Chapter 12

1. How does this fit in with what I already have learned?
The propositional calculus fits in quite well with what we have learned so far. To me, these "if...then..." statements require a specific way of imagining our thoughts. While so many of the heuristics are similar, I noticed that I could imagine some better than others. I found that I had an easier time affirming the antecedent than I did any other situation. I could visualize this situation more in my mind. I think that because this was my most natural way of thinking, I connected to the examples easier in the book. I often found that I had to re-read and really think about the other situations. This directly connects to the self-referencing effect and how we process things when deep connections are made. I also connected affirming the consequent to some of the errors we make. The eye witness error and some of the other unintentional errors came to mind. I recalled that we learned that often our thoughts could be remembered differently than the actual event. We also learned that we may change information when we retrieve it depending on the circumstances. As I read the affirming the consequent information, I began to think how accurate this situation could actually sound. Sometimes, I had to really think about the situation and visualize it before I could see the inaccuracy of it.

2. What am I still not clear on?
I had to reread several times the sections on the different heuristics. After reading several of these, they all began to run together. I think that my own "non-mathy" way of thinking caused some processing blocks with the information. Because I am more of a language person, I found that I could better understand these if I made notes about each one as I read it. I believe that after reading it, I began to understand it much better.

While I am clear on the framing effect and the importance of selective wording, I began to think how often I don't really use this to my advantage in my class. I think that there are many opportunities where I could use better wording and phrasing in my activities that would encourage more participation and motivation from my students.

3. There are several aspects of this chapter that I would apply to my own teaching.
I find that sometimes I am overconfident about what I can get done in my class. My lesson plan book is completely full of what I think I will get done in a small amount of time. I think that down deep, I know that there is no way that we can do it all. I need to maintain high expectations, but not to be overconfident about the amount of work my students can do.

As I mentioned before, I also think that I can apply some of the framing and wording effects in my teaching. I think that by using better wording my students will want to learn more. I will try to be more aware of how to do this in my room. I will keep reminding myself about all of the commercials that persuade me to buy things that I don't need. I am not saying that my students don't need what I am teaching them. Instead, I think that I could find better ways to get the same message to my students.

One final aspect of this chapter that I would like to work on in my class is that of affirming the consequent. My students don't always understand how this could be wrong. Today, for example, one of my students kept telling me that pigs give us mud. I think that she was affirming the consequent. I tend to believe that her thought processes went something like this...."Pigs are found in mud, therefore they give us mud." I don't know if I am correct or not about her thoughts, but she really had a hard time getting past this error. I would like to find a way to help my young students understand this type of error. I will have to do some thinking on how to do this.