Integration Processing: Making Sense of the Information We Receive


Students are often juggling information, trying to understand what they are learning while also trying to make connections with additional knowledge or background knowledge. Understanding concepts often means understanding relationships between bits or chunks of knowledge. This can be as basic as sequencing events in an order, such as a time line, or it may require putting abstract concepts together to infer meaning, see a bigger picture.

Many students struggle with integrating information. Sometimes visualizing the process by putting it on paper can help. Our brains tend to "think" in patterns and using visual representations of how bits of information relate to each other gives students a way to externalize their thinking. Consider these images:

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Each graphic represents a different way of connecting information and we tend to recognize the differences. One shows a hierarchy, one shows a process or progression, and one shows how information can overlap with parts being different and parts being similar or shared. This is an example of externalizing how we think, and once it is on paper or a computer screen students can use these tools to integrate ideas, concepts, and information.

Strategies for supporting integration processes.
  • Use graphic organizers, concept maps, mind maps, timelines, outlines, etc. to organize information and visually integrate different bits of information or events with each other.
  • Use infographics, posters, and other visual tools to help highlight main ideas and important concepts.
  • Highlight, or visually mark up, text to support visual organization of content.
  • Provide or use advance organizers to get a big picture of the organization of the text before reading the main content.
  • Consistently use text markup strategies to support a thoughtful processing of the text. Provide students a variety of highlighting and text markup strategies that support basic to advanced integration skills.
  • Consistently use mental models, such as K-W-L, Compare-Contrast, etc.
Resources


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