Information+Processing



Our brain is bombarded with millions of bits of visual, verbal and other sensory data daily. How does it decide which data to process and which data to ignore? And, after processing some of it, how is it that some data will be retained in long term memory, some will be retained for only a short period of time and most of it will not be remembered at all?

Level 1 – Perceptual or Sensory Memory
If the brain reacted to all the stimuli it received it would burn out from information overload in no time. Instead, it relies on the ** perceptual ** or ** sensory register ** to sift out the potentially important data from the unimportant, so it can focus on the former. Any information that doesn't make it through this register is gone for good and has no chance of being remembered this time around. That data which does make it through has a chance to move on to the next level.

Sensory Stimuli is received through senses: Ø Visual Ø Auditory Ø Tactile Ø Olfactory


 * Not everyone is the same! We receive and process information differently! Mental processing and habits may incluence the way that we process information.**


 * Visual Processors**
 * 55% of the population
 * Fast thinkers
 * Gesture freely when communicating
 * Typical phrases include "I see" or "Picture this"
 * Charts, pictures and diagrams are helpful for processing


 * Auditory Processors**
 * Less than 20% of population
 * Sensitive and easily distracted by sound
 * Good listeners and reflective responders
 * Typical phrases include "tell me" or "can we talk"
 * Lectures, discussion and group study are helpful for processing


 * Kinsesthetic Processors**
 * Approximately 25% of population
 * Feeling and touch oriented
 * Hands-on
 * Focus on emotions over logic
 * Typical phrases include "I have a gut feeling" or "I am getting a handle on this"
 * Hands-on projects, experiements, writing and application to real-life are helpful for processing

**Level 2 – Short Term Memory** The ** short term memory ** can retain information for up to approximately 30 seconds à just long enough to look up a phone number and dial it.This memory is limited to 7 chunks or bytes of information. Whether or not the information gets passed along to the next level depends on how important it is. If someone is faced with a survival crisis - a fire, a medical emergency, etc. - the brain will give its full attention to that need and any incoming information not related to that need will be lost. Likewise, if there are any emotional barriers because of circumstances - loss of a friend, divorce, pending move, etc. - the incoming data will be ignored and is gone for good. Information that does make it through can move to the next stage.

**Level 3 – Working Memory** Once data has made it into the ** working memory ** it means we are now deliberately, consciously processing it. The working memory is limited both in the amount of information it can deal with at one time and in how long it can remain focused on it. In general, both of these limits tend to increase - up to a point - with age.

We can keep this data on the work table of our working memory for 18-36 hours on average, although we have to vary the **way** in which we are processing it every 20 minutes or so. The working memory is the one that goes into overdrive during exam time as students cram as much information as possible into their overloaded brains at the last minute. However, since it is only in the working memory, it means that within 48 hours most of it is gone. In addition, in the working memory we can only deal with 7 pieces of information (give or take) simultaneously. One technique used to get around this limitation, and increase the amount of data that can be worked on at the same time, is **chunking**.

After being processed, practiced and manipulated some of the information moves on to the next level, long term memory. However, if that is to happen, the data must make sense to the person and/or have meaning. If they don't understand it, it is doubtful it will stick in the long run. If there is absolutely no point in remembering it, they probably will not!

This is the time and place for rehersal! There are many strategies that encourage transfer from working memory to Long Term Memory. Strategies include:

Level 4 – Long Term Memory Once the brain has assigned sense and/or meaning to the information it moves into the ** long term memory **, and once it is in, it is there to stay. How and where it is stored is another tale for another day, but it is worth noting that it is not a single linear progression. A single memory might be broken up into many pieces, each of which ends up residing in a different part of the memory.
 * Associations and Acronyms
 * Bloom's levels of processing, Brainstrorming, Blogging
 * Classifying, Categorising, Chunking, Charting, Choral responding
 * Dividing, Debating
 * Evaluating
 * Flash Cards, Flip Books
 * Graphic Organizers, Graphing, Google Docs
 * Highlighting
 * Images, Illustrations, Instant Messaging (IM)
 * Jingles, Journaling
 * KWL Charts, Kinesthetic Experience
 * Lists, Labeling
 * Matching, Mneumonics
 * Notes (Cornell Strategies, etc.)
 * Outlining, Organizing
 * Picture It, Photostory, Photo Books/Albums, Podcasting
 * Questioning, Quizzing
 * Rhyming, Reciting, Repeating, Rehersing, Reviewing, Reading Aloud, Reading Critically
 * Songs, Stories, SketchUp, Sketching, Socratic Dialogue
 * Think, Pair, Share; Telling & re-telling, Texting
 * Unison, Use Information, Underlining
 * Videos, Visualizing, Voice
 * Work Walls, Wiki Sticks, Wikis, Webpages, Writing
 * X-amining
 * Yelling, Yodeling
 * Zany strategies

===And, in a sense, the end of the process is also the beginning, because what we remember is often based on what we already know. Background and context for memory à What we already know, what we believe and how we feel about ourselves are always working at our subconscious level. They determine right at the outset what information is let in through the sensory register. Past experience will cause us to be open to and interested in certain things, but it will also close the register and shut out input that we don't want to deal with. It's a complicated and fascinating process. Research continues to shed light on the process, but we already know enough to make some serious improvements in how we educate students.=== Adapted from http://192.107.108.56/portfolios/m/murray_k/final/ipm.html Retrieved September 22, 2008

[|BloomWheel.pdf]
 * Bloom and Information Processing**

[|USING THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH IN THE CLASSROOM.doc]
 * Using Infromation Processing in the Classroom**

[|Is%20This%20You%20-%20Commonly%20Used%20Infomation%20Patterns.pdf]
 * Additional Resources**
 * //Is this you?//**

media type="youtube" key="dGCJ46vyR9o" height="344" width="425"
 * //A Vision of Students Today//**


 * //ABC Brainstorm//**: [[file:mueduc554/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20ABC%20Brainstorming.pdf|Microsoft%20Word%20-%20ABC%20Brainstorming.pdf]]

http://www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/designing_career_services/
 * CIP is used by Florida State University Career Counseling Program**

Schunk, Chapter 4: Cognitive Information Processing  Schunk, Chapter 5: Cognitive Learning Processes  Schunk, Chapter 7, Cognition and Instruction
 * Florida State University - Overview of Theory & Connections to Career/Transistion Planning **

 Jensen (2000), Chapter 19: Meaning Making  Jensen (2008), Chapter 18 & 19: Memory and Creating Patterns of Meaning