Check off which tasks below require memory:
o Ordering your favorite dish from a restaurant
o Typing at the computer
o Reading the newspaper
o Finding your reading glasses
o Baking challah
o Dialing your parents’ number
o Lighting Shabbos candles
o Driving a car
o Telling a funny story about what you did yesterday
o Taking a pop quiz
If you checked all of them, then you are right! All of the above tasks require memory, but not in the way that we traditionally think. For a lot of us, memory is about “remembering” or “memorizing” new information, but in reality, our memories play a much larger role. In their book Memory at Work in the Classroom: Strategies to Help Underachieving Students,Francis Bailey and Ken Pransky write that “Memory is the label we use for cognitive processes that are central to our lives and sense of who we are, and they cross the boundaries of all types of activity in our lives. We draw on various elements of our memory systems for all thinking, and all learning.”
The authors discuss five core memory and learning concepts that can help parents, educators, and students understand how memory works in order to better facilitate learning. I’ve expanded and detailed those ideas below:
- Learning means the efficient function of memory system. The very first concept we need to understand when we talk about memory is that no learning can take place without it. Actually, no thinking can take place without it. The process of learning is:
o Creating a representation of some type of information. This is the beginning of the memory process. First, we must give that information a label, picture, or some other representation.
o Storing that representation in long-term memory. Next, we store that representation in a place in our brains from which we can retrieve it later.
o Being able to retrieve that representation to interpret reality and solve new problems. Lastly, we must know how to get that information back and apply it to new situations in our lives.
In order to learn new information, all three of the above steps need to occur. If you miss one of those steps, learning is severely impaired.
- Memory is a physical process. Most people think of memory as something that takes place only in our brain, and while it’s true that that is where much of it occurs, it’s also true that much of it is physical as well. Firstly, even the memory happening in our brains is being transmitted through neurons which contain an axon and dendrite to transit and receive information. The more we “practice” with our memory, the more quickly those axons can transmit and receive information (because of a special brain matter called “myelin sheath” that builds up the more frequently we access that information). Secondly, a lot of our memory can happen through the senses – such as when our noses smell a certain perfume and remember a favorite camp counselor. So, physical activity and learning should go hand in hand as they are part and parcel of the same system.
- Our brains learn best through multiple pathways. Because memory is a physical process, we learn best by using all of our senses. In other words, if you are teaching the American Revolution, you will have students read textbook chapters, listen to songs of the revolution, drink tea when learning about the Boston Tea Party, and experiment with quilt-making when learning about the flag. Thus, multiple pathways to access information about the American Revolution will have been created. Education that is tailored to hit all of the senses will produce maximum results. Of course, if the tea drinking is not accompanied by instruction about the Boston Tea Party or the quilt-making is not paired with reading about the thirteen states, there will be no real information to access. However, learning that includes content and sensory experiences is best accessed by our brains later.
- We do not experience reality directly. This core idea of memory is very difficult to fully comprehend; however, it is essential. Through our own internal representations of information (called “schema” within the educational world), we make sense of, interpret, and shape the world around us. That means that what we experience as reality is actually partially a product of our past experiences. Therefore, in order to enhance learning teachers should do “background-building” activities to create a shared schema. In addition, teachers should work on sorting out misunderstandings before new information is learned (as these can skew the new instruction). And lastly, teachers should check in throughout a unit to measure whether students are processing the information fully and correctly.
- Honoring the limbic system. The limbic system is responsible for emotional control. And, as the center of emotional control, it is inherently involved in learning. If you feel anxious, frustrated, scared, or confused, your limbic system shuts down the other parts of your brain to conserve energy and protect itself. This means that learning is nearly impossible. Thus, teachers need to be aware of social issues, bullying, and any other potentially difficult emotional situation that can make learning difficult for individual students.
Memory plays a role in all elements of learning. And, the more we understand about memory, the better we can use it to our advantage to foster learning. Remember this: memory is more than memorizing. It’s what allows us to calculate the costs of a mortgage, speak a second language, and learn a new concept. Utilizing these five core points that Francis and Pransky point out will enhance our students’ education.
