MARY WARD CENTRE THINK TANKS # 2 How to… Make your classes memorable 1. WHAT IS MEMORY? Facts About Memory Definitions of Memory • the process by which information is acquired, stored mentally and later retrieved • a telescope pointed at time (Schacter) Types of Memory • Memory for facts about you - known in a "deep” • • Memory for other facts - often learned in one shot (what happened in 1066) • Memory for events in your life - do we recall the events or our memories of them? • Flashbulb memory for significant events - e.g. what you did when you heard about Princess Di’s death • • State dependent memory – We remember better in the same physiological or emotional state we learned in. • Context dependent memory – We remember better in the same place or situation where we learn. • Repressed memory - Memories of past events can, for a while, be unavailable to consciousness, and later become so. But we can develop what we think are accurate memories for events that never took place. • Massed versus spaced practice – Memory for skills improves with spaced practice as opposed to fewer blocks of longer practice, though there is an initial benefit in massed practice. • Implicit learning - Learning can take place Memory for skills - once learned, never forgotten (how to swim) • Memory for procedures – cultural practices without conscious knowledge of how we do it (how we tell people’s age) (what happens in a courtroom) • Memory for language structures - rules for spelling and grammar • Memory of language meaning - deeply learned, but access can be effortful (flightless New Zealand bird) Recency Effect - What we learn last we remember better. way (your name) • Primacy Effect - What we learn first we remember better. • The magical number seven - Short-term memory is limited to seven plus or minus two “chunks”. • Memory not a matter of simple storage – it’s a motivated, volatile process involving a whole person. The “encoding, storage, retrieval” model is a useful simplification, but it is a simplification. 2. TIPS FOR TUTORS • Planning Tips • • Remember visual, auditory and kinaesthetic modalities and allow students to see, hear and feel what they learn. There are active, theorist, reflective, and pragmatist learning styles. Plan lessons so people can do activities, reflect on their experience, gain a theoretical context and apply what they learn when you plan lessons. Name labels or name plates can encourage students (and you) to be less anxious about using and practising names. Presentation Tips • Repetition reinforces recall – say what you’re going to say, say it, then say what you’ve said • Alliteration alleviates awareness – repeat the same letters in key phrases • • Attention span affects memory, so plan changes of pace and teaching style to retain students’ attention. Groups of three are memorable (especially if they alliterate e.g. the last two bullet points) • • Fatigue impairs memory – don’t forget to have breaks. Breaks also mean more opportunity for primacy and recency effects. Make up mnemonics – e.g. for course domestics WARD = WCs, Alarms, Refreshments, Distractions (cellular phones) • Link topics from previous sessions where appropriate, this combines repetition with setting context and the larger picture. • Use colour, imagery, mnemonics, humour &c to make enrich handouts Activity Tips • Recall is better than repetition – “recap sessions” at the start of lessons encourage students to actively recall what was covered last week • Memory exists across groups – pairs+ of students will recall better than individuals. • Music can help to set mood and be part of relaxation exercises – but the Mozart effect on learning has been oversold. Remembering Student Names • A pairs naming exercise at the start of the first class helps names get used by several people • Use a name three times in the first five minutes (good for new students joining an established class) • A name exercise at the start of second and subsequent sessions reinforces names. (e. g. introduce yourself with an adjective that starts with the same sound as your name “I’m Gerald and I’m generous”) Subject specific tips • In personal development courses, state dependent memory suggests that if students are in a different emotional state (e.g. more relaxed) when they learn than when they want to use that learning then this may impair transfer of learning. Conversely if you can make the learning state more similar (e.g. slightly stressful role plays) then learning might improve. • In language courses associating sounds with symbols (phonetic alphabet) seems to benefit learners despite the alphabet’s apparent abstraction – it is a visual and writable peg to link the sound to. 3. TIPS FOR STUDENTS • You may think you have “a bad memory” and that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, like being told you’re bad at languages. • See if systematic reading methods (e.g. skim, read through, review) work for you – they do for some people. • If something’s on the tip of your tongue and you recall the first letter pair it with letter through the alphabet (beads on a wire used to count starting with a – “aa..”, “ab…” “ABACUS!”) • Make material meaningful to yourself rather than learning by rote. Students often think they have to learn by heart. You may learn better by talking to others ( or the cat) about what you’re learning, keeping learning journals. (“What have I learned today?”) • If you have to memorise material , associate facts with a series of objects like the doorways of your house, parts of your favourite clothes or, best of all (as you always have it with you) bits of your body). • Write key words on Post-It notes, stick them round the house and remember where they are. • Note taking helps some but not all students, others prefer to attend just to what’s said. • Notes can be text, flow charts or mind maps – whatever suits you best.. • Sleep, nutrition, fluids and promote effective learning. exercise A Model of Memory (diagram overleaf) • Sensory store - fast decaying micro- memories exist as part of the sensory system that e.g. explains how movies seem to move. • Short term memory - memory store that has capacity limitations and shows decay now thought of as… • Working memory - focussed on processing capacity rather than storage limitation • Phonological loop - slave system using subvocal speech to maintain the memory trace. Clinical studies show it plays a particular role in language learning. Often called the inner voice. • Visuo-spatial sketch pad - slave system for maintaining and manipulating visual images. Evidence from how we hold in memory information such as our hand of cards. • Central executive - limited capacity attentional control system controlling slave systems and relating them to long term memory. • Long term memory - a number of processes associated with longer term storage of memories that are implicit or explicit, relate to facts or to one's past, and that that may be visual or verbal. Implicit memory is linked to conditioning, skills, and priming while explicit links to facts and experiences. Example 1 Counting the windows on the front of your house uses visuo-spatial sketch pad to imagine house frontage and phonological loop to count them all. Example 2 Identifying a plant uses short term memory to store the characteristics of leaf, bark &c, visuo-spatial sketch pad to integrate them and long term memory to generate a recalled tree to compare tem with. Further Reading Baddeley, Alan Essentials of Human Memory Psychology Press 1999 Bourtchouladze, Ruskio Memories are made of this, Weidenfeld, 2002 Schacter, Daniel Searching for Memory Basic Books 1996 A MODEL OF MEMORY SENSORY MEMORY Iconic PERCEPTUAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM Haptic Implicit Phonological Loop WORKING MEMORY Central Executive Visuospatial scratch pad LONG TERM MEMORY Visual v verbal Semantic v episodic Explicit Acknowledgements This leaflet is based on a Mary Ward Centre Think Tank held on 21 February 2003 and was compiled by Andy Kirby Andy Kirby 2003 Tutor Think Tanks