© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 8 The Information-Processing Approach

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Learning Goals 1. Describe the information-processing approach. 2. Characterize attention and summarize how it changes during development. 3. Discuss memory in terms of encoding, storage, and retrieval. 4. Draw some lessons about learning from the way experts think. 5. Explain the concept of metacognition and identify some ways to improve children’s metacognition.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The Information-Processing Approach The Nature of the Information-Processing Approach Mechanisms of Change Information, Memory, and Thinking Cognitive Resources: Capacity and Speed of Processing Information

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Information-processing approach…  Emphasizes that children manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it.  Is analogous to computers.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Cognitive Resources Developmental Changes - Increases in capacity and speed of information processing Contributions of biology and experience  Brain Structure  Neural: synaptic pruning and myelination

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Change Mechanisms Encoding: getting information into memory Automaticity: processing information with little effort Strategy construction: discovering new processing procedures Self-modification: represented by metacognition, “knowing about knowing”

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The Information-Processing Approach Attention Developmental Changes What Is Attention?

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. What Is Attention? Attention Attention is the focusing of mental processes Selective attention Divided attention Sustained attention

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Developmental Changes in Attention Increase in selective attention Increase in attention span Increase in cognitive control of attention; less impulsivity Increase in attention to relevant stimuli

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Getting Students to Pay Attention Make learning interesting Encourage attention and minimize distraction Use cues and gestures for important material Focus on active learning and be aware of individual differences Use media and technology to make learning enjoyable

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The Information-Processing Approach Memory What Is Memory? Storage Retrieval and Forgetting Encoding

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Enter the Debate Should teachers require students to engage in rote memorization? YESNO

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Memory …is the retention of information over time. Getting information into memory ENCODING Retaining information over time STORAGE Taking information out of storage RETRIEVAL

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Encoding Strategies CONSTRUCTING IMAGES DEEP PROCESSING Deeper processing, better memory REHEARSAL Consistent repetition of information over time ELABORATION Adds to distinctiveness ORGANIZATION Aided by chunking ATTENTION Concentrate and focus

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Memory’s Time Frames Sensory Memory – Retains information for an instant Short-Term Memory – Limited capacity; retains for 30 seconds without rehearsal Long-Term Memory – Unlimited capacity over a long period of time

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Developmental Changes in Memory

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Baddeley’s Model of Memory

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Theory

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Memory Long-Term Memory Procedural Memory Declarative Memory Episodic Memory Semantic Memory

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Representing Information in Memory Nodes stand for labels and concepts Network is irregular and distorted Long-term searches are not exact Retrieved information is fit into an existing formation (schema) Schemas: Concepts, knowledge, or information about events that already exist in the mind and influence the way we encode information. Schema TheoriesNetwork Theories

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Retrieval Identify learned information, as in multiple choice Recognition Previously learned information, as in fill-in- the-blank Recall Associations form cues Encoding Specificity Recall better at the beginning and end of list Serial Position

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Forgetting Cue-Dependent Forgetting Caused by a lack of retrieval cues Interference Theory Other information (new or old) gets in the way of what we are trying to remember Decay Theory Passage of time allows “memory trace” to disintegrate

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Improving Memory Promote understanding Assist organization of knowledge Teach mnemonics  Method of loci  Rhymes  Acronyms  Keyword

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Ms. Blackwood has assigned her students 20 spelling words to learn for the week. She notices that most of her students have no problems remembering how to spell the first few and the last few words, but many struggle with those in the middle of the list. Information Processing Theory Theory into Practice Q: Why might students have an easier time remembering how to spell the first and last few words, but struggle with those in the middle of the list? Explain.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The Information-Processing Approach Expertise Acquiring Expertise Expertise and Learning Expertise and Teaching

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Experts Detect features and meaningful patterns of information Accumulate more content knowledge; organize around important ideas and concepts Retrieve important aspects of knowledge with little effort Adapt an approach to new situations Use effective learning strategies

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The Information-Processing Approach Metacognition The Good Information- Processing Model Developmental Changes Strategies and Metacognitive Regulation

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Metacognition “Knowing about knowing” Metacognitive Knowledge Monitoring and reflecting on one’s current or recent thoughts Metacognitive Activity Students consciously adapt and manage their thinking strategies during problem solving and purposeful thinking

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Improving Metacognitive Skills Improvement of metacognitive skills results from: Developmental changes as student matures cognitively in metamemory and theories of mind. The Good Information-Processing model that includes specific learning strategies, knowing the similarities and differences in multiple strategies, and the benefits of using them. Monitoring the effectiveness of strategies and modifying when necessary.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Crack the Case The Test 1. What are the issues in this case? 2. With what type of learning is George having difficulty? 3. What type of learning is easier for George? 4. Design a study skills program for George drawing on principles of the cognitive information-processing approach.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Reflection & Observation Reflection: What strategies have teachers used to help you understand difficult concepts? Why were these strategies helpful?