Reflection

Cognitive illusions: World Mysteries (n.d) article stated, “The way you look at an object can affect how you see it. Sometimes there are two images in the same picture, but you can only see one at a time so your brain chooses one (when it deals with too much information).” Cognitive illusions usually affect adults learning because they have more prior knowledge, experience, and information.

Cognitive illusion are significantly different in adults and children as ‘World Mysteries’ (n.d) article explained, “Cognitive “illusions” rely on stored knowledge about the world (depth, rabbits, women) and are also under some degree of conscious control (we can generally reverse the perception at will).” Since adults have more stored knowledge, information, and experience than the children, so, adults become bias when they perceive a situation or something. Moreno-Fernandez, Blanco, & Matute (2017, p.1) also endorsed this theory that children suffer fewer illusions because they have fewer experiences, less prior knowledge, and exposure to the world. Also, because of the above-said reasons, children are less biased.

The cognitive illusion affected by the point of view one has about a thing or situation. Space also plays an important role in visual illusions. Like, from where a person is looking at the image or a thing.
“Work on embedded cognition, by contrast, draws on the view that cognition deeply depends on the natural and social environment”(Embodied Cognition, 2011, para 9). Since the dynamic system theorizes that cognition also happens when the body of a person tries to adjust in the environment, senses it, and processes it. One example of it is the different behavior of a person in a different environment. A person perceives the situation, senses it, and acts upon it. We do understand the world through our sense, and this world mostly comes to us through our senses. A person shows the weather impact on him/her and acts upon it. The celebration and the sad situation. Playtime or conversation time. Also, a person acts and perceives things as he/she sees it.

Dynamic System: Humans do not follow what is actually happening in their heads but also the outside forces also shape their behavior. As Liu (2015) stated that Task, organism, and environment, are the dynamic system which plays an important role in our cognition development. I observe it during different activities in my school. The students act according to the task they are given. I want to give one example from the physical education class. The students adjust quickly as the gym teacher asks them to do some ‘warm-up’ exercises, like, ‘roll like a pencil’, walk like a crab’, ‘show me how to swim’, etc. The students adjust their bodies according to the task and use their bodily organism to the required task. Or when the gym teacher gives them a choice of free play, the students adjust quickly in the environment and move to their favorite activities in the gym like, bicycling, throwing a ball in the basketball hoop, run freely, hula a hoop, rope swinging, etc.

Perkins’ Seven Principles: Perkins’ seven principles are the road map to make learning life long and applicable to other areas of life whenever needed. Today’s differentiated instruction approach, which was not available when we were going to school, most beneficial to students where a teacher can apply all Perkins principles through literacy and math centers. Through literacy and math centers, the teachers can apply Perkins Seven Principle (play the whole game, make the game worth playing, work on the hard parts, play out of town, uncover the hidden game, learn from the team, learn the game of learning). Through the centers, a teacher can not only apply Perkins principles but can provide the students to use their unique style of learning. These centers are dynamic system development too because the centers require task, organism and environment constraints. For elementary grades, centers is a good idea to apply Perkins’ principles and dynamic system theory, however, project-based teaching and different options of completing the task or project at hand will give the student to learn through their own learning style.

Bronfenbrenner’s Biological Model: Bronfenbrenner’s biological model states that an individual is influenced by and influences the environment around him/her. Urie Bronfenbrenner presented the four layers of influence on an individual. The first layer is the close environment and people around an individual who are his/her parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and neighborhood people. This layer is called ‘Microsystem’. The second influential layer is called ‘Mesosystem’, the relationship between among the first immidiate circles around an individual like home, school, community, or neighborhood. The third layer is ‘Exosystem’. This is an indirect layer but influences one’s life. This layer includes parents’ friends, their work place or siblings’ friends or their work place. The fourth layer is called, Macrosystem’, which includes culture, the country’ ideology, country’s laws, or the world.

Over time, an individual’s concepts, perception, and cognition change. In turn, his/her thoughts, cognition, perception affects all four layer of other people’s lives. (Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model)

References:

Arueta, A. (2018). Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSfPSLBw-Nc

Embodied Cognition (2011). Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/embodied-cognition/

Liu, T. (2015). Dynamic Theory-Texas State University. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t2ww3gfKrg&t=36s

Moreno-Fermandez, M. M, Blanco, F. Matute, H. (2017). Causal illusions in children when the outcome is frequent.

Perkins, D. N. (2009). Making learning whole: How seven principles of teaching can transform education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Schnall, S. (2014). How your bodily state affects your perception. TEDx Talks. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGOsNkj3W4A

The on Track Guide (n.d). Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model. Retrieved from https://www.beststart.org/OnTrack_English/2-promotehealth.html

World Mysteries (n.d). Visual Illusions and Brain Teasers. Retrieved from  https://old.world-mysteries.com/illusions/sci_illusions3.htm