Organisation on learning Essay

Background Previous research suggests that the composition of training is integral to its storage in and recall from memory. Aim Differences with regard to the use of classification of education engender been observed between cultures and age groups, so the aim is to find out the degree to which categorisation affects the acquisition of information in 16-18 year olds. Method 20 participants aged 16-18 had 60 seconds to learn as many speech communication as they could from a grid containing 24 course. The grid contained 6 words in 4 different semantic categories and was either categorised (control) or randomized (experimental).Participants then recalled as many of the words as they could. The amount of words that they recalled was observed. Results The difference in the number of words remembered between the two conditions was fix to be insignificant when put to the independent t-test and tested at the 0.05 level. In fact, participants in Condition B (randomised) recalled mor e words on sightly than those in Condition A (organized). However, participants in Condition B showed 68.83% categorisation upon recall, compargond with 0.5% that would have been shown if participants recalled the words in the order that they appeared on the radomised grid.Conclusion The results suggest that the degree of memorial tablet of information upon introduction does non affect the amount of information remembered. However, the actual process of mentally organising the information whitethorn be a significant factor in the amount of information remembered. Individual differences may affect the way the information is organised, but this study engraft that categorical administration was the most prevalent form of this.IntroductionMuch indicate suggests that information in memory is highly organised, and that we remember banging amounts of information by associating it with other similar pieces of information already stored. It may even be that the constitution of infor mation is a prerequisite for information to be stored for example, Mandler (1967) stated that memory and organization are not only correlated, but organization is a necessary condition for memory. From this viewpoint, it follows that, by definition, any information stored in the memory must be organised somehow. It may also be that the organisation of information upon presentation facilitates its storage, and that if information is not organised, people will attempt to create their own methods of organisation (Tulving, 1968).Categorical glob is a term coined by Bousfield (1953) in order to describe one type of organisation in learning. In his research, he presented participants with a list of 60 words (15 from 4 different categories animals, anthroponyms, professions and vegetables) and asked participants to free-recall the list. He found that, despite not having been told what the categories were, participants tended to recall the words according to their category and thus demonst rated the phenomenon.Bower et al. (1969) presented participants with words which were arranged into conceptual hierarchies. For one group, these were arranged in gradable form, and for the other they were listed randomly. The participants who were presented with the words in hierarchical form recalled almost 31/2 times as many words as those to whom they were presented randomly, suggesting that the organisation of the words upon presentation facilitated their storage in memory.A similar trait has also been observed with by nature occurring stimuli. Rubin and Olson (1980) asked students to recall the names of as many members of staff in their school as they could, and found that students showed a strong tendency for the members of staffs names to be recalled by their respective departments. This also shows evidence for categorical organisation. They further found that students who re-arranged word cards into more categories remembered more words on average than those who created le ss categories, and that those who were not told to alive(p)ly remember the words, instead just sort them, remembered the same amount as those asked to remember them. These indicate that not only does categorisation increase the amount of information remembered, but the active process of organisation may even cause the information to be remembered.More support that organisation and learning are intertwined comes from Kahana and Wingfield (2000), who found that the relation between organisation and learning remained the same even aft(prenominal) significant differences between participants mnemonic abilities had been taken into account.One case study which suggests that memory is highly organised comes from Hart et al. (1985). Having almost made a complete recovery from a stroke two eld previously, M.D. experienced no problems except that he was unable to name different types of fruit and vegetable or sort them into categories. However, he was able to name and sort types of food, f or example, and vehicles, which suggests that his inability to carry out these tasks was limited to peculiar(prenominal) semantic categories.AimsThe findings of this previous research suggest that organisation does play a large role in the storage, structuring and restructuring of information in memory. However, organisation does not necessarily imply categorisation, which is what will be tested here. Also, in a similar way that Gutchess et al. (2006) found that age and culture affected the way in which categorisation was used in memory, it may be that young people in turn use it differently.So, the following experiment aims to examine the effects of organisation on learning in 16-18 year-olds. More specifically, it will investigate the degree to which organisation of information upon presentation affects the storage and recall of words presented in a randomised grid. Following on from research by Bower et al. (1969) and Rubin and Olson (1980), two hypotheses have been drawnExperi mental schemeParticipants will recall, on average, fewer words when the words given are listed randomly, than will the participants for whom the words are listed categorically.