Weekly Reflection

Due: September 13, 2005

"M.I. Theory"

I thought our discussion about why and how students remember (memorize) certain things but not others was interesting.  For example, they can remember the latest hip hop song but not their multiplication facts.  Just because a student can "recall" information from memory, does that mean the student has "learned" it?  What is true learning?

Driscoll (ch. 1, p. 9) provides a definition of "Learning".  Here's what he says: “First...refer to learning as...a persisting change in human performance or performance potential."

"Second, to be considered learning, a change in performance or performance potential must come about as a result of the learner's experience and interaction with the world."

The two things that caught my attention were: persisting change and performance.

Many students add information to their long-term memory but that information never translates into persisting change or performance.  Does learning require that, in addition to storing the information in long-term memory, students must also be able to "connect" pieces of information when necessary?  What implications does this have for the MI Theory?