Derek is attending a large class in an auditorium setting with an enrollment of 400 students

Question

This course is important to his major field of study and he wants to do well.

Discuss the ways
Derek can use the perception process to improve his performance in class.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Perception is the arousal of any of our senses, and Derek will certainly be using his
senses as he attends the lectures in class. The first stage in the perception process is
attention and selection in which we notice and choose to pay particular attention to
certain sensations in our environment. For example, when Derek walks in the
classroom, there are numerous stimuli to which he can attend such as the space, the
music being played, the multitude of people, and the instructions of the teaching
assistants. Derek chooses to attend to the teaching assistants rather than the students.
He does this by focusing his gaze at his TA and tuning about people talking around
him. Next is the stage of organization which involves converting information into
understandable patterns. Derek conveniently organizes the lecture into concepts he is
familiar with and those that are new to him. In the concepts he doesn?t know, he makes
notes to review later. Finally, he moves to interpretation. In other words, he assigns
meaning to what he has observed. Derek interprets from the lecture that he
understands several points well, needs to review and reread others and can combine
several concepts he has learned in previous lectures. These steps will help focus his
perception and improve his performance in class.