Remember to Repeat

Wouldn't it be a delight if our brains worked like a cassette tape recorder?  Do you remember those handy gadgets.  All you needed to do was put a blank cassette into the machine, press record and talk or sing into the microphone.  Then rewind and press play, and you heard a recording of what you had done.  While it might seem that it would be great to have it work that easily, our brains are, in fact, capable of so much more than the old cassette recorder.  The key is knowing how to maximize its potential.

That's what I'm hoping to share in this series of blog posts as I read John Medina's book, Brain Rules.  I can't say that I agree with his whole perspective - he works from an evolution-focused foundation - but many of his insights have been extremely enlightening.

We last talked about short-term memory and the fact that repeating information at regular intervals would enhance the encoding of that information.  Likewise, receiving that information in a variety of ways - through multiple senses - would provide more intricate and lasting encoding.  The key phrase for short-term memory was Repeat to Remember.

Next we will look at long-term memory, for which the key phrase is Remember to Repeat.

New memory traces - often referred to as working memory - are flexible, subject to amendment, and at great risk for extinction.  Converting this working memory into long-term storage is called consolidation.  Just like short-term memory, the fixative for long-term memory is repetition at regular intervals.  Thinking or talking about an event immediately after it happens greatly enhances memory.  Putting thoughts into your own words is another beneficial action.  Both are incorporated in the educational exercise of narration, where the student may read or listen to a passage or chapter in a book, and is then asked to recount the information in their own words.  Doing so right after the initial exposure is effective, and then repeating the information again - telling Dad at dinner, or sharing it with someone later in the day - will further fix the information in place.

There are auditory and visual components to memory, but when both can be incorporated as the information is first processed, the memory traces are more intricate and more easily retrieved at a later time.  The brain's retrieval systems seem to undergo a gradual shift from specific and detailed reproductions of information to more general and abstracted recall.  Regular re-exposure to the information will help to keep the memories more detailed.

Harvard phychology professor, Dan Schacter, tells his students, "If you have only one week to study for a final and only ten times when you can hit the subject, it is better to space out the ten repetitions during the week than squeeze them all together."  Late night, last minute cramming sessions are not effective.  Rather we learn here that it is better to revisit the information regularly between the time it is introduced and the time that retrieval is needed (test day) in order to ensure that retrieval will be as vivid as possible.

As teachers, we can seek to pace the information that we are giving to our students so that we are incorporating new information gradually and repeating it at timed intervals, rather than bombarding our students' brains with a constant flow of new information and minimal opportunities to revisit and explore deeper the concepts that were recently introduced.

For enhanced memory function ... Repeat to Remember, and Remember to Repeat.

Kelly

Repeat to Remember

One of the primary functions associated with the brain is memory, and this is a key function for students and educators. Knowing a little more about how the brain stores information may help you in your efforts to teach your children.

The brain has different types of memory systems that fall into two categories - those memories that involve conscious awareness and those that are voluntary.  Once you have learned how to ride a bike, recalling the skill at a later time does not generally require a conscious effort.  However, remembering a telephone number does require a conscious effort.  This type of memory is what we would call a declarative memory - involving something you declare - and it is the type about which researchers have learned the most.  Declarative memory involves encoding, storage, retrieval and even forgetting.

Most people believe that the brain is a lot like a recording device where learning is based on pushing the record button, and remember is similar to pushing the playback button.  But it really isn't that simple.  There are several types of encoding, which involve all of our senses, and their processing centers are scattered through the brain.  These include:

• Automatic encoding - which occurs unintentionally and is easily recalled because the memories seem bound in a cohesive, readily retrievable form
• Effortful processing - which requires conscious attention and deliberate effort, but the information does not tend to be bound together and requires a lot of repetition for effective retrieval
• Semantic encoding - which is focused on the definition of words
• Phonemic encoding - which involves the comparison between the sounds of words
• Structural encoding - which involves the visual inspection of shapes

What does this mean for your child's learning efforts?  Well, here are some guidelines for enhancing the encoding process, and thereby the memory retrieval.

First of all, the more elaborately we encode information at the moment of learning, the stronger the memory.  When information is presented in a way that incorporates multiple senses, that information will be encoded in various parts of the brain and produce a stronger opportunity for retrieval.  For example, when reading from a textbook, the student is receiving visual information for encoding.  Adding the student's voide reading the words - or at least the key sentences - out loud, provides auditory information for encoding, and taking notes or highlighting key information provides touch input that further expands the encoding.  Another example from the literature-based approach would involve reading a story that incorporates factual information within the context of a character's life and actions.  As the student connects emotionally with that character, the factual information becomes more personal in nature and is more elaborately encoded.  Ensuring that the student understands the meanings of words, and adding personal examples make the most of the brain's natural predilection for pattern matching.

Memories have different life spans.  Hermann Ebbinghaus has been credited with research that determined that people usually forget 90% of what they learn in a class within 30 days, with the majority of the forgetting occurring within the first few hours of class.  Isn't that encouraging?  However, he also found that simply repeating the information at timed intervals greatly increased the memory.  What does this mean to us as parent educators?  In order to help our children remember the information that are encoding, we must revisit that information regularly.  This can be done through discussion after material is read, by reviewing what has been learned about historical figures and events in our Book of Time, by making up songs or ditties with key information ... there are numerous ways to repeat information and extend the life of the memory.

Lastly, it is suggested that retrieval may be improved by replicating the conditions surrounding the initial encoding.  When a student has learned a particular portion of information in a special setting, returning to that setting will usually aid in the retrieval of the information.  You can recreate the sounds, the smells, the seating ... all to enhance your student's ability to retrieve information that has been encoded.

Repeat to remember, circle back to prior subject material and look at it again.  Your student will benefit greatly!

 Another post presenting information drawn from John Medina's Brain Rules.

Kelly

Attention!

Does it matter if we pay attention when learning?  You bet it does!  The more attention the brain pays to any stimulus, the more effectively the information will be encoded and retained.  Better attention always equals better learning in every academic category.

So do we use the military approach of yelling "attention!" whenever we want our homeschooled children to focus on what we have to say?  I really don't think that would be effective - we'd be hollering too much during the school day, and some of our children would be so distracted with the effort of sitting still that their brains would be anything but focused on what we are saying.  [By the way, the handsome soldier in the picture is my youngest son, demonstrating his good Army posture ... with the addition of a slight smile.]

The fourth rule that John Medina explains in his book, Brain Rules, addresses what attracts the brain's attention.

Memory - in everyday life, we use previous experience to predict where we should pay attention.  Even different environments create different expectations in the brain.  This could affect your child's willingness to pay attention if he is facing a subject that has felt defeating in the past.  Experiment with different settings for working in this subject, looking for an upbeat place and a new approach to give him success.

Interest - regardless of our culture, "interest" or "importance" is closely linked to our level of attention.  Marketing professionals actually believe that the reverse is also true - that unexpected attention getters can also spark interest.  Some commercials use unusual, unpredictable or distinctive features to harness our attention.  Likewise, you could use a story or picture to draw your children's attention and pique their interest before beginning a new lesson.

Emotion - emotionally arousing events tend to be better remembered than neutral events.  When the brain detects an emotionally charged event, it releases dopamine into the system which greatly aids memory and information processing.  This is one of the primary benefits of a literature-based approach to learning, where the story is written so as to immerse your child into the environment and emotion of the event, thereby fixing the detail into memory much more effectively than reading a dry narrative in a textbook.

We humans are terrific pattern matchers, constantly assessing our environment for similarities.  Our memory is enhanced by creating associations between concepts.  When you are introducing a new concept in Math, try showing your child how this concept can be utilized in real life before you explain how to do it.  This may seem like approaching it backward - most Math lessons would teach the concept and then show how to apply it - but you may find that your child's attention will be more focused and their grasp of the concept itself more firm if you use this approach.  He may even take the problem solving further than you had demonstrated, which makes the lesson all the more effective.

There's more to this topic of attention that I will share in my next post ...

Kelly