PROCESSING NEW INFORMATION

How do we impart new content to our students? We use lectures, which is still useful in today’s classroom because it gets the students thinking and allows for processing.

After an appropriate chunk of information has been shared to students, the desired effect is for the content to be broken into something they can digest. This will enable students to process the new information.

When processing new information, the desired effect is for students to be able to process that new information and demonstrate that they understand it.

It would do well for teachers to pre-plan their lessons and questions to make sure that the lesson will give students to process opportunities. Questions must vary in complexity, and challenge all the levels of cognitive processing in the classroom.

Because learning is a psychosocial process, let students have opportunities for interaction with others to support their thinking. Allow students to support one another’s processing of the new knowledge.

Let’s not forget note-taking, of course. Usually accompanying the lecture format, it should be more than just recording what the teacher is saying. Give students a partial outline; use main ideas for headings to help them identify supporting details.

Lastly, teachers should monitor student performance to ensure that they understand the information presented. Incorporating more complexity promotes efficiency in deepening the students’ understanding while the mixed-grouping formats offer support for achieving that goal.