The big ideas of Chapter Three was the different stages of information processing, memory, and the ways we can apply all of this to teaching.
Information processing deals with the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information when performing operations. Within this processing three stages occur: sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory. The memory aspect deals with encoding failures, forgetting curve, and retrieval failure. The final aspect of the chapter talked about applying all of these aspects to teaching by keeping children engaged, keeping them attentive, organized, and understanding new concepts.
One question I had in this chapter was the difference between the network theory and the schema theory. They both have to deal with information storage and they sound pretty similar.. any help?
The information processing theory finds learning to be storing and retaining information until it is needed later on. The implication it puts on teaching is that the cognitive process influences learning.
People forget things due to three main reasons. The first is encoding failure which is the inability to encode information so that it never reaches its full potential in the long-term memory storage. The second reason is storage decay. This is when the information is retained but forgotten quickly but levels off at a low level. The final is retrieval failure where one simply is unable to story information.
For me, it helps to see that the network theory is more involved with details and specific cases, while the schema theory is more absolute. Look at the examples in the book. For network theory, they used the example "Sarah is wearing my new raincoat." They said that two things can be learned: (1) Sarah is wearing my raincoat, and (2) it is new. Both of these are specific to that particular situation and might not ever happen again. Schema theory, on the other hand, looks at details that are always true. Look at the example; it talks about waves and the different aspects of waves. These aspects don't change; they are absolute. Hope this helped a little!
ReplyDeleteGood question! I think this suggestion is good. We didn't discuss schema theory very much during Information Processing (due to lack of time) but will during Piaget a bit. Schema theory gives us a specific way knowledge might be organized with some details of how it might be connected, but I think the two theories are compatible and complimentary in a lot of ways.
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