For me, as a learner, repetition and visual imagery is very effective. I feel that these are helpful in most cases, especially repetition. Even when the content is difficult, the more you do something the easier it gets. Even if you only grasp one part of what is expected, you learned something. And over time, could learn more. Visual imagery is a great tool to accompany other practices, and usually really helps "tie things together," that may be lost in the class. I also really enjoy concept maps. I feel they are useful in learning, as well as reviewing material (prepping for exams). I can really use these a lot with science when teaching processes. I feel that when you just simply memorize, you do ultimately lose the meaningful learning, however, it can help students gain enough knowledge to succeed in a class they are not interested in. Ultimately, we hope to help our students love the subject we love…but this is not commonly the case.
I think using prior knowledge activation is a very powerful tool at our disposal as teachers. If you can build on the students' existing knowledge, it not only makes our job a little bit easier, but it helps our students understand a little clearer.
Ultimately, I feel the cognitive theory will definitely help me as a teacher. It's important to give our students' the "ropes" every now and again, and push them to be better students by helping them think deeper, take control of their learning and building upon current knowledge.
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