The term working memory refers to a brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning. It is often associated with high academic achievement in math and reading skills as it is necessary for key learning tasks such as remembering lengthy instructions or keeping track of a problem being solved.

Poor academic memory is characterized by inattentive, distractible behavior that is accompanied by failures to complete everyday activities that require focused or sustained attention. This may cause children to be at risk for poor academic progress. It is often associated with learning disabilities and developmental disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, language impairment, and autism.

Working-memory performance declines beginning in middle age due to age-related difficulty in attention control.

Many of the learning activities that children are engaged with in the classroom, related to reading, mathematics, science, or other curriculum, require children to use their working memory. In order to participate in the learning activities children are required to hold some information in the mind. Children with poor working memory struggle to complete these learning activities. The crucial information needed to guide their actions is lost. As a result, the children may not get the learning benefit of successfully completing an activity, and this slows down their rates of learning.

Teachers can help students with different levels of working memory be successful by providing lessons that scaffold lessons. Instructional scaffolding is a process through which a teacher adds supports for students in order to enhance learning and aid in the mastery of tasks. The teacher does this by systematically building on students’ experiences and knowledge as they are learning new skills. It allow students to develop the knowledge, skills, and language needed to support their own performance in the future and are intended to be gradually removed as students master skills.