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

04

May 2012
Somebody, Anybody, Anywhere and Nobody
by Radmila Gurkova
Singular indefinite pronouns  Somebody, Anybody, anywhe...
Read More...

04

May 2012
What is there? What are there?
by Radmila Gurkova
What is there in the classroom? There IS a table... There is a chair... there ARE windows! There IS a ceiling! There is/There a...
Read More...

30

April 2012
APRIL Monthly Quiz
by Radmila Gurkova
Test your knowledge with our April Monthly Quiz! ...
Read More...

29

April 2012
EUROVEGAS - America in Europe
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ZRZDVVjuw An America tycoon wants to build Vegas in Europe and has chosen Spain as the destination. The American business tycoon, Sheldon Adelson wants to emulate Nevada’s state cash cow 'Las Vegas' here in Spain and is deciding where to build - Madrid or Barcelona. The decision has sparked a row...
Read More...

29

April 2012
P2 Titanic prepositions of time
by Radmila Gurkova
Is it in the weekend, at the weekend or on the weekend? What time do you go to work?...
Read More...

29

April 2012
Homophones...TWO, TOO, TO
by Radmila Gurkova
Do you know how to use TOO, TWO & TO correctly? These are homophones (words that are spelt differently but have the s...
Read More...

29

April 2012
TITANIC - 100 Years
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xKDRmhp6lQ Titanic is the world’s most famous maritime disaster in history. The colossal four funnelled ship hit an iceberg in the Atlantic ocean during it’s maiden voyage on April 10 1912 and sank to the icy bottom, making history worldwide. The ships top speed was 23 knots with a total capacity ...
Read More...

09

April 2012
To be or not to be
by Radmila Gurkova
TO BE I am You are He/She is It is We are They are Examples I AM a teacher. You ARE a student. He IS an actor. It IS a cat. We ARE Spanish They ARE politicians ...
Read More...

09

April 2012
like and as
by Radmila Gurkova
Like and as can be confusing in English. Both like and as can be used to describe how similar things are. Like + noun/pronoun. For example I'm like my mother. Like my mother, I have brown hair. As + subject +...
Read More...

09

April 2012
2nd Conditional - If I had a million dollars, I would give it to charity
by Radmila Gurkova
We use the second conditional to talk about impossible situations. IF + PAST SIMPLE - WOULD + INFINITIVE (Condition) WOULD + INFINITIVE + IF + PAST SIMPLE  (Condition) If I went to Madrid, I’d visit the Prado Gallery....
Read More...
Inicio
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28