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Learn: what…why…how…you and…

Information Processing: From a Developmental Perspective

Below are a few short excerpts from the last “model of learning” in this series.  These excerpts highlight the work of John Flavell and Robert Sternberg.  Their ideas address a range of learners:  those who succeed easily and those who are challenged.

I chose to focus on these two authors because of their emphasis on how learners process and manage information:  their attention, short term memory, working memory, long term memory, and problem solving skills.

“Educators are very interested in the study of how humans learn. This is because how one learns, acquires new information, and retains previous information guides selection of long-term learning objectives and methods of effective instruction. To this end, cognition as a psychological area of study goes far beyond simply the taking in and retrieving information. It is a broad field dedicated to the study of the mind holistically. Neisser (1967), one of the most influential researchers in cognition, defined it as the study of how people encode, structure, store, retrieve, use or otherwise learn knowledge. Cognitive psychologists hypothesize an intervening variable or set of variables between environment and behavior—which contrasts it with behavioral theories.”

http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/papers/infoproc.pdf

 Information Processing and Memory

“One of the primary areas of cognition studied by researches is memory. There are many hypotheses and suggestions as to how this integration occurs, and many new theories have built upon established beliefs in this area. Currently, there is widespread consensus on several aspects of information processing; however, there are many dissentions in reference to specifics on how the brain actually codes or manipulates information as it is stored in memory.”

……..

The implications of this research are clear. If learning—relatively permanently change—is to take place, new information must be transferred into long-term memory. Therefore, repetition and maintenance rehearsal are not sufficient to produce a lasting effect. This has great relevance to instruction and teaching, for if the aim of education is learning, information must be presented in such a way that it can be incorporated into the memory structure.”

Development of Memory and Information Processing

As previously stated, cognition is the encoding, structuring, storing, retrieving, using, or otherwise learning knowledge (Neisser, 1967). There are important developmental aspects for INFORMATION PROCESSING

According to Flavell et al. (2002), from an information processing perspective some of the most important are:

 

  1. Brain changes brought about by biological maturation or experience;
  2. Increased processing capacity, speed, and efficiency as a result of both maturation and knowledge development;
  3. Modifications of connections in a neural network;
  4. New emergent concepts arising from repeated self-organization as a result of adapting to the demands of a changing environment; and
  5. Increased capacity for problem-solving and metacognition

 

“Another theorist firmly grounded in the information processing approach is Sternberg (1988). Sternberg’s theory suggests that development is skills-based and continuous rather than staged and discontinuous as stage theorists believe, and his focus is on intelligence. This focus on intelligence separates his ideas from stage theorists because it rejects the idea of incremental stages, but rather suggests that development occurs in the same way throughout life differentiated only by the expertise of the learner to process new information….First, and very importantly, Sternberg’s model does not differentiate between child and adult learning….. Cognitive development is viewed as a novice to expert progression; as one becomes better at interaction and learning, one is able to learn more and at higher levels. Development changes as a result of feedback, self-monitoring, and automatization. In this theory, intelligence is comprised of three kinds of information processing components: metacomponents, performance components, and knowledge-acquisition components.”

 

“In Sternberg’s (1988) model, each of these three components works together to facilitate learning and cognitive development. Metacomponents are executive in nature. They guide the planning and decision making in reference to problem solving situations; they serve to identify the problem and connect it with experiences from the past….”

 

 “In summary, there are many different theories of information processing that focus on different aspects of perceiving, remembering, and reasoning. One of the most important agreements is that elaboration is a key to permanently storing information in a way that facilitates its quick retrieval when it is needed. Bloom et al (1956) and Anderson and Krathwohl (2000) provide some excellent suggestions as to how we can encourage increased elaboration among our students. However, as proposed by Hummel and Huitt (1994) if students are not required to demonstrate the results of elaboration on meaningful tasks such as examinations or projects, they are not likely to adequately develop the skills required for higher-level thinking. It is, therefore, imperative that educators and parents require the development and use of these skills as a normal process of students’ lives. If we do that, the amounts and types of student knowledge will increase dramatically and students will be better prepared for life as adults in the information age.”

 

 

                                                              

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Conceptual Learning by David Perkins

From Future Wise: Educating Our Children for a Changing World 2014

From the jacket….

“In Future Wise….David Perkins…offer “a toolkit for thinking through “what’s worth learning?”.  …

Through this vital resource, Perkins explores the key concepts, curriculum criteria, and techniques for prioritizing content so teachers can guide students toward the big understanding that matter”…

My takeaways:

From page 52: Big Understanding

“Big Understandings tend to be big in four ways:

Big in insight: The understandings help to reveal how our physical, social, artistic, and other worlds work.

Big in action:  The understanding empowers us to take effective action professionally, socially, politically, or in other ways.

Big in ethics: The understanding urges us toward more ethical, humane, caring mind-sets and conduct.

Big in opportunity: The understanding is likely to come up in significant ways in varied circumstances…

From page 74:

“Big questions address particular themes about humanity, our world, and our universe.  There are also very general questions that find significance in almost any context…..Later well see how such questions fall nicely into bundles that support inquiry and problem solving….”

“So what makes big questions big?  Like big understandings, big questions are big in offering

insight, action, ethics, and opportunity….

“…Questions are content too, with their own life-worthy flavor.  To know a big question, keep it alive in your mind, and develop skill in asking it is to have a certain kind of passion and power toward navigating the world….”

From page 97-

Lifeready Learning: Making what’s Worth Learning Ready for Life

Questions A:  What does a big understanding (or big questioning) need to be like to be lifeready?

Question B: What kinds of teaching and learning make it lifeready?

Building Understanding through Thinking, Applying, Noticing, and Caring

Details to follow with examples in the next posting.

Bolding of print mine

 

 

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More than Content: Concepts Plus Process

From an earlier post about Erickson’s Concept-Based Curriculum by By Anna Murphy, Rubicon International

https://www.rubicon.com/concept-based-learning-curriculum/

Concept-based curriculum (CBC) is an approach to curriculum design that moves away from subject-specific content and instead emphasizes “big ideas” that span multiple subject areas or disciplines. For example, in a CBC classroom, students may study the big idea of “change” in a variety of areas, from patterns in mathematics, to civilizations in social studies, to life cycles in science.”…

” “Conceptual thinking requires the ability to critically examine factual information; relate to prior knowledge; see patterns and connections; draw out significant understandings at the conceptual level; evaluate the truth of the understandings across time or situations; and, often, use the conceptual understanding to creatively solve a problem or create a new product, process, or idea.”…….  , CBC is a 3-dimensional approach that melds what students will KNOW, DO, and UNDERSTAND.”…

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In a more recent text in 2014, H. Lynn Erickson collaborated with Lois A. Lanning:  Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction:  How to Bring Content and Process Together.

In the Foreword by Malcolm Nicolson, Head of Diploma Programme Development International Baccalaurate, He says:

…..”They have helped me to see how we can help students to “get it” to be engaged in their learning and to understand how to transfer and apply their knowledge, understanding and skills in meeting complex global challenges.”…

 

“Erickson and Lanning write: “The purpose of this book is to present the case for needed changes in the traditional model of curriculum and instruction—a content coverage model that has critical flaws:….”

“The Introduction: Chapter Overview. Chapter 2 contrasts the traditional two-dimensional curriculum mode….with the three dimensional, concept-based model, which focuses on deeper-conceptual understanding supported by related facts and skills.  This chapter also brings together Erickson’s Structure of Knowledge  with Lois Lanning’s Structure of Process, so that educators now have the complementary models for both content-driven and process-driven subjects.” (Bold print mine)

 

Chapter 2, pages 24-27 describes the Structure of Process in more detail.  The authors describe the interplay of process and knowledge, saying:

“Knowledge by itself is quite inert and of little use until it is put into action through a process that includes strategies and skills.  And processes like reading, writing, thinking, analyzing, producing or creating cannot operate meaningfully without content.”

 Here are 2 examples:         

1…”if I am working on the topic of “Climate Change,” I may choose to apply any of the following processes, strategies or skills when learning about the topic.”

^Analyze scientific data using multiple sources of text including verbal, visual, and electronic.

^Create mathematical models to represent statistical data.

^Develop economic predictions based on the analysis of statistical data.

^Write a position paper for a specific audience that addresses a problem and supports a position with personal argument.” (page 26)

2…”Traditionally mathematics has been viewed as a distinct set of procedures to be memorized and carried out.  However, most ideas in mathematics that can be solved procedurally, also lend themselves to exploration, reasoning and pattern seeking.  In fact, the US. Common Core Sate Standards for Mathematics highlight the importance of connecting content standard with the Standards for Mathematically Practice (CCSS Initiative, 2010b, which includes:

1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

….

7 Look for and make use of structure.

8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. (page 27)

 

 

 

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