Short and long term memory
I think that it is very important to use our short term memory, long term memory and working memory in our learning process. I know that we interact or instruct alot of older students who has been out of the learning enviroment for years and sometimes they feel alittle challenged or intimidated. As instructors we must encourage them to focus and use what they have to help with their educational goals.
Kassy,
Good point and right you are.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think this relates directly to Gagne's 9 events of learning -- which include feedback,practice, performance,and more feedback...
retention of learning is very important. Having a student physically touch something repeatedly on and off over the course of the class session is extremely helpful in the retention process. We also play memory games and this tends to help them remember also.
Keith,
Good point and if we remember this we can structure our instructional delivery to include many opportunities for application and use of the delivered content. As we know the more we use something the easier it is to remember it and store it in our working memory for use later on.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
People feel that as they get older they memory decreases. This may be true physical but learning is more than just memorization. As teachers we teach our students how to learn and not just memorized the material.
Gary,
A good point. What have been some successful strategies for you in teaching to their short term memories?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
As an instuctor in automotive reprair traning you need to learn how to teach your students short and long term memory.
Nancy,
So do mine. They love games and when I throw in some candy as prizes they become very excited.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I like to use games for short-term memory drills. The student enjoy them!
Darci,
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing them with us. I know they will be of help to other instructors. I am sure the students really have fun with these activities and you greatly increase shape/size/use retention in their long term memories.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I use an activity where the students have to identify instrument categories for dentistry. I have them place the instruments into the correctly labeled box. Later on the students break into groups and are blind-folded. They have to remember what the instruments are by feel and explain what they are used for then the group that is also blind-folded has to correctly place the instrument in the container. Another activity that we do is word association with terminology. This helps us associate the term with an object in the room or the person that has said it. The activities have been very successful thus far.
Mary,
This is a common need so we need to incorporate numerous ways they can repeat what they have been taught so the content becomes a part of their long term memory for life long use.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I find that some of my older students require repetition for the long term memory.
Yes indeed short-term is used more often in my field of training. Student are required more to use their short-term memory to later advance to long-term memory through practice and repetition.
Sandra,
It sure does. It is a chaining effect so we need to make sure the students can see the connection between each link in the chain as they make the content a part of their long term memory.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
It takes working with the short term memory items before they become long term memory.
Shaun,
Yes, it is fast paced and that does require intensive focused learning opportunities and cognitive growth.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I've come to find that because of the speed of the program, the students have to be able to access and use their short term memory more often to stay current with the information at hand. Repetition and practical application helps establish the information long term.
I'd like to find strategies to incorporate all three types of memory in a lesson plan; short-term, long-term, and working.
