Chapter 3
Core Cognitive Strategies
1. Overarching Objectives:
Develop the cognitive strategies and habits of mind while reading that will
enable the learner to develop competence in an area of inquiry.
2. Intermediate Objective:
To develop competence in an area of inquiry the reader needs to:

Develop a deep foundation of factual knowledge
3. Immediate Objective:
Learn how to use the core cognitive strategies to develop a deep
foundation of factual knowledge.
Common Reader Misconception:
The whole point of reading is to understand what is read (comprehension).
Misconception Correction
Reading textbooks involves more than just reading and understanding.
Reflective strategies are crucial for extending comprehension beyond the
literal level.
What are the Core Cognitive Strategies?
The core cognitive strategies can be organized into (1) before reading, (2) during
reading, and (3) after reading.
Before Reading:
1. Survey: getting an overview of the reading selection or chapter
During Reading:
2. Question: asking questions to focus the mind and tap prior knowledge
3. Read: read to answer the question the reader generates
After Reading:
4. Recite: expressing in reader’s own words what they are reading to fix
information in long-term memory
5. Reflect/Relate: taking time during and after reading to mentally
connect new facts, terms, and concepts with what you already know (we will introduce reflect/relate in this chapter, but we will look more
closely at reflect/relate in the next chapter on internal dialogue inquiry)
What Are We Trying to Accomplish in This Chapter?
These five core cognitive strategies are foundational for learning other
cognitive strategies and habits of mind while reading a textbook in order to
“build a deep foundation of factual knowledge”.
How Does this Chapter Connect to The Previous Chapters and the
Chapters that will Follow?
In the two previous chapters, we learned how the brain learns naturally.
We also learned that there are “rules of consolidation” for converting
working memory into long-term memory, which greatly increases our
ability to retrieve and use that information in the future.
In this chapter we are going to learn five core cognitive (thinking)
strategies that are in line with how the brain learns naturally and strongly
supports and provides specific ways of using the “rules of consolidation.”
These core cognitive strategies (survey, question, read, recite,
reflect/relate) are among the most powerful mental activities for
constructing meaning while reading textbooks.
In the chapters that follow this one, we will look at the kinds of questions
(internal dialogue questions) we can be asking ourselves that not only
interconnect what we are reading with our prior knowledge, but also gives
us a way of slowing down and internalizing all that has learned while
reading. We are preparing ourselves for the thinking strategies (internal
dialogue inquiry) and organizing tools (mind mapping, writing to learn) that
will help us clarify thinking and focus understanding.
Looking at the Core Cognitive Strategies One at a Time.
Cognitive Strategy: SURVEY:
Surface Surveying:
Goal: The reader skims and scans the chapter to get a general idea of the
content, structure, and organization of the chapter or reading selection.
Surveying the chapter helps the student prepare for “understanding the
ideas presented in the context of a “conceptual framework” (big picture),
with which to hold the detail and facts together.
To Surface Survey:
- What reader aids are included in the text?
- Read all the titles and subtitles.
- Read captions under pictures, charts, graphs, or maps.
- Read the questions at the end of the chapter.
- If there is a summary read it.
- Get an overview of what the chapter is about.
Deep Surveying:
Goal: Deep surveying engages the reader in a much deeper level of
thinking. Deep surveying asks the reader to take advantage of how the
brain learns naturally by tapping their own prior knowledge as they come
to titles, questions, heading, subheadings, pictures, and summaries.
To Deep Survey:
- The reader always asks questions and answers those
questions to themselves as they come to each title, question,
heading, subheading, picture, and summary. For example,
“What do I already know about the these concepts or ideas?”
(we will go deeper in chapter 4 on internal dialogue inquiry
questions)
Positive Outcomes of Deep Surveying:
- greater organization of information
- better comprehension when reading begins
Cognitive Strategy: QUESTION:
Goal: The goal of questioning is to give us purpose as we read,
and tell us where are we heading; what can we expect; or to what
do we need to pay attention?
Positive Outcomes:
- provides purpose for reading
- aids recall of information
- results in spontaneous mental searching for answers base
do prior knowledge
- increases concentration and attention
- increased comprehension
How the Questioning Strategy Works
1. As the reader comes to heading and subheadings, they turn the
heading or subheading into questions. They then ask
themselves what they already know and try to answer to
question before reading. As the reader reads, they will look for
the answer to their questions. For example, if in sociology
textbook the reader comes upon the heading “Culture”, the
reader changes the heading into a question (What is Culture?)
and reads to answer that question.
2. The question may change. If the wrong question has been
asked, the reader quickly discovers this because the reading
selection does not answer the question. While “What is culture?”
is a natural first question, the reading selection may be
explaining “Why we have culture?”
3. It is also a good idea to change the first sentence of each
paragraph to a question. For example the text may still be on
culture, but the new paragraph indicates that the writer has
taken a new direction on culture.
Note: With practice, changing headings and subheadings into
questions becomes automatic.
Cognitive Strategy: READ:
Goal: Read to answer the question(s) developed in the
“Question” strategy. This improves attention and
concentration.
Learning Outcomes:
- better concentration for better comprehension
Cognitive Strategy: RECITE:
When the reader finds what is important to learn or finds the answer
to the question they asked in the “Questioning” strategy, they
explain what they have read in their own words or write about what
they have read in their own words.
Goal: To develop a very powerful strategy for strengthening newly grown
dendrites (learning) and improving recall. Research studies show readers
improving by four times how much they can recall two weeks later. In fact,
it is the most powerful cognitive strategy.
Learning Outcomes:
- better comprehension
- vastly improved memory
How the Reciting Strategy Works:
The reader answers the question asked in the “Question” strategy in their
own works.
Note: In the following chapters we will explore ways of combining
“Reciting” with mind mapping and writing to learn how to help organize
and clarify information being recited. This will enable us to make the
connections between “developing a deep foundation of factual knowledge”
and understanding facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual
framework”, as well as “organizing knowledge in ways that facilitate
retrieval and application”, which are necessary for developing competence
in an area of inquiry.
Cognitive Strategy:
Consolidation)
TIMED
INTERVALS:
(a
review
from
Rules
of
Goal: To ensure that new information is converted from short-term
memory (working memory) to long-term memory, reciting is a strategy that
can be used effectively at any of the “fixed time intervals” for re-exposing
oneself to the information or when elaborating (reciting is an elaboration),
for it helps the reader interconnect new information with prior knowledge)
Fixed Time Intervals for Re-exposing and Elaborating
1. As the reader identifies what is important while reading, stop and
re-expose yourself to the information and elaborate on it (have an
internal dialogue), what do you already know about what you are
reading, write about it (take notes in your own words or explain it to
yourself out loud).
2. When you come to a new topic or paragraph, explain to yourself
what you have just read.
3. When you finish studying, take a few minutes to re-expose yourself
to the information and elaborate.
4. Within 90 minutes to 2 hours, re-expose yourself to the information
and elaborate.
5. Review again the next day as soon as you can.
REVIEW -- The First Rule: Deliberately re-expose yourself to the
information if you want to retrieve it later.
It is a simple fact, the more exposure a learner has to new information
they want to learn, the greater the likelihood that the new information will
move from short term memory (working memory) to long-term memory.
This strengthens newly grow dendrites.
From the Research
“The typical human brain can hold about 4 pieces of information for less
than 30 seconds. If something does not happen in that short stretch of
time, the information becomes lost. If you want to extend the 30 seconds
to, say, a few minutes, or even an hour or two, you will need to
consistently re-expose yourself to the information. This type of repetition is
sometimes called maintenance rehearsal. We know that “maintenance
rehearsal” is mostly good for keeping things in working memory – that is
for short periods of time” (Medina, 2008).
If the reader wants to hold on to the new information long enough for the
brain to store and manipulate that information the reader needs to do
something to give the working memory time to do its job. Deliberately reexpose yourself to the information if you want to retrieve it later is
the first “rule of consolidation.” Highlighting is a good practice if
Identifying what is important; however, the highlighted information must be
learned now at the point of identification.
The Second Rule: Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more
elaborately if you want the retrieval to be of higher quality.
“More elaborately” means thinking, talking or writing about what was just
read. Any mental activity in which the reader slows down and mentally
tries to connect what they are reading to what they already know is
elaboration. Reciting is an elaboration – it should be done as often as is
possible.
This means for the reader that he or she must slow down and have a
conversation (reading, writing or talking) about what they are reading and
wanting to learn in order for that information to be of a high quality. “High
quality” means the information will be useable in the future for thinking,
reasoning or applying to new situations
From the Research
“We know that there is a better way to push information into long-term
memory. That way is called “elaborative rehearsal” and it’s the type of
repetition shown to be most effective for the most robust retrieval. A great
deal of research shows that “thinking or talking” about an event
immediately after it has occurred enhances memory for the event.”
(Medina, 2008). The same is true for the information you are reading in a
textbook.
The Third Rule: Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more
elaborately, and in fixed intervals, if you want the retrieval to be the most
vivid it can be.
We saw in Chapter 1 that forgetting occurs very rapidly if something is not
done to strengthen new dendrites (learning). Research shows us that a
learner (reader) must not only re-expose themselves to new information
they want to learn, but that they also must think or talk about that
information if they want to remember the information. Research further
shows that there are specific times for re-exposing ourselves to the
information and elaborating on the information. (See the time interval in
chapter 2)
From the Research
“When a reader reads nonstop, new information is subject to being
confused with other information. “The probability of confusion is increased
when content is delivered in unstoppable, unrepeated waves. This causes
newly encoded information to reshape (interference) and wear away
previously existing traces. Such interference does not occur if the
information is delivered in deliberately spaced repetition cycles. (This is
where the reader can take control of learning.) Repeated exposure to
information in specifically time intervals provides the most powerful way to
fix memory into the brain. When the electrical representations of
information to be learned are built up slowly over many repetitions, the
neural networks recruited for storage gradually remodel the overall
representation and do not interfere with neural networks previously
recruited to store similarly learned information. This idea suggests that
continuous repetition cycles create experiences capable of adding to the
knowledge base, rather then interfering with existing knowledge base”
(Medina, 2008).
Cognitive Strategy: REFLECT/RELATE:
Goal: The goal is to clarify thinking and focus understanding after
acquiring new information.
Learning Outcomes:
- clarify thinking
- focus understanding
- begin to think critically
- retain understanding for longer periods of time
- knowledge is related in a meaningful way
How to Reflect and Relate:
- Mentally connect new facts, terms, and concepts with what you
already know.
- How can you use the information you just learned?
- Predict what you think you need to know.
- Compare new ideas with what you already know.
- Organize ideas.
Reflecting and Relating are powerful thinking strategies for making new
learning meaningful.
Reflective Metacognition Exercise
Students submit online reflections after completing a reading assignment,
but before coming to class. The reflections are guided by prompts that ask
students to:
1) summarize the important concepts of the reading,
2) describe what was interesting or surprising, and
3) describe what is still confusing.
Following Chapters
In the following chapters we will be learning more powerful strategies for
consolidation (converting information in working memory to long-term memory)
that are built around how we learn and these “rules of consolidation.”
Modeling the Core Cognitive Strategies – Sociology Chapter on Culture
(pp. 57-98)
Deep Surveying:
Surveying is getting an overview of the chapter before reading it. It is
an opportunity to get a feel for the organization and to see what is
familiar and what is totally unfamiliar.
Deep Surveying: The reader always asks questions and answers those
questions as they come to each title, question, heading, subheading,
picture, and summary. For example, “What do I already know about the
these concepts or ideas?” (we will go deeper in chapter 4 on internal
dialogue inquiry questions)
Directions: (1) Read the title, questions, headings, subheadings, pictures,
and summary in the Sociology chapter on culture and (2) ask yourself,
“What do I already know about the these concepts or ideas?”
Title: Culture, “What do I already know about culture?
Heading: Culture, “What do I already know about culture?
Heading: Elements of Culture, “What do I already know about the
elements of culture?
Subheadings under Elements of Culture: Symbols, Language, Values
and Beliefs, and Norms (pp. 61-68), What do I already know about these
subheadings under Elements of Culture?
As I go through the heading and subheadings, I discover that I can’t say
with any certainty that I know much about these concepts, with perhaps
the exception of language.
Question, Read, and Recite
The core cognitive strategies question, read, and recite work
together. Questioning gives you purpose and points you to what
may be important. One then reads to find the answer to the question.
Recite (the most powerful of the memory strategies) helps move new
information being read to long-term memory by causing the reader to
re-expose themselves to the information, elaborate by saying aloud
the answer to the question asked in one’s own words, and at the time
interval immediately after encountering the new concepts.
Let’s look at the first element of culture under the heading Elements
of Culture and at symbols under the subheading of Symbols.
“The Elements of Culture
Although cultures vary greatly, they all have common elements, including
symbols, language, values and norms. We begin our discussion with the
one that is the basis of all the others: symbols.
Symbols
Like all creatures, human beings sense the surrounding world, but
unlike others, we also give the world meaning. Humans transform
the elements of the world into symbols. A symbol is anything that
carries a particular meaning recognized by the people who share a
culture. A word, a wall of graffiti, a flashing red light, a raised fist –
all serve as symbols. The human capacity to create and manipulate
symbols is almost limitless – think of the variety of meanings
associated with the simple act o winking an eye, which can convey
such messages as interest, understandings, or insult.”
Questioning and Read
What are the Elements of Culture? Read to find answer to the question.
Let’s look at the first question we would ask, What are the Elements of
Culture? I know what they are because I encountered them when I
surveyed the chapter. This is a chance to go for deeper questioning based
on what I learned when I read about culture earlier. I can ask the deeper
question which gives me further re-exposure to information I learned
earlier, “What are the elements of culture that that have something to do
with the “ways people think”, “ways people act”, and “material objects” that
make up a given culture? Because this heading is for an introductory
paragraph, the answer is listed (symbols, language, values, and norms)
without providing much explanation or examples with which the reader can
connect.
Recite
“The only thing I learned is that the elements of culture are symbols,
language, values and norms. I know symbols represent something other
than what they are. For example, I know a word can be a symbol for
something - $ = money and I guess that symbols can be used as “ways of
thinking.” I know that there are many languages and I speak English. I
guess that values have something to do with the worth I give something
and I do not know what norms are.
Question and Read
What are symbols? Read to find answer to the question.
Recite
“I notice that the definition of symbols has two parts that have the most
meaning - (1) a symbol is anything (2) that has a particular meaning in
the culture. The reading also says that a flashing red light has a particular
meaning. It can mean “stop.”
Next Paragraph
If I read the next paragraph, it states, “Societies create new symbols all the time.”
I need to change the question I have been asked to change the first sentence of
the paragraph to a question – “Why do societies create new symbols all the
time?”
Benefits
These core cognitive strategies are repeated throughout the chapter. They have
the benefits of:
Know what to attend to when reading
Improved attention and concentration
Better comprehension
Vastly improved memory
Create prior knowledge for next related information read
Example Homework Exercises Directions
Homework Exercise 1
Directions: Read the paragraphs under the subheading Language, which is
under the heading Elements of Culture (pp. 62-63). Apply the core cognitive
strategies within the Rules of Consolidation as you read and after your read. As
you apply the core cognitive strategies, always refer back to what you have
learned so far in this chapter.
Note: For example, the definition of language begins by saying that “the heart
of a symbolic system is language.” Using what we have already learned about
symbols as an element of culture, we know that symbols are anything that has a
particular meaning, so a symbolic system can be anything developed into a
system that has particular meanings.
Homework Exercise 2
Directions: Read the paragraphs under the subheading Values and Beliefs,
which is under the heading Elements of Culture (pp. 63- 66). Apply the core
cognitive strategies as you read and after your read. As you apply the core
cognitive strategies, always refer back to what you have learned so far in this
chapter.
Homework Exercise 3
Directions: Read the paragraphs under the subheading Norms, which is under
the heading Elements of Culture (pp. 67-68). Apply the core cognitive strategies
as you read and after your read. As you apply the core cognitive strategies,
always refer back to what you have learned so far in this chapter.