Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Prior to engaging in this discussion, read Chapter 2: The Emergence of Cognitive Research from your text, watch the videos TEDTalks: Peter Doolittle—How Your “Working Memory” Makes Sense of the World, Elizabeth Loftus: How Reliable Is Your Memory? (Links to an external site.), After Watching This, Your Brain Will not be the Same (Links to an external site.), and Three Kinds of Memory film segment, and read the Instructor Guidance.

For this discussion, you will be considering the variables and historical events that differentiate cognitivism from behaviorism, further substantiating the differences between “how we learn” and “how we learn most effectively.”

As you will read this week, cognitivism is a theory that addresses the mind’s contribution to how humans learn. The cognitive revolution (although considered by some as an overly stated fact) is suggested to have been a response to the behaviorist movement that rejected introspection (anti-mentalism), and controversially led to what some consider a dissolving of the behaviorist movement.

In your initial post, consider the following prompts about cognitivism, and discuss each, basing your posture on this week’s readings, your past experiences, and your past knowledge:

• Discuss the significance of the cognitive revolution.
• Explain information processing.
• Analyze the behaviorist versus cognitivist definition of learning: a change in observational behavior or a change in one’s schemata.
  • Which theory do you believe is more accurate? Why? (Support with citations.)
• Discuss if your personal schemata has changed throughout your life. (This could be about learning, but also about other domains such as love, honesty, hard work, loyalty, etc.)

Also in your discussion, respond to the following questions specifically associated to After Watching This, Your Brain Will not be the Same (Links to an external site.):

• How do Dr. Boyd’s suggestions support (or oppose) what you believe to be true about learning?
• Boyd suggests three changes occur in our brains and help support learning: chemical, structural, and functional; how do these affect persons who suffer from different types of brain damage (e.g., stroke)?
• If the primary driver of change in your brain is your behavior, what is Dr. Boyd’s primary suggestion for increasing our success in learning?

Your initial post should be between 350 and 400 words. You must support your discussion by citing the required textbook. Cite all information from your sources according to APA guidelines as outlined in the APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) resource. List each of your sources at the end of your posting according to APA Style as shown in the sample page for APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource.

Guided Peer Responses: Read several of your classmates’ posts, and respond to at least two of your classmates and at least one of your classmates’ responses to your initial post by Day 7 (Monday). Each peer posting should be a minimum of 200 words. Monitor this forum throughout the week to create interactive dialogue to help develop your knowledge.

Discuss the following:

• Elaborate on your peers’ discussion about the cognitive revolution and information processing.
• Share your own schemata changes that you have experienced.
• Discuss why you believe it is important to understand the differences between evolving theories.

Instructor Responses: Review any instructor feedback on your postings. Often feedback is shared to help you to elevate your level of critical thought or make corrections. Reply based on this feedback to advance your understanding of the content addressed.

In addition, observe the following guidelines for all responses:

• Remember that discussion forums should be conversations; dialogue is encouraged throughout the course.
• Provide a courteous and interactive learning environment.
• Continue to monitor this discussion through 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7 of the week, and reply to anyone (instructor or classmate) who has chosen to respond to your original post.
• Your grade will reflect the quality of your initial post, the depth of your peer replies, and your active support of forum dialogue.
• Your responses should demonstrate that you have read the existing replies on the in the forum. (In your response, mention information and viewpoints already expressed by existing responses to the same post.)

Remember that discussion forums should be conversations; dialogue is encouraged throughout this course. Your grade will reflect the quality of your initial post, the depth of your peer replies, and your active support of forum dialogue.

Before you submit your discussion, you are encouraged to review the Writing Center’s Grammarly (Links to an external site.) page, which includes a link to The Grammarly Guide (Links to an external site.), set up a Grammarly account (if you have not already done so), and use Grammarly to review a rough draft of your assignment. Then, carefully review all issues identified by Grammarly and revise your work as needed.