

1. What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?

I learned that without memory people can not retain information and understand what is happening around them. Memory involves three systems encoding, retrieval, and storage. For example, encoding involves paying attention to different information throughout the day. We can construct images in our brain by using information stored in our memory. The readings explained that younger children remember things better by using imagery. This reminded me of when I observed a kindergarten classroom and the students had to draw pictures that corresponded with their sentences. They remembered what they wrote by drawing a picture. Another concept that stood out to me was the atkinson-shiffrin model. This is a sequence of three stages of memory: sensory memory, short term, and long term memory. Sensory memory is the first stage of our memory. It only hold brief information from our senses. Short term memory is the second part of our memory that also collects a small amount of information. It only hold information for a small amount of time. Long term is the third stage of our memory that holds the largest amount of information. Long term memory can be divided into different categories because it is large. The model made it easy for me to understand how memory is stored in our brains.

2. What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, and why?

An idea that stood out to me from Santrock was the differences between episodic memory and semantic memory. Episodic memory is our long term memory about personal experiences. It is basically to who, what, when, and where part of our memory. It is a collection of our experiences and major events. An example of an episodic memory is the first day of school and what happened that day. Semantic memory is our knowledge about the world. These are facts and general knowledge we collect throughout our lives. These memories are just things we know and probably have not experienced. For example, a student remembers a specific fact about a science lesson during the test.

3. What’s one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK–8 classroom?

A practical thing a teacher can do to support students' attention, memory, and decision making in the classroom is playing word games such as jeopardy. Teachers can create Jeopardy games for multiple subjects. Students can receive a reward or extra credit for earning the most points. This game can be very exciting for students. Santrock explains that games like Jeopardy can keep students focused and engaged during the lesson. Students can recall different information while they are answering. This can be used before a test to refresh their memory or to relearn concepts.

I learned that attention, memory, and learning work simultaneously in the brain because depending on the amount of attention someone pays to something affects how much information they retain about said topic. If one dedicates more time to memorizing information that will then affect whether or not they learn that information as well as how long it will remain in their brain. One key idea that helped me better understand how individuals learn was the use of mnemonic devices. When you develop a meaningful connection with whatever it is you are learning about, you are more likely to remember that information compared to just rehearsing it a few times.

Something from the video that I found very interesting was when Dan Ariely demonstrated how our choices can be manipulated whether we realize it or not. He showed that when people are given a choice between two items they are likely to choose the one that is less costly, but by adding an option that nobody wants they end up choosing the more expensive option. This was intriguing to me because I too would have fallen for this strategy and it makes me question how many times this is used on people in typical life experiences to make the consumer believe they are saving money such as grocery shopping, buying a car, etc.

One practical thing a teacher can do to support student attention, memory, and/or decision making in a TK-8 classroom is by using learning menus. We learned about this concept in our COMM 114 class and it basically allows the students to choose from different assignments to complete. This strategy ensures that the students complete the assignments that are required for them to show understanding of the concepts being taught but at the same time feel like they have a choice in what type of assignment they will be doing. Learning menus encourage students to become more engaged in the learning process as it gives them a sense of independence.

Maryann Robles

What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?

I learned that memory is what we retain over time. Memory is defined in three processes which are encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding is how the person processes the information they are receiving. This can look like what you see, hear, or what something means. Your can rehearse the information in a way you can understand it, elaborate, construct images, organize, or chunk information to memorize it. Storage is how the person retain the information. This has different time frames like short term or long term memories. The retrieval process is when the person either quickly or with effort recall the information. The person can also forget the information.

Maryann Robles

What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, why?

What stood out the me the most was from the video "Are We in Control of Our Decisions?" It was interesting to me how the DMV form played a influence in how the people of different countries responded to the organ donor program. It was pretty funny seeing how big of a in pact the "Check the bow below if you DO want to join the donor organ program" vs "Check the box below if you DONT want to join the organ program". I think it really made me think about how much control we do have over our choices in everyday encounters.

Maryann Robles

What's one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK-8 classroom?

Incorporating different cultures and experience students are familiar with will increase attention and memory. Student will be able to relate to the to the culture and experiences use in the classroom like in literature and will be more motivated to participate and can build on their prior knowledge. Decision making based on the video can be influence so I will use graphic organizers, sentence starters, etc. to give a guideline of what is being required of the students.

1. I learned that attention is the first step in learning because we can only process what we focus on. This can also refer to selective attention, where students will focus on what they are interested in. If students are distracted or overwhelmed, the information may not reach their working memory. What stood out to me is that repetition, making connections to prior knowledge, and using strategies like chunking can help move information into long-term memory.

2. The idea that stood out to me the most from Santrock was how limited our working memory actually is. The reading explained that working memory can only hold a small amount of information for a short time unless we use strategies to retain it. This helped me understand why students often forget new material so quickly. This is due not just to paying attention, but also to how the information is processed and organized in the student's brain.

3. One practical thing a teacher can do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK–8 classroom is to use chunking and visual supports. For example, instead of giving a long list of directions, the teacher can break tasks into smaller steps and display them on the board with pictures. These strategies help all students stay focused.

1. What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?
One thing I learned is that our brains can only pay attention to so much at a time. If too much is going on, it’s easy to miss important information. I also learned that memory has different parts, like short-term and long-term memory. The brain decides what to keep based on how well we focus and how meaningful the information is. This helped me understand that when kids are learning, they need help staying focused, and they need to connect what they’re learning to things they already know.

2. What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, and why?
From the video with Dan Ariely, one idea that really stood out to me was how easily people can be influenced by the way choices are shown. He gave an example where people picked something just because it looked like the better deal, even if it didn’t really make sense. That made me realize that our brains don’t always make the best choices on their own. In the Santrock reading, I also liked learning about how “encoding” works—basically, how we store things in our memory. If we don’t pay attention or make a connection to something, it’s harder to remember it later.

3. What’s one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK–8 classroom?
One thing a teacher could do to help students with attention and memory is to keep things simple and give clear directions. If the classroom has too many distractions, it’s hard for kids to learn. Using things like hand signals or fun sayings can help get their attention. Also, to help students with decision-making, a teacher can give two choices instead of too many. That way, students don’t get overwhelmed and can learn how to make smart decisions with support.

1.What did you learn about how attention, memory, and learning work in the brain?

I learned that attention, memory, and learning work in very important ways in the brain. Attention can be divided into sustained, selective, alternating and dividing attention, each of them have different ways to be represented, for example: sustained attention can be present when we are reading a book and we are focused on it that we become not aware of the things that are happening around us; selective attention is when we decide what to pay attention to, alternating attention is when we try to multitask but in reality we only take turns from one task to another, divided attention is for example when we are driving and we are putting attention on the road, the signs, the streets and everything. Also, memory is something that can build the person that we are and our self-perception. Both attention and memory play a big role in learning since we become able to learn something when we focus our attention to learn something and then "save" it in our memory as new schemas.

2.What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, and why?

The idea that caught the most my attention was the fact that we can not really multi-task. I always felt like I was able to do multiple times at once like when I am folding clothes at the same time that I am listening to a podcast but now that I think about it I just divide my attention or alternate it in very short lapses of time. It was interesting because there has always been the concept of multi-tasking an finding out that it is not possible is very surprising.

3. What's one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK-8 classroom?

One practical thing a teacher can do to support these aspects is to incorporate the UDL principles into the classroom. With the principle of engagement and expression students become more interested in their learning which makes them want to pay attention to the concepts that are being taught, these two principles allow students to become active learners in the classroom which supports their information processing and the information they retained in their memory. With the principle of representation which accommodates the tools to the style of learning of the students makes it easier to pay attention since the concepts are being offered in a way that they can understand and participate.

1. I learned that attention is very important when learning. If students are not paying attention they are unable to process information correctly. When we are taking in information our brains are filtering what is important which means that when students are distracted this can block memory formation. There are several step that involve memory which is encoding, storage and retrieval. Providing repetition to students can provide meaningful exposure not just a one time instruction. One idea that stood out to me was that working memory has a limited capacity which means that teachers can chunk information and use visuals to support students.

2. One idea from the video that caught my attention was that our decision are usually influenced by how choices may be framed rather than just logic. This made me realize that students do not always make decisions based on how they may understand something or their intentions.

3. One practical strategy that teachers can use in the classroom to support student attention is using attention getters and frequent brain breaks. These are especially helpful when working with younger children. Things like clapping to rhythms or sayings are great ways to transition from activities to get their attention. To support students memory teachers can use graphic organizers or review games that involve repetition.

From the reading, I learned that attention, memory, and learning are deeply interconnected, which helps information transition from short-term to long-term memory. The author mentions several strategies that can be used to help maintain information in long-term memory, including rehearsal, deep processing, elaboration, and organization. These strategies can also be implemented in the classroom to help students remember key information. The author mentioned that children learn best when they can connect the information with their personal experiences, and using background knowledge can help students give a category or a base idea for better understanding.

📚 2. What idea from Santrock or the video stood out to you the most, and why?

One idea from Santrock is how schema theory can influence what we remember and how we interpret it. For example, if a person encounters a new event/idea/ material and it fits into a schema they already have, they will connect those facts to what they already know. It stood out to me because if two people listen to the same lesson and have different perspectives (schemas), they are most likely to end up with different understandings of the lesson. Their previous background knowledge and experiences will highly influence how they interpret or recall the new information.

🧍🏽‍🏫 3. What’s one practical thing a teacher could do to support student attention, memory, or decision-making in a TK–8 classroom?

One practical strategy that teachers can use is teaching students how to organize information, whether through chinking or categorizing ideas. When students have more organized and clear information or instructions, it helps them process the data in a more meaningful way, without wasting too much time trying to make sense of random facts. Students will focus on understanding and creating a connection to previous knowledge that helps them maintain it in the long term. Also, they are more likely to retrieve information from long-term memory.

I learned from Santrock that memory is not just a passive "storage" system; it is an active process that involves three main components: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding is related to attention because, without focused attention, no information will be stored properly. Anything a person learns will stay longer in long-term memory if they engage in deep processing, elaboration, and organization. As a future teacher, this helps me understand that if my students do not remember things well, it does not mean they have "bad memory"; instead, it just means they did not encode the information and therefore, they did not fully understand. The TED Talk by Ariely connects with this thought because he explained that our minds make decisions based on the way the information is delivered. This means that attention and how it is presented strongly impact how we as people remember and act.

In the TED Talk, Ariely discussed and demonstrated the "subscription options." This stood out to me because it shows that the structure of choices can unconsciously guide decision-making. We often think that we are making educated, independent decisions, but a lot goes into it, and small things in the way the options are shown can make us choose differently without actually noticing it. This idea connects with Santrock's point, in which memory and learning are molded by how information is organized and the cues given when presenting information. The way information is delivered can notably affect outcomes of both learning and decision-making.

One classroom strategy for 2nd grade would be combining elaboration and organization when teaching new content. For example, I was thinking back to a unit design on habitats that my classmates and I created for a different summer course. I could ask my students to help me create a concept map, which would be the organization, and then have them add personal experiences/connections about times they have seen any of the animals we learn about, and this would be the elaboration part. This strategy would help the students build and strengthen their memory of what is being taught, and it would also foster and increase student engagement.

For diverse learners, I could provide visuals, give relatable examples, and/or allow students to do hands-on sorting activities. This can essentially help these students focus and enable their encoding skills.