Suppose you have taught your students about adjectives, and now you want to teach the students comparative and superlative forms of adjectives. (A dog is a larger animal than a cat. [comparative form] Of a mouse, cat, and dog, the dog is the largest. [superlative form]). You want to use the human memory model as a basis for your teaching. (1) Describe specifically [use a specific example] what

Question

you would do first in the lesson. (2) Describe specifically what you would do second in the lesson. [Again, use a specific example or question.] (3) Describe at least one strategy you could use to promote meaningful encoding in the lesson.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The following is a possible answer. I would first try to get the students' attention by having the class describe a student's shirt. Second, I would write the description on the board, and have them identify the adjective in the description. This would allow me to check the students' perception. This would also serve as a point to elaborate from as we study comparative and superlative adjectives. I would then identify features in the students or around the room, such as one student's hair being darker than another's, and I would have them make statements such as "Burrell's pencil is longer than Kim's," which I would write on the board. We would then identify the adjective, and I would guide them to note that a comparison is involved. I would work through several examples, asking many questions to avoid overloading working memory. I would do the same with comparisons among three or more, such as, "Latesha is the tallest of the three," guiding them to note that a comparison among three is involved. Using several examples and using the students as examples would be an attempt to make the information meaningful, which would aid encoding of the concepts. Elaboration and schema activation would be two encoding strategies, and I would attempt to put the students in cognitively active roles in all cases.