Cognitive and Information Processing Theories of Learning

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Cognitive and Information Processing Theories of
Learning

• EDU 6303
• Psychology of Teaching and Learning

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Introduction

• The human mind is a meaning maker. From the
  first microsecond you see, hear,taste, or feel
  something, you start a process of deciding what
  it is, how it relates to what you already know,
  and whether it is important to keep in your mind
  or should be discarded. ( Slavin, 2003, p. 172)

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Overview

• Information processing model
• What causes people to remember and forget?
• How can memory strategies be taught?
• What makes information meaningful?
• Metacognition
• Study strategies
• How cognitive teaching strategies work.

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Information Processing Model

• Describes the process by which information is
  absorbed, and how teachers can take advantage of
  this process to help students retain critical
  information and skills.
• It is the cognitive theory of learning that
  describes the processing, storage, and retrieval
  of knowledge in the mind.
• It is usually referred to as the
  Atkinson-Shiffrin model of information
  processing.

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Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

• External stimulus
• Sensory register - forgotten/passed on to
• Initial processing
• Rehearsal and coding determines route
• Working short term memory repetition/forgotten
• Long term memory - retrieval

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Sensory register

• Receives large amounts of information from each
  of the senses and hold it for a short time, no
  more than a couple of seconds. If nothing happens
  to information in the sensory register it is
  rapidly lost.

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Perception

• Sensory images are not exactly what we saw heard
  or felt they are what our senses perceived.
• We perceive different stimuli according to rules
  that have nothing to with the inherent
  characteristics of the stimuli.
• We do not perceive stimuli as we see or sense
  them, but as we know (or assume) they are.
• Attention (active focus on certain stimuli to the
  exclusion of others) is a limited resource how
  to gain it arouse interest.

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Short-Term or Working Memory

• Information that a person perceives and pays
  attention to is transferred to short-term memory.
• It is a storage system that can hold a limited
  amount of information for a few seconds. It is
  the part of the memory in which information that
  is currently being thought about is stored
  working memory.
• Working memory is where the mind operates on
  information, organizes it for storage or
  discarding, and connects it to other information.

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Short-Term or Working Memory

• Rehearsal is important because the longer
  something stays in working memory the more likely
  it is to be transferred to long-term memory.
• Capacity five to nine bits of information, but
  bits may contain subcategories of information.
• Bottle neck for long-term memory

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Long-Term Memory

• This is the part of the memory where we keep
  information for long periods of time. It is
  thought to have a very large capacity. Some
  theorist call it permanent memory i.e., we never
  lose the information, just the ability to find
  it.
• Theorists divide long-term memory into three
  parts, episodic, semantic, and procedural.

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Episodic Memory

• Is our memory of personal experiences, a mental
  movie of the things we saw and heard.

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Semantic Memory

• Contains the facts and generalized information
  that we know concepts. Principles, or rules, and
  how to use them and our problem-solving skills
  and strategies

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Procedural Memory

• Refers to knowing how in contrast to knowing what

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How They Work

• Episodic, semantic, and procedural store and
  organize information in different ways
• Episodic images that are organized around when
  and where things happened - flashbulb memory.
• Semantic a network of ideas - Schemata
• Procedural a complex of stimulus response
  pairings how to do something especially a
  physical task.

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Instructional strategies that actively involve
students in lessons contribute to long-term
retention (Slavin, 2003, p. 182).
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Levels of Processing Theory

• People subject stimuli to different levels of
  mental processing and retain the information that
  has been subjected to the highest processing,
  i.e., meaningful to the person.

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Paivos Dual Code Theory

• You remember information more effectively if it
  is stored in two forms visual and verbal
  episodic and semantic memory

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Parallel Distributed Processing

• In 1989, Lewandosky and Murdock argued that
  information is processed in the sensory register,
  short-term memory, and long-term memory at the
  same, because what we see is heavily influenced
  by what we expect to see.

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Connectionist Models

• It is associated with the parallel distribution
  model. It emphasizes that knowledge is stored in
  the brain in a network of connections

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What Causes People to Remember and Forget?

• Interference happens when information gets pushed
  aside or mixed up with other information.
• Retroactive inhibition information is lost
  because it is mixed with new and somewhat similar
  information dont teach similar concepts to
  closely in time and use different methods to
  teach similar concepts.

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What Causes People to Remember and Forget?

• Proactive inhibition decreased ability to learn
  new information, caused by interference from
  existing knowledge.

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What Causes People to Remember and Forget?

• Proactive facilitation increased ability to
  learn new information due to the presence of
  previously acquired information.
• Retroactive facilitation increased
  comprehension of previously learned information
  due to the acquisition of new information.

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What Causes People to Remember and Forget?

• Primacy effect the tendency for items at the
  beginning of a list to be recalled more easily
  than other items.
• Recency effect the tendency for items at the
  end of a list to be recalled more easily than
  other items.

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What Causes People to Remember and Forget?

• Automaticity a level of rapidity and ease such
  that tasks can be performed or skills utilized
  with little mental effort.
• Why is it necessary?
• How is it developed?

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What Causes People to Remember and Forget?

• Massed practice intensively practice until new
  information is learned is better for fast initial
  learning.
• Distributed practice a little practice over a
  period of time is better for retention.
• Enactment we learn better by reading and doing
  implications for manipulatives and simulations

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How Can Memory Strategies be Taught

• Verbal Learning Learning words or facts
  expressed in words.
• Paired-associate learning items in linked pairs
  so that when one member of a pair is presented,
  the other can be recalled.
• Serial memorization of a series of items in a
  particular order
• Free-recall learning a list of items in any
  order

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How Can Memory Strategies be Taught

• Paired-Associate Learning (most frequently used
  in education)
• Imagery mental visualization of images to
  improve memory strengthens paired associate
  learning how is this related to Paivos Dual
  Code Theory?
• Mnemonics (memory devices) key word method

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How Can Memory Strategies be Taught

• Serial and Free-Recall learning
• Loci method a strategy for remembering lists by
  picturing items in familiar locations.
• Pegword method images of key words that rhyme
  with 1-10.
• Initial letter strategies to create an an
  image, e.g., solar system my very educated
  monkey just served us nine pizzas Mars, Venus,
  Earth, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune,
  and Pluto.

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One of the teachers most important tasks is to
make information meaningful to students by
presenting it in a clear, organized way, by
relating it to information already in the
students minds, and making sure that the
students have truly understood the concepts being
taught and can apply them in new situations.
(Slavin, 2003, p. 199)
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How Can Memory Strategies be Taught

• Rote learning memorization of facts or
  associations that might be essentially arbitrary.
• Meaningful Learning mental processing of new
  information that related to previously learned
  knowledge.
• Inert knowledge information learned in school
  that we cannot apply to life.

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How Can Memory Strategies be Taught

• Schema Theory theory stating that information
  is stored in long tem memory in schemata
  (networks of connected facts and concepts) which
  provide structure for making sense of new
  information What theory of development does
  this recall?

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One of the most important insight of schema
theory is that meaningful learning requires the
active involvement of the leaner, who has a host
of experiences and knowledge to bring to
understanding and incorporating new information.
What you learn from any experience depends in
large part on the schema you apply to experience.
(Slavin, 2003, p. 201)
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How do Metacognitive Skills Help Students Learn?

• Metacognition knowledge about ones own
  learning or about how to learn.
• Metacognitive skills methods for learning,
  studying, or solving problems.
• Self-questioning learning strategies that call
  on students to ask themselves who, what, where,
  and how questions as they read material.

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What Study Strategies Help Students Learn?

• Note-Taking provide skeletal outline
• Underlining requires self-questioning, i.e.,
  determining what is important.
• Summarizing requires self-questioning to be
  effective.
• Writing to learn helps make knowledge
  meaningful.

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How Can Memory Strategies be Taught

• Outlining and mapping might possibly tie into
  episodic memory and relates to Paivos Dual Code
  Theory.
• PQ4R preview, question, read, reflect, recite,
  and review material.

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How do Cognitive Teaching Strategies Help
Students Learn?

• Making Learning Relevant and Activating Prior
  knowledge.
• Advance organizers activities and techniques
  that orient students to the material before
  reading or class presentation.
• Analogies images, concepts, or narratives that
  compare new information to information already
  understood - you need to know your students.
• Elaboration the process of connecting new
  material to information or ideas already in the
  learners mind.

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How do Cognitive Teaching Strategies Help
Students Learn?

• Organizing Information
• Use Questions
• Use Conceptual Models

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Conclusion

• What elements of cognitive theories of learning
  that you do not currently use can you incorporate
  into your next set of lesson plans? Please
  discuss this in your work group?

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Reference

• Slavin, R. E. (2003). Educational Psychology, 7th
  Ed. Allyn and Bacon New York.