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EDUCATIONAL LEARNING THEORIES

CONTENTS

12. Information Processing

Theory
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Identify key elements of information processing theory

Explain strategies utilized to implement information processing theory
Summarize the criticisms of and educational implications of information
processing theory
Explain how equity is impacted by information processing theory
Identify classroom strategies to support the use of information processing
theory
Select strategies to support student success utilizing information processing
theory
Develop a plan to implement the use of information processing theory
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 Image 12.1

SCENARIO:

Mr. Moseley was a highly effective ESL teacher. Not only did his students laugh a
lot at his silly stories, but he had some very good techniques for helping students
to learn and use the English language. Mr. Moseley used a variety of strategies
for students to acquire vocabulary. He has the students create and maintain
personal vocabulary journals. He always taught using a word wall and
constantly referred back to the word wall as he taught. He had the students get
into groups and do creative activities with new vocabulary words such as acting
out the word or creating a bumper sticker, song, limerick or rhyme using the
word. Invariably, shrieks of laughter could be heard down the hall from Mr.
Moseley’s classroom as students worked together on these engaging projects.

What did Mr. Moseley understand about memory and language retention? Mr.
Mosely understood that multiple modes of learning helped students to
remember and acquire the new vocabulary, and that students could learn while
having fun!. As you learn about Information Processing Theory, consider what
educators can do to help their students remember new information, as well as
strategies for learning!

Check out these videos for an introduction:

Video 12.1Theory of Human Motivation

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 Information processing model: Sensory, working, and long term memory | MCAT | Kh…
Kh…

Video 12.2

Learning and Memory: The Information Processing Theory

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INTRODUCTION

Information Processing (IP) Theory is concerned with how people view their
environment, how they put that information into memory, and how they retrieve
that information later on. The Information Processing Theory approach is based
on the idea that humans process information they receive instead of simply
responding to external stimuli. According to the
Information Processing Theory model, the mind is often compared to a
computer. The computer, like minds, analyzes information and determines how
the information will be stored.
There are three components of the Information Processing Theory:

sensory memory
short-term memory
long-term memory

Sensory memory is all of the things that you experience through your five
senses-hearing, vision, taste, smell, and touch. The capacity of sensory memory is
about four items and the duration is limited to .5 to 3 seconds.

Short-term memory (STM), also called working memory, is the temporary

storage, lasts about 15-30 seconds, holds about 7 items of information, and
includes the thinking part of applying what comes out of the sensory memory.

Long-term memory (LTM) is memory that can be accessed at a later time, is long
lasting, and can hold infinite information. The Information Processing Theory
addresses how people respond to the information they receive through their
senses and how they further process that information with steps of attention,
forgetting, and retention. Unlike other cognitive developmental theories, the
information processing theory includes a continuous pattern of development
instead of development in stages.

The information processing (IP) theory is a cognitive approach to understanding

how the human mind transforms sensory information. The model (Figure 12.1)
assumes that information that comes from the environment is subject to mental
processes beyond a simple stimulus-response pattern. “Input” from the
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environment goes through the cognitive systems which is then measured by the
“output.” Information that is received can take several paths depending on
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attention, encoding, recognition, and storage. The central executive feature
controls how much information is being processed, though more primitive
sensory areas of the brain first accept environmental input. The theory looks at
real time responses to presented stimuli and how the mind transforms that
information.

Figure 12.1

Information Processing (IP) Model. The model is constructed to

represent mental processes much like that of a computer. No one
theorist claims to have invented the model. The model creates a basic
structure for experimental research of these internal cognitive
processes.

The model assumes that through the process of maturation, one develops
greater abilities to attend to stimulus, recognize patterns, encode, and retrieve
information. Over long spans of time, individuals process information with
greater efficiency.

Over the lifespan, individuals experience more information, associations, and

ways to categorize
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Theory of Human input. The process may seem passive, but the model
assumes that input from the environment is actively transformed and rehearsed
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to become a part of long-term memory. For environmental information to
become a part of long-term memory, one must attend to, rehearse, and make
sense of the stimuli. The interaction between nature and nurture coincide for
changes in development. The model does not attempt nor can it distinguish
between the two.

How Does the Information Processing Model Work?

Sensory Memory (see Figure 12.2)

Sensory memory is where information gathered from the environment is stored.

Sensory memory is very limited, passive, and lasts about .5-3 seconds. It has the
capacity of holding 4 items. It is affected by attention. Information is gathered
from the environment through the sensory register (sensory motor). In order for
information to enter the short-term memory from the sensory register, it must be
attended to by the senses. Information that is not attended to is lost from the
sensory memory and never enters the short-term memory. The best understood
sensory registers (SRs) are for seeing (iconic) and hearing (echoic). Very little is
known about tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), and gustatory (taste) SRs. For
example, light reflecting off my cup of coffee hits my eye; the image is transferred
through my optic nerve to the sensory register. If I do not attend to it, it fades
from this memory store and is lost. In fact, my cup is on my desk most of the day,
and I see it without really “seeing” it many times during the day.

Each memory stage has four attributes:

1. Representation

2. Capacity

3. Duration

4. Cause of forgetting.

For the visual sensory register, for example, representation is iconic-limited to the
field of vision, and lasts for about 250 milliseconds. The main cause of forgetting
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is decay. Representation in the auditory register is echoic (based on sound); its
duration is 2-3 seconds; it is only limited to the sounds we can actually hear
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decay is the primary cause for forgetting. Much less is known about the other
three register types.

Short-Term Memory (Working Memory) (see Figure 12.2)

Short-Term Memory (STM) is also known as working memory. It is where

consciousness exists. In the cup example, if I attend to the cup, it will be moved
into STM. At this point, it is difficult to talk about the cup in STM memory without
referring to long-term memory (LTM). For example, I might attend to the cup and
think, “That’s my cup. It has coffee in it. I poured that coffee 3 hours ago.” Each of
those statements draws on LTM. I know it is my cup because it is the one that a
potter friend of mine made for me. I know it has coffee in it, because I remember
getting it this morning. I know that I poured that cup at 9:00 am. The statement
that the coffee is 3 hours old required me to look at the current time, and retrieve
from LTM that subtracting the current time from pouring time tells me how old
the coffee is. Performing the subtraction used no STM processing space, because
experience in doing arithmetic allows me to do this automatically.

STM is where the world meets what is already known, and where thinking is
done. You perceive and attend to stimuli; that information is then actively
processed based on information stored in LTM. The use strategies such as
rehearsal (repeating information verbally (acoustic encoding) and chunking
(categorizing information together in one memory slot) can expand the capacity
of short-term memory (McLeod, 2009). In terms of the characteristics of this
memory stage, the representation is echoic. It is limited to 5-9 items, and it lasts
between 15-30 seconds (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1971). At the STM stage, interference
is the principal cause of forgetting. STM can hold about 7 (the magic number)
items (Miller, 1956). A common example of this is calling information for a phone
number. After the operator gives you the number, you begin repeating it to keep
it in STM. This repetition is termed rehearsal. Rehearsal can also be used to get
information into LTM, but it is very inefficient. Rehearsal primarily serves a
maintenance function; it can be used to keep information in STM. In the phone
number example, if someone interrupts you to ask you a question while you are
rehearsing the number, responding interferes with rehearsal, and the phone
number is lost. You must call the information again. Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
further researched short-term memory and developed an alternative model as
working
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Theory of Human (Figure 12.2; Figure 12.3).
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Figure 12.2 Working Memory

In the working memory model (Figure 12.3), Central Executive is the part of
working memory where information is controlled. Visuospatial Sketchpad stores
and processes visual and spatial information. Phonological Loop stores and
processes speech-form based sound information. Episodic Buffer is where
information is brought to the forefront, used, constructed from and to the Long-
Term Memory, where information is retained indefinitely.

Figure 12.3 Working Memory Model Components

The above
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Theory shows the components of working memory, which
of Human Motivation
is an alternative model for short term memory, developed by Baddeley
and Hitch (1974). It can also be found in Miller (2011, pp. 272-272).
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Long-Term Memory (see Figure 12.5)

The final stage in the IP model is long-term memory (LTM), which involves the
storage and recall of information over extended periods of time, such as hours,
days, weeks, or years (Merriam-Webster, 2017). LTM is everything we know and
know how to do. For most cognitive psychologists, the world of LTM can be
categorized as one of three types of memory (Figure 12.4):

declarative
procedural
episodic

Declarative knowledge can be defined as knowledge needed to complete this

sentence “Knowing that…” By contrast, procedural knowledge is “Knowing how…”
These two types of knowledge account for most of what is learned in school and
at work. The remaining type of knowledge is episodic which might also be called
anecdotal. This is memory for specific events in one’s life: a memory of your first
kiss or of your graduation. The personal stories in our lives comprise episodic
memory. While this makes for a neat tautology, some have suggested that it is
incomplete.

Figure 12.4 Declarative Knowledge, Procedural Knowledge, and Episodic

Knowledge in Long-Term Memory

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The Inspiration web illustrates that most cognitive psychologists
categorized that Long-Term Memory consists of declarative knowledge
(“I know that… even numbers end with the digits 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8!”),
procedural knowledge (“I know how… to pronounce and comprehend
new vocabulary!”), and episodic knowledge (“I remember when… I
graduated from high school!”).

Pavio (1986) has asserted that memory for images differs from memory for words.
He offers a dual coding hypothesis asserting that when we see an image, both
the image and a label for that image are stored in memory. He has extended the
hypothesis, suggesting that dual codes may exist for the other senses as well. For
example, the smell of an orange is stored along with its label “orange.” Others
have suggested that there are mechanisms that control thinking and learning.
These control processes are called metacognition. Metacognition often takes the
form of strategies. For example, learners attempting to master a complex topic
might choose to use a strategy such as drawing pictures to help them
understand the complex inter-relationships of the various components of the
topic. Strategic readers might stop and mentally summarize what they have just
read in order
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of ensure comprehension.
Human Motivation

The 1970s saw great expansion of understanding of human learning. It became

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clear that there was no one method of teaching that ensured successful learning.
Many researchers, especially in the field of second language (L2) acquisition,
recognizing this fact, turned their attention to learners, attempting to answer the
question “Why is it that some learners succeed in learning regardless of the
methods used to teach them?” Rubin (1975) and Stern (1975) formulated lists of
the characteristics and strategies that successful language learners use in their
study. Rubin and Thompson (1982) offered guidance to foreign language students
on how to make themselves better learners. Extensive study of this notion of
learning strategies in the 1980s led O’Malley et al. (1985) to formulate a list of 24
strategies used by English as a Second Language (ESL) students in their study.
Most importantly, the strategies were classified into three categories:

Metacognitive Strategies: is a term borrowed from Information Processing

Theory. These strategies, according to O’Malley et al. (cited in Brown,1987),
“indicate an ‘executive ‘ function…that involve planning for learning, thinking
about the learning process as it is taking place, monitoring…and evaluating
learning…” (Brown, 1987, p. 94). Metacognitive strategies might include using
advance organizers, self-planning, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation.

Cognitive Strategies: are more task-specific, and often refer to “direct

manipulation of the learning material itself (Brown, 2000, p. 124). Examples of
cognitive strategies are note-taking, repetition, guessing meaning from context,
or using mnemonic devices.

Socio-affective Strategies: refer to strategies that use association with or input

from teachers or peers. O’Malley, Chamot, Stewer-Manzanares, Russo, and
Kupper (1985) have gone on to suggest that these strategies can be overtly
taught to learners, facilitating one of the most important goals of learning,
learner autonomy.

Finally, there is another viewpoint that offers the notion of concepts. For example,
there exists a concept called “bird,” which can be reduced to declarative
statements such as: “It has feathers,” “It has wings and flies,” “It lays eggs,” and
the like. The concept of “bird” can also include our episodic experiences with
birds-the parakeet I had when I was a child, the sparrow I found dead by the
fence one morning, etc. It can also include the hundreds of images that we have
seen of birds, as well as all instances of real birds we have seen. All of this
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collectively is what we know of as “bird.” It is the concept of bird, the tightly
woven collection of knowledge that we have for birds. Next: Critical Pedagogy
In the end, there are five types of knowledge in LTM-declarative, procedural,
episodic, imagery, and strategic knowledge; there also exists one collective type
called conceptual knowledge. For the LTM stage, the representation is semantic
(based on meaning). Capacity and duration are considered unlimited in LTM, and
the cause of forgetting is failure to retrieve.

How does information get into the Long Term Memory? In order to keep
information in the working, it needs to be rehearsed (rote memorization). Rote
memorization is not an effective way to move information to the long-term
memory. However, by using the correct methods, information can be moved
from the short-term memory into the long-term memory where it can be kept for
long periods of time. Information that is stored in the long-term memory does not
need to be rehearsed. To retrieve information from the long-term memory, short-
term memory must be used. Usually if someone “forgets” something that is
stored in the long-term memory, they have simply forgotten how to retrieve it or
where it is stored.

In order for information to move from short-term (working) memory to long term
memory, it must be attended within 5 to 20 seconds of entering. Information
must be linked to prior knowledge and encoded in order to be permanently
stored in long term memory. It is generally believed that encoding for short-term
memory storage in the brain relies primarily on acoustic encoding, while
encoding for long-term storage is more reliant on semantic encoding (The
Human Memory, n.d). Some encoding methods include chunking, imagery, and
elaboration. For example, when I think about teaching learners, I need to know
what they already know so that they can relate the new information to their
existing knowledge. This is elaboration. While teachers can do some of that for
learners, elaboration is an active process. The learner must be actively engaged
with the material that is to be learned.

This does not necessarily mean that the learner must be physically active; rather,
it implies that they should be actively relating this new piece of information to
other ideas that they already know. Long Term Memory is often regarded as a
network of ideas. In order to remember something, ideas are linked, one to
another until the sought-after information is found. Failure to remember
information does not mean that it has been forgotten; it is merely the procedure
for Previous:
retrieval hasof been
Theory forgotten. With more elaboration, more pathways to that
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piece of information are created. More pathways make retrieval of the
information more likely. If it is found, it is not forgotten.

Figure 12.5 Sensory, Short-Term (Working), and Long-Term Memory

Cause of
Type Characteristics Representation Capacity Duration
Forgetting
limited and
passive; store
senses (seeing,
Sensory information .5-3
hearing, taste, 4 items decay
Memory gathered from seconds
feel, touch)
the external
environment

active 16-30
Short- information visual imaging seconds (5-
5-9
Term processing: and acoustic 15 seconds interference
items
Memory rehearsing and (sound)encoding without
chunking rehearsal)
semantic
encoding:
unlimited; chunking,
store imagery, and
information elaboration
Long- over extended (knowledge: forgetting
Term periods of time declarative, infinite permanent the retrieval
Memory (hours, days, procedural, pathway
weeks, episodic,
months, years, imagery,
etc.) strategic,
collective/
conceptual)

Human asTheory
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of Human Motivation

Within the Information Processing model, people are routinely Next: Critical Pedagogy
compared to
computers (Figure 12.6). This comparison is used as a means of better
understanding the way information is processed and stored in the human mind.
Therefore, when analyzing what actually develops within this model, the more
specific comparison is between the human brain and computers. Computers
were introduced to the study of development and provided a new way of
studying intelligence (Lachman & Lachman, 1979) and “added further legitimacy
to the scientific study of the mind” (Goodwin, 2005, p. 411). In the model below,
you can see the direct comparison between human processing and computer
processing. Within this model, information is taken in, also called input.
Information is encoded to give meaning and compared with stored information.
If a person is working on a task, this is where the short-term memory (working)
memory is enacted. An example of that for a computer is the Central Processing
Unit (CPU). In both cases, information is encoded, given meaning, and combined
with previously stored information to enact the task. The latter step is where the
information is stored where it can later be retrieved when needed. For
computers, this would be akin to saving information on a hard drive, where you
would then upload the saved data when working on a future task (using the
short-term (working) memory).

Figure 12.6 Human Memory and Computer Comparison

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The Inspiration web above shows how Information Processing can be likened to
the model of a computer. The Sensory Register would include input devices like
CDs. Short-Term Memory includes the Central Processing Unit. Long-Term
Memory would be viewed as the hard drive or storage. By Tiffany Davis,
Meghann Hummel, and Kay Sauers (2006).The Inspiration web above shows how
Information Processing can be likened to the model of a computer. The Sensory
Register would include input devices like CDs. Short-Term Memory includes the
Central Processing Unit. Long-Term Memory would be viewed as the hard drive
or storage.

Information Processing Theory views people as information processing systems

with memory systems sometimes referred to as cognitive architecture (Miller,
2011). A computer metaphor is often applied to human cognitive systems,
wherein information (a stimulus) is inputted (sensed) and the brain then
performs processes such as comparing the information to previously stored
information (schemas), transforming information (encoding), or storing
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information in long-term memory.
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This theory views humans as machines, actively inputting, retrieving, processing
and storing information. Context, social content, and social influences on
processing are generally ignored in favor of a focus on internal systemic
processes (Miller 2011). Nature provides the hardware, or the neurological
processing system likely predisposed to economical and efficient processing, as
well as being pre-tuned to attend to specific stimuli. The “Nurture” component
presents as the environment which provides the stimuli to be inputted and
processed by the system.

Current Areas of Research

Information Processing Theory is currently being utilized in the study of computer

or artificial intelligence. This theory has also been applied to systems beyond the
individual, including families and business organizations. For example, Ariel
(1987) applied Information Processing Theory to family systems, with sensing,
attending, and encoding stimuli occurring either within individuals within the
system or as the family system itself. Unlike traditional systems theory, where the
family system tends to maintain stasis and resists incoming stimuli which would
violate the system’s rules, the Information Processing family develops individual
and mutual schemas which influence what and how information is attended to
and processed. Dysfunctions can occur both on the individual level as well as
within the family system itself, creating more targets for therapeutic change.
Rogers, Miller, and Judge (1999) utilized Information Processing Theory to
describe business organizational behavior, as well as to present a model
describing how effective and ineffective business strategies are developed. In
their study, components of organizations that “sense” market information are
identified as well as how organizations attend to this information, which
gatekeepers determine what information is relevant/important for the
organization, how this is organized into the existing culture (organizational
schemas), and whether or not the organization has effective or ineffective
processes for their long-term strategy.

Memory,
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When children are faced with information that is unfamiliar to them, they are left
with the task of developing strategies to encode the information so as to store it
and accurately and easily access it at a later time (Miller, 2011). Depending on the
age of the child, the method of storing information into memory differs. As
children develop, increased cognitive abilities, increased memory capacity, and
other social/cultural factors serve as major contributors to their development.
Older children are more likely to develop memory strategies on their own, are
better at discerning what memory strategies are appropriate for particular
situations and tasks, and are better able to selectively attend to important
information and filter out extraneous information.

Memory and Strategies

The strategies children use to encode and remember information are of interest
to Information Processing researchers (e.g., task analysis research). For example,
“young children are capable of using rehearsal to aid memory if they are told to
rehearse, but they are deficient at spontaneously producing a strategy”
(production deficiency) (Miller, 2011, p. 283). Therefore, young children are unable
to ascertain the appropriate time to use particular strategies. On children’s
encoding strategy development characteristics, Miller (2011) pointed out the
following:

As children develop they become more capable of developing appropriate

strategies to acquire and remember units of knowledge when necessary;
A child’s ability to selectively choose which information they attend to is
another developmental milestone;
A child may choose a strategy that does not produce a desired outcome
(utilization deficiency);
Children may use several strategies on the same task;
They may frequently change their strategies used or strategies develop as a
result of increased knowledge, development, etc.;
Children develop strategies over the course of their development;
Children may employ strategies at an early age that prove ineffective later in
development; and
Children may develop new strategies that they find effective and useful later
in life.
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Information processing theory combines elements of both quantitative

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qualitative development. Qualitative development occurs through the
emergence of new strategies for information storage and retrieval, developing
representational abilities (such as the utilization of language to represent
concepts), or obtaining problem-solving rules (Miller, 2011). Increases in the
knowledge base or the ability to remember more items in short-term (working)
memory are examples of quantitative changes, as well as increases in the
strength of connected cognitive associations (Miller, 2011). The qualitative and
quantitative components often interact together to develop new and more
efficient strategies within the processing system.

Memory and Knowledge

Information Processing Theory views memory and knowledge formation as

working together, and not as separate and mutually exclusive concepts. Humans
are better able to remember things they have knowledge of, which increases the
recall of stored information. Increased knowledge allows the person to more
readily access information because it has been categorized and the bits of
information relate to one another. As children develop, they also gain an
understanding of their own memory and how it works, which is called
metamemory.

Also, children also gain information about how human cognitive functioning,
which is called metacognition. These are other important developmental
milestones, which indicate the child is able to process much more complex and
less concrete information. This is important in our overall functioning, because it
shows an understanding of our own functioning related to specific tasks and how
to best adapt our learning and memory strategies.

Younger children have less memory capacity. A child’s level of comprehension is

integrally connected with their memory (Miller, 2011). As the child develops, they
are able to process information at a faster speed, and they have an increased
capacity of how much information they can take in at a time. Increased memory
capacity allows the child to process and store more bits of information (Miller,
2011). Thus, older children are able to take in more information at a faster rate,
therefore allowing better efficiency of information processing.

Increased knowledge enables the child to more readily access information from
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their long-term storage and utilize it in appropriate situations (Miller, 2011). The
more associations one is able to make and the more complex their network
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associations, the better their information recall. A developmental milestone
examined in children is their ability to take information and expound upon it.
Younger children are more likely to purely recall the information they process.
However, as children develop and gain knowledge, they are better able to gather
information, make inferences, judgments, and go beyond pure recall (Miller, 2011).

Memory and Social Influences

An individual’s culture greatly influences how one remembers bits of information

by how the culture emphasizes various elements, emotions, or even events
(Shaki & Gravers, 2011). As the text discusses, children can manage and handle
more information at once due to increased capacity, and “because new
information can be packaged into pre-existing categories and structures” (Miller,
2011, p. 290). The knowledge gained, however, is not obtained without interaction
with the child’s external environment. Attitudes and beliefs about gender, race,
sex roles, etc. greatly influence how a child processes and recalls information
(Miller, 2011). Beck (1975) suggests that as we develop we learn how to process
external stimuli, and these messages are processed, interpreted and
incorporated into one’s internal schemas. For example, children in a school
setting who are taught that men and women occupy certain gender-stereotypic
jobs are thus more likely to process information through such a “filter” (Best,
1983). The text points out that children may even reconstruct images later to fit
with their schema of a particular occupation (Miller, 2011). This relates to the
construction of scripts, which are assumptions or expectations about what is
supposed to happen in a particular situation. They can greatly influence how a
child remembers events and may potentially lead to assumptions about people,
events, etc. (Miller, 2011).

While scripts are helpful in making the information processing system more
efficient, they can hinder the recall of specific information and enhance the
generalizations made about people, events, etc. Language is an integral part of
one’s culture that can greatly influence the information processing system.
Language, the nature of a task’s instruction, and the type of task can all greatly
impact the processing of information (Shaki & Gravers, 2011). Furthermore,
individualistic versus collectivistic cultures can have different outlooks on human
development as well as the proper formation and development of an individual,
which therefore
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Theory of Human motivations and actions toward goals (Hamamura,
Motivation
Meijer, Heine, Kamaya, & Hori, 2009).
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Criticisms of Information Processing Theory

Models based upon Information Processing Theory take a somewhat simplistic

view of cognitive processing, with information processing being viewed largely as
a linear process. This Information Processing model does not take into account
simultaneous or parallel processing. For example, the linear model, which
suggests rehearsal is required to encode information in long-term memory, is
likely faulty in cases of trauma, where information can be encoded automatically
and without rehearsal due to a single exposure to traumatic stimuli. The
metaphor of the computer is off-putting to many, who dislike comparing human
beings to machines. Moreover, no current computer program can truly simulate
the full range of human cognition. Computer constructed models that are based
upon this theory are highly complex and again cannot take into account all the
nuances of human thought despite their complexity.

Information Processing Theory does not account for fundamental developmental

changes, or changes to the “hardware” of the brain. For example, how do humans
gain the ability to utilize representational thought utilizing language? How do
people develop “formal operations” thinking, such as abstract logical or social
thinking when previously their thoughts were in “concrete” terms? There is an
excessive focus on internal cognitive processes, with little attention being paid to
environmental influences or the nature of the external stimuli the individual is
exposed to.

The impact of emotions or behaviors on cognitive processing or interpretation is

not sufficiently included in this model. For example, the Information Processing
model does not consider how an individual can process a stimulus differently if
they are angry versus if they are in a calm state. The Information Processing
model is described as being universal, with little attention being paid to
individual differences or cultural differences.

Educational Implications

In K-12 classrooms, most teachers hand out worksheets to help students practice
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(or rehearse) their new information. To improve students’ encoding, teachers
should look for ways to incorporate more senses. For example, Next:
when learning
Critical Pedagogy
new vocabulary (such as in a foreign language) teachers could have the students
act out the words. In higher education classrooms, the more modes of
information an instructor can provide to students the better. If the classroom or
course doesn’t condone itself to a lab-like lesson or environment to allow
students to actually experience the concept on their own, instructors could point
the students in the direction of a good video tutorial on that day’s lesson. The
instructor could even make their own videos.

Making learning multi-modal

The more modes the teacher or the instructor have working at one time, the
more likely learners are going to remember (e.g. the more senses used, the
better). Humans, like computers, need to do something with new information to
store it in our brains so that we can recall it again later when needed. We need to
create a similar pathway so we make sure our brain knows not to discard the
newly learned information. This process is called encoding. A good example of
encoding we are all familiar with is ROY G BIV. This acronym was created as a
way to remember the colors on the color spectrum: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,
Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Additionally, the more times we practice pulling the
information out, the easier and easier it becomes when needed. During
encoding, a learner may watch, listen, repeat, recall, etc., it is very important to
keep cognitive load in mind when trying to learn, recall, and remember new
information.

Cognitive load is a term concerning the manner in which cognitive resources are
focused and used during learning and problem solving (Chandler & Sweller, 1991;
Sweller, 1988, 1989). It is argued that cognitive load can be reduced for learners
via instructional design. When designing and presenting information, teachers
and the instructors are encouraged to consider learner activities that optimize
intellectual performance. Overloading a learner with information and stimuli can
have negative effects on task completion and comprehension. To help students
effectively process information, the teacher or the instructor could use the
following guidelines:

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Concept Example

Gain attention before providing information, move

Gain students’ attention. around the room, voice fluctuations, etc.

Ask students to recall Review of previous day’s material.

prior relevant learning

Point out important Provide information on the board, handouts, study

information. guides, etc.

Present information starting at simple and moving

Organizing information.
to more complex.
Present information in a logical sequence and
Categorize related
teach students to look for similarities and
information.
differences.

Have students relate new Connect new information with something that is
information. already known.

Teaching encoding for Use mnemonics and imagery.

memorizing lists.

Present information in many different ways and

Repetition of learning. provide many ways for students to manipulate
information.
Overlearning. Offer daily practice drills.

Cognitive overloading Pay attention to not overload the students with

activities. information or stimuli.

Chapter Discussion Questions:

Explain the benefits of information processing theory to support student

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success.
How would you summarize information processing theory?Next: Critical Pedagogy
 How would you use information processing theory to support your students?
How is equity related to information processing theory?

ATTRIBUTIONS

Image 12.1 : “IPA Diagram” by Awesome Nikk, Wikipedia Commons is licensed

under CC BY-SA 4.0

Video 12.1: “Information processing model: Sensory, working, and long term
memory | MCAT | Khan Academy” by khanacademymedicine

Video 12.2: “Learning and Memory: The Information Processing Theory” by

Kortschak Center, Kortschak Center

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Previous: Theory of Human Motivation
applications. Educational Psychology Interactive, Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State
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Peer-Reviewed Articles

Ruiji, L. (2012). The development on multimedia teaching resources based on

information processing theory. International Journal of Advancements in
Computing Technology, 4(2), 58-64.

Books in Dalton State College Library

Coolen, A. C. C., Kiihn, R., & Sollich, P. (2005). Theory of neural information
processing systems. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Lindsay, P. H., & Norman, D. A. (1972). Human information processing: An

introduction to psychology. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Videos and Tutorials

Kahn Academy. (2013). Information processing model: Sensory, working, and long-
term memory. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=pMMRE4Q2FGk

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