As I continue to familiarize myself with resources on learning theories, I discovered that the options are limitless when researching and learning how to apply them. This week I attained two articles pertaining to learning and the brain, and information process theory.
“What Does the Brain Have to Do with Learning?”
Jennifer M. Worden and Christina Hinton are doctoral candidates at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Kurt W. Fischer is director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at Harvard University and founding editor of the Mind, Brain, and Education journal and Charles Warland Bigelow is a professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass.
This article aims to find the correlation of learning and the brain through the use of educational neuroscience. Information on this correlation can be overwhelming and some of the content can be inaccurate. As a result, several myths have derived from these inaccuracies and this article provides clarity to the information. “Ignoring important findings from this field can be just as dangerous as uncritically embracing products or interventions that claim to be based on these findings” (Worden, Hinton, & W., 2011) . Listed below are the myths:
1. The brain is irrelevant in learning
2. Neuroscientists (Savolainen, 2009) know it all, and teachers don’t understand research
3. Jonny is right brained and that is why….
4. Everyone knows that you can’t learn a language after age…
5. Girls are better at reading but boys are better at math and science (Worden, Hinton, & W., 2011) .
As I explore the correlation of neuroscience and learning, I will use this resource to understand how the researchers and the educators can successfully work together to build knowledge. “While brain research alone can’t tell us how to teach children, understanding the brain leads to uncovering underlying learning mechanisms” (Worden, Hinton, & W., 2011).
"Information use and information processing”
Reijo Savolainen works in the Department of Information Studies, University of Tampere, in Tampere, Finland. He developed this article to describe the process of using information by comparing two approaches; the constructivist approach and the human information processing approach. The constructivist approach focuses on the ways in which the individual’s mind constructs knowledge through experiences that enable individuals to build “mental models” of the world (Talja, 2005) . Whereas the human information approach focuses on how information is stored in memory and retrieved. “In contrast to cognitive psychologists, researchers in consumer research do not primarily explore the micro level issues of how information is stored and retrieved from memory” (Savolainen, 2009) .
Reijo Savolainen states that both of these approaches can be effective if the educator uses specific strategies to understand how the information will be processed and used. The main categories describing information use as a process are:
1. The major constituents of information use.
2. The phases of information use.
3. The strategies of information use (Savolainen, 2009) .
Reijo Savolainen further describes each category and how to consider the learners’ information process. This article will be very valuable to me as I continue to study and work in the Instructional Design field. It will have an impact on how I design curriculum and how the information will be processed by the participants. As a result, this information will help me to dig deeper into information processing and information use.
Works Cited
Savolainen, R. (2009). Information use and Information Processing: Comparison of Conceptualizations. Journal of Documentation , 187-207.
Talja, S. T. (2005). Isims in information science: constructivism, collectivism and constructionism. Journal of Documentation , 70-101.
Worden, J., Hinton, C., & W., K. (2011). What does the Brain have to do with Learning? Phi Beta Kappan , 8-13.
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