Activity 6.4? Additional Resource on cognition and reflective thinking, reposted

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10440

September issue of the journal Trends in Cognitive Science (Volume 13, Issue 9)

This article briefly discusses Dr. David Smith’s (University of Buffalo) research on animals’ metacognitive abilities.  Dr. Smith’s research indicates that there are some animals that demonstrate ability for metacognition; they “may share humans' ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind”.  I selected this article because I am very interested in the ability to reflect, and the difference it makes in learning.  If we attempt to explain the learning process with a theory, and then make predictions about learners’ behavior based on how we understand learning, we can then possibly explain unexpected outcomes in terms of learners’ ability to reflect upon their own thought.  I wonder why we (humans) occasionally make very deliberate decisions to change our learning, or our schema.  If we define learning as “response acquisition, knowledge acquisition, or knowledge construction” what would explain a conscious decision to respond in a way that would be contrary to the current information, environment, or stimulus?  I think that if we think about learning as knowledge construction, then we might suppose that at some point learners were exposed to information that caused them to have more than one schema which they were able to relate to a particular stimulus.  In this instance, in the dual memory model, learners would retrieve the alternate schema from their long term memories.  What do they do if they are unable to reconcile the existing schemas? What is the origin of a new response to the existing schemas?  It must be that at least one of the schemas retrieved from long term memory presents a new perspective learners choose as the schema they now want to apply to the information.  So, is reflection choice?  If reflection is choice, then we as learners make a choice about what we want to learn.  This would be part of the control (executive) processes; the process of selection.  If we as humans, and perhaps also some animals, are able to select, or choose, then how can we anticipate learning?  Would this mean that we would need to know and understand learners’ repertoires?  Of course, we cannot do this.  So, if we are able to trace the phylogenetic origins of metacognitive thinking in animals, and perhaps understand better the antecedents of human consciousness as the article suggests, might we become better at presenting those alternative inputs, that are perceived through the sensory registers, placed in short term memory, held while we retrieve long term memories, and then operated upon through the implementation of processing routines?  Could we possibly become more effective at guiding learners’ choices?  Of course this is important in terms of teaching.  I think I mentioned that I thought what separated humans from animals was their ability to be reflective…perhaps not?