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1
CHAPTER 8
The Information-Processing
Approach
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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.
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
The Information-Processing
Approach
3
The Nature of the
Information-Processing
Approach
Information,
Memory, and
Thinking
Cognitive
Resources:
Capacity and Speed
of Processing
Information
Mechanisms of
Change
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Connecting with Teachers

Laura Bickford, English Department chair at
Nordoff High School in Ojai, California,
believes a call to teach is a call to teach
students how to think.



She encourages critical thinking and shows
students how to ask their own questions.
She uses metacognitive strategies all the time.
She asks students to comment on their own
learning and observe their own thinking.
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Information-Processing Approach…


Emphasizes that children manipulate information,
monitor it, and strategize about it.
Is analogous to computers.
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Cognitive Resources


Developmental Changes—Increases in
capacity and speed of information
processing
Contributions of biology and experience


Brain Structure
Neural: synaptic pruning and myelination
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Change Mechanisms

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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”
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8
The Information-Processing
Approach
Attention
What Is
Attention?
Developmental
Changes
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What Is Attention?
Attention is the focusing of mental




processes
Selective attention
Divided attention
Sustained attention
Executive attention
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Developmental Changes in
Attention


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Increase in selective attention
Increase in attention span
Increase in cognitive control of
attention; less impulsivity
Increase in attention to relevant stimuli
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Getting Students to Pay Attention
Encourage
attention and
minimize
distraction
Make
learning
interesting
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
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12
The Information-Processing
Approach
Memory
What Is
Memory?
Encoding
Retrieval and
Forgetting
Storage
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Enter the Debate
Should teachers require students to
engage in rote memorization?
YES
NO
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Memory
…is the retention of information over time.
ENCODING
Getting
information
into memory
STORAGE
RETRIEVAL
Retaining
information
over time
Taking
information
out of
storage
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Encoding Strategies
REHEARSAL
DEEP PROCESSING
Consistent repetition of
information over time
Deeper processing,
better memory
ATTENTION
Concentrate and focus
CONSTRUCTING
IMAGES
ORGANIZATION
Aided by chunking
Mental image
ELABORATION
Adds to distinctiveness
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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
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Developmental Changes in
Memory
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Baddeley’s Model of Memory
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Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Theory
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Memory
Long-Term Memory
Declarative
Memory
Episodic
Memory
Procedural
Memory
Semantic
Memory
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Representing Information in
Memory
Network Theories


Nodes stand for labels
and concepts
Network is irregular and
distorted
Schema Theories


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.
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Retrieval
Serial Position
Recall better at the
beginning and end of list
Encoding
Specificity
Associations at time of
learning form effective
cues
Previously learned
information, as in fill-inthe-blank
Identify learned
information, as in multiple
choice
Recall
Recognition
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Forgetting
Cue-Dependent
Forgetting
Caused by a lack of effective
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 (transience)
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Improving Memory

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Promote understanding
Vary instructional information; link
early and often
Assist organization of knowledge
Teach mnemonics

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

Method of loci
Rhymes
Acronyms
Keyword
Embed memory retrieval language
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Sociocultural Factors and
Memory

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Cultural Specificity Hypothesis

Cultural experiences determine what is relevant in a
person’s life and what the person is likely to
remember (memory about weather affects fishing
for a Pacific Islander)

Gender

Females are better at episodic memory and emotionlinked memories; males are better than females at
tasks that require transformation into visuospatial
working memory.
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Information Processing Theory
Theory into Practice
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.
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.
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The Information-Processing
Approach
Expertise
Expertise and
Teaching
Expertise and
Learning
Acquiring
Expertise
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Experts

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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
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Experts Versus Novices

Detecting Features and Meaningful Patterns
of Organization

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
Experts have attentional advantage; they are
better at noticing important features of problems
Superior recall, added by process of chunking
Organization and Depth of Knowledge


Knowledge organized around important ideas or
concepts
Establish more elaborate networks of
information
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Experts Versus Novices

Fluent Retrieval



Adaptive Expertise

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
Experts retrieve information in effortless, automatic
manner.
Effortless retrieval places fewer demands on
conscious attention.
Flexibility in approaching new situations
Openness to rethinking important ideas and
practices.
Strategies

Use to understand information in area of expertise.
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Acclimation

Acclimation: Initial stage of expertise

Teachers must help students develop
strategies to move beyond the acclimation
stage. Strategies include:

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
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Spread out and consolidate learning
Have students ask themselves questions
Take good notes (summarize, outline, use
concept maps)
Use a Study System (preview, question, read,
reflect, recite and review).
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Acquiring Expertise

Practice and motivation

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
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Deliberate practice made at appropriate
level of difficulty with corrective feedback
Opportunity for repetition
Motivation is considerable
Talent

Needed for some development of
expertise in some areas
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Expertise and Teaching


Difference between content knowledge and
pedagogical content knowledge (teaching
effectiveness)
Pedagogical content knowledge


Expert teachers are aware of common difficulties
students have as they try to learn a content area.
Expert teachers are good at monitoring students’
learning and assessing students’ progress.
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The Information-Processing
Approach
Metacognition
Strategies and
Metacognitive
Regulation
Developmental
Changes
The Good
InformationProcessing
Model
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Higher Education.
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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
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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.
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Best Practices for Helping
Students Use Strategies
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Recognize strategies are key aspects of
problem solving.
Model effective strategies for students.
Give students opportunities to practice
strategies.
Encourage students to monitor new and old
strategy effectiveness.
Be patient and give students support for new
strategy learning and use.
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Best Practices for Helping
Students Use Strategies

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Motivate students to use strategies.
Encourage students to use multiple strategies.
Read about strategy instruction.
Question students to guide strategy thinking.
Support low-achieving students and students
with disabilities; they may need more time to
become effective in independent strategy use.
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Classroom Connections: Crack
the Case—The Test
1.
2.
3.
4.
39
What are the issues in this case?
With what type of learning is George having
difficulty?
What type of learning is easier for George?
Design a study skills program for George
drawing on principles of the cognitive
information-processing approach.
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40
Reflection & Observation
Reflection:


What strategies have teachers used
to help you understand difficult
concepts?
Why were these strategies helpful?
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