Researches On Theoretical And Instructional Application Of Cognitive Tools

Content: To meet with the knowledge age's requirements to the talent quality, based on the theoretical and practical researches of instruction supported by cognitive tools both domestic and abroad, this thesis points out the limitations of using IT in school, discusses on the meaning, the significance and instructional strategies when taking IT as cognitive tool. After reviewing literatures, the paper generalize the definition and great sense of cognitive tools, argues the theory basis of it, analyzes the meaning, the function and the advantage of each kind of cognitive tools, introduces correlative cases and attempts to conclude instructional principles of using them into school, with an effort to provide a new effective and practicable approach to reform education & instruction.Introduction, briefly analyzes the era background, discusses the limitation of IT usage in school, and the development of relevant researches about cognitive tools all around the world, and presents the purpose, significance of this thesis.Chapter one, Definition and Significance of CT, it looks back the course of CT theory and practice, reviews definitions of "cognitive tool" before, describes the definition and connotation of the CT concept, and points out great significance of using IT as cognitive tools in education, that is they would encourage meaningful learning and higher-order thinking abilities, help to integrate IT with curriculum effectively.Chapter two, Theoretical Basis of CT, the theoretical fundamentals of using IT as cognitive tools, contains of the constructivist learning theory, Distributed Cognition Theory and a typical viewpoint of technology in education, i.e. Learning with IT.Chapter three, Analysis of CTs, it mainly introduces 8 cognitive tools, includes Semantic networks, Expert Systems, Microworld, Multimedia and Hypermedia, Spreadsheets, DBMS, CMC and Computer Programming Languages etc. It also articulates the metaphor and functions, common software, advantages and disadvantages of each CT.Chapter four, Instructional application of CT, puts forward some general approaches of CT-based instruction, and introduces some typical correlative cases.Conclusion, points out that the difficulties we are facing now, and problems and deficiencies remain in this research that need to be further studied and perfected in the future.