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Information processing: Summary and references

Module by: Michael Orey. E-mail the author

Summary: The summary and references for a sub collection of modules about information processing, including long-term memory, short-term memory, sensory registers, teacher practice, and a scenario.

Summary

Why do students want to be back in Mrs Smith's class? Students want to be back in Mrs Smith's class because she teaches them how to learn. Mrs Smith examined her own teaching methods and decided to make some changes. Those changes led to incorporating metacognitive strategies in her teaching which then led to her students becoming more responsible, independent, and self-regulated learners.

Metacognition, as illustrated in this story, includes both executive control and strategies. Executive control is evident in this story as it tells about one teacher's journey from using computers in her classroom with no thought of incorporating metacognitive skills into her lessons, to an awareness that she could use computers more effectively than she was using them, and finally to making changes in her teaching methods by planning her lessons with specific instructional models such as Problem-Based learning in mind while using metacognitive skills as the foundation.

Examples of the metacognitive strategies used by Mrs Smith with her students include:

  • Modeling thinking aloud
  • Accessing prior knowledge through the use of graphic organizers (KWL chart)
  • Using the program Inspiration in the planning stage of writing
  • Debriefing–review the thought processes

References

Ashcraft, M.H. (1994). Human memory and cognition (2nd Ed.). NY: Harper Collins. Brown, H. Douglas (1987). Principles of Language Teaching and Learning (2nd Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NY: Prentice-Hall.

O’Malley, M., and Chamot, A., 1994. The CALLA Handbook. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley

O'Malley, Michael, Chamot, Anna U., Stewer-Manzanares, Gloria, Russo, Rocco P., and Kupper, Lisa (1985). Learning strategy applications with students of English as a second language. TESOL Quarterly 19:557-584.

Pavio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. NY: Oxford Press.

Rubin, Joan (1975). What the "good language learner" can teach us. TESOL Quarterly 9:41-51.

Stern, H. H. (1975). What can we learn from the good language learner? The Canadian Modern Language Review 31:304-318.

Additional resources

Here is a nice chapter from a book by Lloyd Rieber about the IP model and graphics. The title of the chapter is, "Psychological Foundations of Instructional Graphics" Lloyd has also made a nice interactive model for the dual coding theory.

The Information Processing Approach http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/infoproc.html

Information Processing Theory http://tip.psychology.org/miller.html

Reciprocal Teaching http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm

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