Learning Theory and Information Processing

This week, we have studied how the brain works to process information and solve problems.  As an assignment this week, we have been asked to examine journals and/or blogs relating to these areas.  To that end, here are a couple of sites I found that I believe offer excellent information about these subjects.

Learning Theories at Te@chthought.com:

On this blog site, the te@chthought staff offer several blogs relating to learning theory and information processing.  The article that I have highlighted deals specifically with three levels of information processing: the structural level, the phonetic level and the semantic level.  While this particular posting relates to how we process the information about words, I believe it serves as a good model for how the brain can process all manner of information.  The structural level, as the most shallow layer of processing, deals only with the outward appearance of the word.  The phonetic level, the second layer of processing, relates to the learner listening to the sound of the word while the semantic level is where the learner actually considers the meaning of the word.  All three of these areas are used when processing information about a word and, similarly, all three of these areas can be related to other areas such as math where the structural stage is where the learner examines the outward appearance of an equation, the phonetic level is where the learner deals with the sound of the equation and the semantic level where the learner considers the meaning of the equation.

Educational Theory and Practice

This blog site deals with learning theory ad how it relates to instructional design.  This site presents some of the findings related to how the brain and learning work for students with diverse learning styles and also provides insights into how instructional designers can create learning experiences that will be meaningful and effective.  For example, this blog features posts on how to help learners with AD/HD challenges beginning with outlining some of the challenges in learning faced by students with this disorder then moves to strategies for creating academic success.  Additionally, other articles address the issues of learner intrinsic motivation (how the learner approaches learning) and using mobile technologies to increase learning and problem solving.