Memory, Recall, and Mastery

How the Brain Works: Memory, Recall and Mastery

Just “reading over your notes” is NOT the best way to study for a test.

What does that review look like?  Either during the regular review process or at the end?  When we ask students how they prepare for tests,  95% of the time, students will say that they “read over their notes”.  Based on what we’ve discussed so far, why is “reading over your notes” not the best way to review or study for a test?  Think on it for a minute.

Repeated Retrieval: 

Every time you review information/ideas/concepts you’re bringing it up to the surface. It’s better if there’s a little bit of time between learning and retrieval, so that when you’ve had time to forget it a bit, you have to work a little harder to retrieve it. Obviously you have to schedule homework time in a way that works for you, but having a break between class and homework is ideal. I like to call this “stew time”.  It offers time for the ideas to simmer around in your head, much like a stew tastes better if you let it cook low and slow for a longer time.  This is why cramming is not effective.  Multiple opportunities over time to recall information and ideas build stronger neural pathways.

Grouping Activity

Set a 20 second timer.  Study the words below. Now flip to another tab and start writing/typing to see how many words you can remember:  there are 23 words. 

Red Friday Yellow Summer Basketball

Monday Blue Dodgeball Wednesday         Fall

Green Indigo Volleyball Orange

Tuesday Sunday Spring Thursday

Winter Saturday Violet Baseball Football

So, how did you do?

Now, take a look at it this way.  Once again, set a 20 second timer.  Study the words in the box. Now flip to another tab and start writing/typing to see how many words you can remember

ROYGBIV Seasons Days of Week Sports - “ball”

Red Fall Sunday Baseball

Orange Winter Monday Basketball

Yellow Spring Tuesday Dodgeball

Green Summer Wednesday Football

Blue Thursday Volleyball

Indigo Friday

Violet Saturday

How did you do this time?

When there is a sequence or method for remembering, otherwise known as a mnemonic, it increases the likelihood of remembering

There are different ways to organize content: do what works best for you.

We’ve been doing this for years with various tools:  music (alphabet; vowels), names (roy G. biv - colours in spectrum); rhymes (days of the week; number of days in a month).