Question or Topic:

We decided to focus on PLC Question 3: "What do we do when students don’t learn it?"  We have seen students do well on our formatives and then regress on the summative assessments.  Does this sound like something that you could help us with?

What:

Memory and recall are at the center of education. Research in this area has pointed out how important retention of information is – and how forgetfulness can be improved. Learning is closely connected to three types of memory. 

Sensory memory is information that is quickly passing through the brain from the senses. If it is given attention, it moves into short-term memory, but only briefly in many cases – less than a minute unless it gains more of our attention and we begin to respond to it (sensory memory is also called “working” memory). If we focus on it further, it then is passed into long-term memory where it can be stored for various periods of time, sometimes for the rest of our lives.

Why:

Several factors determine whether the information is forgotten or moves into long-term memory, including the circumstances under which it occurred, whether it relates to other familiar items there, and how it is attached to certain emotions.

Research has determined that there are four main reasons for forgetting information: retrieval failure (often if a memory isn’t brought to consciousness and used); interference of some sort from other memories or current circumstances; failure to store it for a variety of reasons; and intentional efforts to forget or minimize the information.

Often with students, they are not engaged enough to move information firmly into long-term memory, or they don’t use and re-use the information to establish it in that portion of the brain.

How/Resources:

• How to Use Spaced Retrieval Practices to Boost Learning - Carpenter & Agarwal

• Why Students Forgot - And What You Can Do About It - Edutopia

• Do You Check for Understanding Often Enough with Students? - Edutopia