Maximizing Retention Through Memory
How will you use the memory research to increase the students' learning retention in a class you are currently teaching? What will you do differently?
I am teaching an anatomy class in January that is essential in order for the students to pass a licensing exam at the end of their schooling. The memory/retention ideas I have gleaned from this course will be a fun addition and a true learning experience for me. Room set up, peripheral learning items, debriefing will all be regular parts of the class. Having new ways to present and keep in the forefront of the students minds what the class objectives are will be very helpful. I always cover those the first day of class, but daily reminders will be great.
I like the idea of the backwards chaining. I am going to try this in my artisan breads class. Show the students the final outcome and have everyone taste the bread and then go into lecture about how important consistency is for a baker and how important it is to follow the formula to stay consistent for the customers.
As an instructor on the administrative end of the healthcare field, I will provide the students with a completed Superbill at the beginning of class and instruct them to write down the patient's encountered events. Through this, I will be using primacy and the backwards teaching model to increase the students' learning retention.
If your teaching young children, addition; use items that they are familiar with - Apples. Divide the group into teams of 3, then have 1 student develop an addition problem with the Apples. The other 2 students solve the addition problem and this will reinforce the learning of this skill. This works when you have young children, just learning: age 3 - 4.
I also encourage the use of flashcards to assist with memory retention
When we use new equipment or are introducing the primary equipment that students will be using for production I take time the class session before to provide them with a list and have them identify functions of the equipments. On shoot day, I label & lay out all of the parts and have the students explore and ask questions about the gear and link what they have identified from the previous class as associate it with the proper gear.
I have been using primacy in a way and did not even know it. Before I begin a chapter, I give a brief overview of what we are going to learn. That way students have "heard" the material first and are ready to go deeper as we explore the chapter.
I would start class reviewing the learning objectives for the chapter. I would use real world examples that students can relate to. I would also create a class activity for student to experience.
I typically teach mind-mapping and 9 different types of mnemonics. I instruct the students to use the techniques for chapters in the textbook and other topics covered.
I will use primacy and recency with more awareness now.
Looking back on my classes I can see times where I've let such simple and effective techniques slip by.
I found the memory retention information very helpful, for students and for me. I will teach these memory aids to my students as well as present material in such a way that I present first material that is most critical and summarize most important details at the end of the lesson. In the past I have taught a classic memory course to my students that requires vivid and extreme imagination to remember lists of facts. The information provided here is much more usuable for general recall of information. I will research this topic more.
The organizate from the memery reseach can help student organize thoughts an accomplish learning objectives.
Patrick,
they really are very helpful especially when there is a lot of information to process/retain.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
This is my 14th Maxknowledge unit and it is the 1st time I have seen KNOWLEDGE RETENTION (as opposed to student retention) seriously approached. This may well be the most difficult part of teaching in 10 - 11 week quarters and is a topic that needs to be addressed in az much greater depth!
Of the six things to increase clues to memory location (primacy, recency, uniqueness, emotion, visual, and information chunking) I found that recency and information chunking are the most interesting to me. While all are effective, these two I use for myself to review and break information down into manageable lists. I have never tried to define these methods, so this module has been extremely helpful to better explain and illustrate these methods, as well as the other methods, to help students in their learning and recall abilities.
Mnemonics are a great tool.
I find backward chaining is a useful tool for retention. Presenting a simulation of the final project gives a visual and hands on picture where the individual concepts can be placed within the whole. It creates an overall file where added pieces of knowledge can be placed, filed, and linked. Our brains respond well to linking information; thus information can better be retained.
A lot of material to cover so I will incorporate pre-class reading assignments. The PP presentations will serve as a learners guide to focus study on important topics that are bundled together. Class time for activities that help retain important material and that material tied to real world experience. May start class with visual of a real world senario.
I think incorporating more games for memory retention is where I would adapt. The reverse chaining is an idea that would definitely change things up and help add variety to learning.
I find that memory is best served by the emphasizing of the importance of the instruction and the impact the student will experience if he does not meet the outcome of the objectives. I like to use real world challenges in the learning process. Example; when the students enter the class they will be faced with a problem written on the white board. i.e. "I have a motor that turns at 1800 RPM and I need a pump that can pump water to the top of a 200 foot tall building. What diameter rotor does the pump need"? At this point the students have not been taught the theory of pump operation and they are faced with the challenge presented by the question. Rather than teach the formula directly the students examine the problem systematically and try to create a formula that works by listing the factors that need to be overcome to get water to the top of the building such as (gravity). Then the instruction is debriefed by discussing what they did right and make adjustments to the errors and misconceptions.
