How Do We Get Students to Store Information in Their Long-term Memory?

Human memory has three parts: sensory registry, working memory, and long-term memory. “Information that undergoes additional processing moves on to the third component- long-term memory. Long-term memory appears to have the capacity to hold a great deal of information for a relatively long time”(Omrod, pg. 183). As teachers, we need to strive to have our students store as much information as possible into their long-term memory. In order for long-term memory to occur, students go through a number of cognitive processes including selection, rehearsal, meaningful learning, internal organization, elaboration, and visual imagery. There are numerous factors that affect long-term memory storage which teachers need to keep in mind and use to their advantage. Some of these include prior-knowledge, verbalization, enactment, and repetition and review.

Prior Knowledge-

The first way that teachers can use these factors to their advantage is by activating the students’ prior knowledge or even adding on to the students’ background knowledge.  A way in which I have done this in my classroom is completing a KWL chart with the students. The students who already have a lot of background knowledge in the subject area are going to easily make connections and engage in meaningful learning. Therefor, I need to make sure that I give the class some important background information for those students who may not have the same amount of background knowledge.

Verbalization-

Some ways in which I do this in my classroom is having the students turn and talk when presented with a question, having class discussions about a topic, and writing scientific explanations on a classroom blog.

Enactment-

I incorporate enactment in my classroom in the form of stations, hands-on labs, having the students act out how molecules behave in different states of matter, or having the students demonstrate why see different phases of the moon from earth using a styrofoam ball (as the moon), a model of the Earth, and flashlights (as the sun).

Repetition and Review-

“Reviewing and practicing information and procedures at periodic intervals over the course of a few weeks, months, or years clearly enhances retention and performance”(Omrod, pg. 208). This is one thing that I think I could improve on in my science classroom. We do a lot of short-lived rehearsal on relevant vocabulary words for vocab quizzes, but this is not an effective way to facilitate long-term memory storage. It is difficult to review and practice information at periodic intervals when we are continually switching to new scientific concepts. I think that this would be easier to do in districts which use a spiralling curriculum, but I need to find ways to do this by connecting major concepts into future units. For example, the students are learning about erosion and deposition right now. Perhaps when we do our water unit, I will need to have the students connect how water can cause erosion and deposition. I think that these sort of connections will help facilitate long-term memory storage.

Ormrod, J. E. (2012). Human learning. New York, NY: Pearson.