Monday, April 13, 2009

Applying the Three Principles of Memory

Last week’s post prompted people to ask for examples of how to bring the three principles, repeated below, into the classroom. The strategies I use are shown in italics.

1. Memories are formed as the residue of thought. Help the students think about the material by clearly drawing their attention to what is important.

My approach has been to provide the students with a printed outline that focuses only on the most important elements of the meeting. Minor points, anecdotes, examples, etc. are not on the outline.

2. Memories are inaccessible, mostly due to missing or ambiguous cues. Provide cues (mnemonics, images, associations, etc.) and use them in class to help students connect with the important elements.

I offer a number of cues that have helped me develop memories related to the material. For example, a typical workflow process used in editing digital photos is to Rotate, Crop, Overall fixes, Individual fixes, Sharpen, Save. The mnemonics for the process is Real Crazy Or Insane Some Say.

3. People tend to think their learning is more complete than it really is. Students can confuse familiar with the material for actually knowing it (italics added). Encourage the over- studying of important parts.

It has often been said that the best way to learn something (over-study) was to teach it. Thus, I suggest that the students go home and teach the meeting’s topics to someone. When they can teach it without the “errrs,” “umms”, pauses, etc., they have over-studied!

Share some strategies you use with us.

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