Information Processing Post 2

Applying the ideas of this chapter can be used when teaching the order of operations to students.  The input would be the knowledge of this mathematical operation.

For the sensory memory, the students would be using it while observing the environment of the classroom while learning this lesson.  They would see the operations on the board and notice the colors of the different markers that were used for different operations.  They would also notice their teachers outfit and the posters on the walls that ensure a helpful learning community.  They would also feel the desk that they are sitting in and the pencils in their hands.  They might notice the smell of the markers, and they might hear them on the board.  The information could get lost in this step if it is not built upon.  If they only work on this difficult concept that one day, then it will never stick for them.

Pattern recognition comes in next.  Since they already know how to do the different operations in the order of operations, they can build upon the patterns that they already know.  Attention is also important.  It is imperative that their teacher insists their attention, or the information won’t stick in the long run.

This step is where the working memory kicks in.  Mnemonic devices are used in this step to help the students remember the order.  A popular one is “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.”  The P means the operations in parentheses go first, next are the exponents.  Exponents are followed by multiplication and division.  Last are addition and subtraction.  By using a mnemonic, the information means more because it follows a sentence that is easy to remember.  Students could forget in this stage because the concept is still not permanent.  If not practiced, it will easily be forgotten. 

It is good for teachers to continually ask their students to work on this concept.  By using their retrieval skills, they will become more comfortable with the topic.  After going through it slowly with them, the teacher can start to ask them to do it quicker and not remind them of the mnemonic device to see if they remember it.

The last step is Long-term memory.  After they have been practicing their order of operations for a while, it will become procedural knowledge.  Procedural knowledge is when students know how to do something by compiling all of the skills they already know.  They already knew the mathematical skills required in the order of operations, so it was a matter of learning the order.  After using the information processing skills, students can remember their order of operations!