Chapter 3

1. A lot of chapter 3 focuses on attention. For example, they talked about 3 different attention processes. Divided attention – performing two or more tasks simultaneously, selective-attention – you can not follow two conversations going on at the same time, and saccadic eye movements – regulates the way our eyes move in order to obtain information. Another important issue was consciousness which is when people are aware of the outside world.
2. I think that my knowledge of the thinking process is becoming better. Before coming into this course, I didn’t really know what cognition was all about. A lot of these terms I have never even heard of.
3. I would like to learn more about the theories of attention.
4. I can apply this to my own teaching everyday. Seeing what types of attention my students have. Whether it is selective or divided, I am now more aware of how my students react in the classroom. I feel that many of my students are categorized under divided attention. A lot of times they are trying to perform more than one task at a time. For example, a student could be trying to focus on me, take notes, and listen to another student talk. Also, it kind of made me realize a little about myself. For example, having divided attention while driving is probably not a good thing and I need to better myself after reading this!
5. I think it is valid, but I believe all students are different. Where I might have some who are categorized under selective attention, but I do feel for the most part they use their divided attention. The book gave a lot of examples and I liked reading about the “practice makes perfect”. I just wish this was true for all of our students!
6. I think it’s important to know what your student’s attention abilities are.
7. I stated this earlier. We see it everyday in the classroom.
8. I am sure there are other ways to accomplish this that could be better!

I'm looking forward to Chapter 4 -Working memory!!!