Educational Psychology
Chapter 8 Information-Processing Approach
The information processing approach emphasizes that children manipulate
information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this approach are
cognitive processing such as attention, memory and thinking.
Children develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing information which
allows them to acquire increasingly complex knowledge and skills. Cognitive
psychology changed behaviorism because it explained children’s learning with
referring to mental processes. As a child grows his speed and capacity for
processing grows. These are characteristics that have an important influence on
memory and problem solving. There are a number of ways to assess processing
speed. By reaction time.
According to Siegler three mechanisms work together to create changes in
children’s cognitive skills:
Encoding, the process by which information gets stored in memory. It’s an
art of ignoring irrelevant information.
Automaticity, the ability to process information with little to no effort.
Strategy construction, the creation of new procedures for processing
information. Children’s information processing is characterized by self-
modification. Children learn to use what they have learned in previous
circumstances to adapt their responses to a new situation. It draws on
metacognition, knowing about knowing.
Attention is the focusing of mental resources. It improves cognitive processing for
many tasks. A person allocates their attention in different ways:
Selective attention, focusing on a specific aspect of experience that is
relevant while ignoring others that are irrelevant.
Divided attention, involves concentrating on more than one activity at the
same time.
Sustained attention, the ability to maintain attention over an extended
period of time.
Executive attention, planning actions, allocating attention to goals,
detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks and
dealing with novel or difficult circumstances.
Chapter 8 Information-Processing Approach
The information processing approach emphasizes that children manipulate
information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this approach are
cognitive processing such as attention, memory and thinking.
Children develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing information which
allows them to acquire increasingly complex knowledge and skills. Cognitive
psychology changed behaviorism because it explained children’s learning with
referring to mental processes. As a child grows his speed and capacity for
processing grows. These are characteristics that have an important influence on
memory and problem solving. There are a number of ways to assess processing
speed. By reaction time.
According to Siegler three mechanisms work together to create changes in
children’s cognitive skills:
Encoding, the process by which information gets stored in memory. It’s an
art of ignoring irrelevant information.
Automaticity, the ability to process information with little to no effort.
Strategy construction, the creation of new procedures for processing
information. Children’s information processing is characterized by self-
modification. Children learn to use what they have learned in previous
circumstances to adapt their responses to a new situation. It draws on
metacognition, knowing about knowing.
Attention is the focusing of mental resources. It improves cognitive processing for
many tasks. A person allocates their attention in different ways:
Selective attention, focusing on a specific aspect of experience that is
relevant while ignoring others that are irrelevant.
Divided attention, involves concentrating on more than one activity at the
same time.
Sustained attention, the ability to maintain attention over an extended
period of time.
Executive attention, planning actions, allocating attention to goals,
detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks and
dealing with novel or difficult circumstances.
