Chapter Eight Information Processing

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-2 How well do we remember what we learn in school?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-3 Overview The information processing view of learning A model of information processing Metacognition Helping students become strategic learners

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-4 Information processing view of learning: Assumptions Information focuses on the mind of the student –Information is processed in steps or stages –There are limits on how much information can be processed at each stage –The human information processing system is interactive

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-5

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-6 A model of information processing (p. 239)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-7 The sensory register Capacity –Very large Duration –1 to 3 seconds Contents –Information perceived by the sensory receptors (encoded as perceived)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-8 The sensory register and its control processes Recognition –Noting key features of a stimulus and relating them to already stored information Attention –Selective focusing on a portion of the information currently stored in the sensory register

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 5-9 Short-term memory (working memory) Capacity –7 +/- 2 chunks of information Duration –20 to 30 seconds Contents –What you are currently thinking about (information from the sensory register and information from long term memory)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Short-term memory and its control processes Rehearsal –Maintenance rehearsal —repeating information over and over again; no effect on long-term memory storage –Elaborative rehearsal —relating new information to knowledge already stored in long-term memory

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Short-term memory and its control processes Elaborative Rehearsal –Organization Organizing information into chunks (related items) so that more information can be stored and thus remembered –Meaningfulness Organizing material and relating it to ideas and experiences already known

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Short-term memory and its control processes Elaborative Rehearsal Cont’d –Visual imagery encoding (Paivio - dual coding) Generating mental images of objects, ideas, and actions to aid in the storage of memories

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Long-term memory Capacity –Unlimited Duration –Permanent, long-term Contents –Schemata – an abstract structure of information

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved What is metacognition? Metacognition is… our knowledge about attention, recognition, encoding, storage, and retrieval and how those operations might best be used to achieve a learning goal.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Learning Tactics for helping Students become Strategic Learners Memory-directed tactics –Techniques that help produce accurate storage and retrieval of information Comprehension-directed tactics –Techniques that aid in understanding the meaning of ideas and their interrelationships

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Memory-directed tactics Rehearsal –Rote rehearsal –Cumulative rehearsal Mnemonic devices –Rhyme –Acronym –Acrostic –Method of loci –Keyword

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Comprehension-directed tactics Questioning –Self-questioning –Peer questioning –KWL Notetaking –Summarizing –Outlining

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Self-questioning stems (King, 1992) p. 281 What is a new example of…? How would you use … to…? What would happen if…? What are the strengths and weaknesses of…? What do we already know about…? How does … tie in with what we learned before? Explain why… Explain how… How does … affect …? What is the meaning of…? Why is … important? What is the difference between … and …? How are … and … similar? What is the best …, and why? What are some possible solutions to the problem of …? Compare … and … with regard to …? How does … cause …? What do you think causes…?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved The components of a learning strategy Metacognition Analysis Planning Implementation of the plan Monitoring of progress Modification