1. Attention and Information Processing
B.Ed. II Sci. (4 Yr.)
Sept. 2010

2. ATTENTION
What is attention?
Focus on a stimulus is known as attention.
Why do we attend?
We don’t have to. Some things catch and hold our attention. Many stimuli compete for a subject’s attention.
Interest and Attention
Interest and attention are two sides of a coin.
We use the word interest for the structure itself.
We use the word attention to describe the experience, which the structure is always ready to determine.
To have an interest in any object is then to be ready to pay attention to it.

3. Attention and Teaching
The first step in learning is paying attention. Students cannot process information that they do not recognize or perceive. Many factors in the classroom influence student attention.
Conditions that control attention
Objective (external)
Intensity: A loud noise has the advantage over a soft whisper; the brilliant headlight of a car catches our attention more easily than the dull lamp of a cycle.
Size: Other things being equal, a large object will draw our attention more readily than a small one.
Movement: A child’s attention is easily attracted by a moving toy rather than by a steady one in a toyshop.
Contrast: Anything that is different from its surroundings is likely to stand out and catch the eye.
Novelty: New fashions in dress generally become popular because of some novelty, which attracts the attention of the customers.

4. A. Subjective (internal)
Interest is the principal internal factor.
Instinctive or inborn interests: A Hungary child pays attention to food.
Habitual or learned interests: Our interest in art, music, and science are all acquired ones.
Temporary or momentary interests: In a shop, a magazine you wish to read catches your eye even when rest is prominently displayed.
Mood: Our mood always influences the direction of attention.
Attitude: Your attitude determines the direction of attention.

5. Which factors are more important?
External factors in a stimulus help in attracting one’s attention temporarily.
Internal factor namely interest is the most important.
It is only interest that will ultimately help a child continuously pay attention to an activity.
External factors are mainly useful in lower grades but a teacher will have to rely heavily on internal factors at the high level in college and university.

6. Types of Attention
Attention
Involuntary Voluntary Habitual (enforced) (volitional) (non-volitional)
Involuntary Attention: Whenever we suddenly attend to some unexpected stimulus such as a loud noise, or a bright flash of light, it is called involuntary attention.
Voluntary Attention: Whenever we intentionally look, listen, or attend to is referred as voluntary.
Habitual Attention: This is spontaneous; it develops on account of real interest in the subject.

7. Which type of attention should we aim at?
All type of attention has a place in the school depending upon the age of the child.
Involuntary attention should gradually become voluntary and ultimately become habitual type of attention.
Kindergarten.
Attention is mostly involuntary.
The teacher gradually helps them to give direction to their process of attending.
Elementary school.
Teacher has to make use of various teaching aids in order to catch the attention of the children.
Both involuntary and voluntary types of attention are used.
Secondary school
Teacher should aim at developing habitual or non-volitional type of attention.
College and University
Voluntary attention is expected in the beginning, but it should ultimately lead to habitual attention.

8. Information-Processing Theory of Learning
Imagine your life without a memory!
What is memory?
To a psychologist, memory is any indication that learning has persisted over time.
The Oxford Dictionary defines memory as the faculty by which things are recalled to or kept in the mind.
How do we process all the information to which we are exposed?
The first step in information processing model begins when one or more of our senses (hearing, vision etc.) receive stimuli form the outside world.
These sensations are held very briefly in the sensory register where they are recognized or perceived – we see a dog or hear our name for example.

9. Background
George Miller – provided two ideas that are fundamental to this perspective:
1. Short-term memory can only hold 5-9 chunks of meaningful information.
2. The human mind functions like a computer – taking in information, processes it, stores and locates it and generates responses to it.
Definition
Learning is a change in knowledge stored in memory.
Principles
Governed by internal process rather than by external circumstance (behaviorism).
Process of selecting information (Attention), translating information (Encoding), and recalling that information when appropriate (Retrieval).
How do we process all the information to which we are exposed?

10. Information Processing Theory of Learning
C:\The Three Human Memory Storage Systems.doc

11. There are three primary stages in IP theory:
Encoding- Information is sensed, perceived, and attended to. To take in information and convert it to a usable mental form.
Storage- The information is stored for either a brief or extended period of time, depending upon the processes following encoding.
Retrieval- The information is found at the appropriate time, and reactivated for use on a current task, the true test of effective memory.

12. Three memory components of Human Memory:
Sensory Memory: Analogous to keyboard
Sensory memory is responsible for the encoding of information.
It is responsible for transforming environmental input into neural impulses
which the Short Term Memory system can process.
The sensory memory has unlimited capacity and retains an exact copy of
what is seen or heard (visual and auditory) but only lasts for a few seconds.
There is a different sensory memory system for every human sense: tactile,
olfactory, gustatory, auditory, and visual.
How we encode information
We encode information either with an effort or automatically.
Automatic processing: with little or no effort, you encode an enormous of information about space, time and frequency.

13. 2. Short Term Memory (STM):
Analogous to the CPU.
Selective attention determines what information moves from sensory memory to short-term memory.
Our working memory has a very limited capacity - we can attend to only about seven items at a time.
Actions to take:
(1) Continuously rehearse it, so that it stays there;
Move it out of this area by shifting it to long-term
memory; or
(3) Move it out of this area by forgetting it. 

14. 3. Long Term Memory (LTM): ROM storage where software is stored.
LTM as its name implies stores information for a long time.
There is no restrictive limit on the amount of information we can store in long-term memory.
The advantage of LTM is that we do not have to constantly rehearse information to keep it in storage there.
If we move information to long-term memory, it stays there for a long time - perhaps permanently!
To make use of this information in long term memory, we must move it back to our working memory, using a process called retrieval.
Information is stored on the basis of meaning and importance.

15. Forgetting
The inability to access information when needed.
There are three main ways in which forgetting likely occurs:
Decay- Information is not attended to, and eventually ‘fades’ away.  Very prevalent in working memory.
Interference- New or old information ‘blocks’ access to the information in question.
It is most likely that neither of these processes function in isolation.

16. The importance of Memory in Learning:
The transfer from STM to LTM is vital for
learning.
Evidence suggests that it involves some form
of consolidation, typically a short pause
during which the information is held
consciously in the mind.
Even after an interesting lesson, children often
remember little, probably because each piece
of information is so quickly followed by the
next that there is no time for consolidation.

17. A number of strategies exist both for helping consolidation and for increasing the efficiency of LTM generally:
1.   Organize new information.
2.   Link new information to existing knowledge.
3.   Use techniques to guide and support students' Attention, Encoding, and Retrieval process.
Pausing, repeating, and questioning: Each of these prompts children to dwell sufficiently upon material for transfer from STM to LTM to take place.

18.  Relevance and interest: Children best remember those things that appeal directly to their own experience and feelings.
Practical use: Material that is put to practical use tends to be remembered better than material that is not.
Meaning: Material that is understood by the child is more memorable than material that is not.
Overloading: Skills or knowledge that children go on practicing and revising even after they have understood persist better in the memory than material that they do not.

19. Association:
Unfamiliar material is remembered more effectively if it is associated with something familiar.
It is realized that learning should always go from the known to the unknown, that is, that new material should be keyed in by reference to the association between it and something already known.
Visual association is also particularly helpful – hence the importance of visual aids.

20. Helping students to remember and study effectively
Organization-info that is organized efficiently should be recalled.
“Deep” processing- focus upon meaning.
Elaboration.
Generation-Things we ‘produce’ are easier to remember than things we ‘hear’.
Context- remembering the situation helps recover information.

21. Personalization- Making the information relevant to the individual.
Situative learning theories- learning occurs in context and reactivating the cues of the context is likely to enhance the ability of the learner to store and retrieve the information.
Prototype formation/comparison-establishing- establishing a prototypical representation for future access eases the cognitive resources for storing and retrieving information.

22. USING THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH IN THE CLASSROOM
Principle
Example
Gain the students’ attention.
Use cues to signal when you are ready to begin.
Move around the room and use voice infections
Bring to mind relevant prior learning.
Review previous day’s lesson.
Have a discussion about previously covered content
Point out important information.
Provide handouts.
Write on the board or use transparencies.
Present information in an organized manner.
Show a logical sequence to concepts and skills.
Go from simple to complex when presenting new materials.
Show students how to categorize (chunk) related information.
Present information in categories.
Teach inductive reasoning.

23. 6. Provide opportunities for students to elaborate on new information.
Connect new information to something already known.
Look for similarities and differences among concepts
Show students how to use coding when memorizing lists.
Make up silly sentence with first letter of each word in the list.
Use mental imagery techniques.
Provide for repetition of learning.
State important principles several times in different ways during presentation of information (STM)
Have items on each day’s lesson from previous lesson (LTM).
Schedule periodic reviews of previously learned concepts and skills (LTM).
9. Provide opportunities for over learning of fundamental concepts and skills
Use daily drills for arithmetic facts.
Play form of trivial pursuit with content related to class.