01 February 2015 / by Vincent Chieppa

Chunking information & the power it unlocks




  • The most common way of chunking information is by arbitrarily grouping it together. For example, imagine you have to remember the names of four of your students.  You will simply split them into two pairs and memorize the first pair followed by the second.



    This this refers to chunking information based on its meaning.  For instance, if you want to memorize the age of everyone in a group, you can begin by chunking the information by organizing people by their age.  The next step would be to remember the people that belong to each group.



    It comes more naturally to commit information to memory by identifying a pattern in the given information.  This is because you simply have to remember the pattern rather than a list of separate pieces of information.

    As an example, look at this letter sequence: AEIMQUY.  Did you notice that these letters are just every fourth letter of the alphabet?   So if you want to commit this information to short term memory, you now have the pattern that is the key to unlock the whole sequence.



    As we have seen, chunking information can also help overcome some short term memory restrictions.  Experiments have shown that short term memory has a limited capacity to remember 7 (plus or minus 2) chunks at a time.  Nevertheless, we are able to remember more by chunking information.

    For example, if you have to commit an (international) 11-digit phone number to your short term memory you will probably be unable to do it.  However, by chunking the information in units, you will be able to do it with greater ease.

    As an example, imagine you have to remember the phone number of your Kenyan Director of Studies (+25490573681). You will find that by chunking these numbers into groups you will now be able to remember it with ease (2-54-90-57-36-81).



    Here you will find an activity to illustrate how chunking information works.  Also, feel free to read up more about not only about chunking and other memory techniques, but also on how to apply it in the classroom:

  • The Atlantic

  • The Peak Performance Center

  • Professional Teacher Board

  • Skills Toolbox

07

December 2012
Mistaken identity....sort of.
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsaGzkwJzUg A comedian STAGING a fake theft ended up with more than he BARGAINED for when he was caught by a police community support officer. The officer thought a crime was in progress when TV star Simon Brodkin pretended to steal his own DVD. Brodkin was in character as one of his cre...

29

November 2012
Nature vs Nurture
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mvZ4EbPbME What do you think? Is our personality the result of our NATURE or the way we were NURTURED? Genetics is the study of biological INHERITANCE. Geneticists examine a wide variety of inherited TRAITS. You got your green eyes from your mother, and your freckles from your father. But where d...

29

November 2012
"Marriage is the chief cause of divorce"?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUS-FnxUJb8 Have you heard the Groucho Marx's quote about divorce: ''Marriage is the chief cause of divorce''? What other reasons for divorce are there? During recession, do you think there are more divorces or less? Have a look at these comments related to the issue... Most people believe that the...

15

November 2012
The end of the world as we know it?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDO2b9zUbE0 Derren Brown, the famous British hypnotist, has hit back at "hurtful" accusations that the victim in his controversial TV show Apocalypse is an actor, saying: "If they were actors we would have to quietly kill anyone who knew them." In the programme that ...

15

November 2012
Drunk man in Australia attempts to ride crocodile
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUSXx7tdc9I A drunk man who climbed into a crocodile enclosure in Australia and attempted to ride a 5m (16ft) long crocodile has survived his encounter. The crocodile, called Fatso, bit the 36-year-old man's leg, tearing chunks of flesh from him as he straddled the reptile. He received surgery to s...

12

November 2012
The Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeaG1jRLIBw Last month Hurricane Sandy caused DEVASTATING levels of damage to several large cities on the East Coast of the United States. Atlantic City was almost completely SUBMERGED by flood waters before Sandy hit land and in the light of day it became clear the town had ENDURED heavy damage. Th...

08

November 2012
US Elections - Obama Wins!
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://youtu.be/9X_liJoPV8c - What do you think of the American Elections? - Is it different to Spain? How? - Who DID you think was going to win in the elections? Obama or Romney What do you think to these controversial issues?... ABORTION & BIRTH CONTROL OBAMA: Supports access to abortion. Health care law requires contr...

08

November 2012
Reality Con...
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://youtu.be/SvcDbR6cnIs Reality TV celebrities have been targeted by a notorious Bristol conman looking to convince investors he is a successful media producer, a BBC investigation has found. Selva Carmichael, 51, now of Chackmore, Buckinghamshire, presented himself as Silva 'Silver Fox' Michael, the president of WorldScreen ...

26

October 2012
Best of British?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGGbJEcUZsM A trade delegation from Britain is heading to Paris this week in an effort to boost the increasing popularity of British food in France. Since 2000, UK food exports to France have doubled from £1.1bn to £2.2bn, including quadruple the sales of cheese, such as stilton and cheddar, and tri...

26

October 2012
Wear jeans, help clean the air...
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://youtu.be/xVN2j56t2ek An innovative blend of fashion and science has resulted in the design of a new technology in jeans that cleans the air... Helen Storey, professor of fashion and science at The London College of Fashion, teamed up with Dr Tony Ryan, pro-vice-chancellor for the Faculty of Science at the University of She...