Strategies to Enhance Memory Based on Brain-Research

Abstract

Memory is a wonderful trait of human beings. Now, more than ever in history, scientists are unlocking the secrets to enhancing memory. Memory is extremely important to educators, not only for them personally as they age and worry about failing memory, but, most important, for the role that memory plays in the teaching/learning process. Memory, as a concept, often is relegated to a minimal role. As noted by Caine and Caine (1997), "Many of us associate the word memory with the recall of specific dates or facts or lists of information and sets of instructions, requiring memorization and effort" (p. 41). Memory, however, goes beyond this one-dimensional aspect of learning and, rather, focuses on attending, learning, linking, remembering, and using the thousand pieces of knowledge and skills we encounter constantly. For educators, memory is the only evidence that something or anything has been learned. Think about it. If students cannot commit knowledge or skills to memory, even briefly, how can we know they have learned the knowledge or skill? It conjures up visions of the cartoon where two boys are talking. The one boy, with his dog at his side, says, "I've taught my dog how to whistle," and the other little boy says, "Great! Let me hear him whistle." This prompts the first boy to say, "I said I taught him how to whistle. I didn't say he learned it!" For educators, what's the point? If teaching occurs without learning, we might as well skip the teaching in the first place! Educators must ensure that students attend to learning, attach new learning to previous learning, actively engage in learning, construct meaning, and demonstrate their learning. All of this requires memory. No true educator simply wants to "teach"; educators want students to "learn." Educators want learners to be able to organize, store, and retrieve knowledge and skills. By applying what we kn?w about how the brain learns and remembers, educators can focus on the "learning" aspect of the "teaching/learning process." To assist educators, this article will focus on three aspects related to memory: • An information processing model of memory, • Instructional strategies designed to enhance memory, • Reasons why we forget.

The Effect of Teaching Memory Strategies on Iranian EFL Learner’s Vocabulary Retention in Terms of learners’ Multiple Intelligences

“…It was suggested that context is an aid for learners to develop and understand unknown words efficiently (Hayati & Shahriari, 2010). This finding actually contradicted the result of the study done by Banikowski and Mehring (1999).…”

“…Some of these studies are reviewed in the following. Banikowski and Mehring (1999) did a study on strategies to enhance memory. After analyzing the data, they gave superiority to rehearsal strategy as a traditional vocabulary learning strategy which is used by both learners and teachers.…”

“…After analyzing the data, they gave superiority to rehearsal strategy as a traditional vocabulary learning strategy which is used by both learners and teachers. According to Banikowski and Mehring (1999) rehearsal strategies are those that ask learners to repeat the information in working memory over and over so that it can be retained.…”

The effect of landscape photograph type on aesthetic judgments, attention, and memory in children with dyslexia

“…Specifically, a disruption in processing fluency may actually correlate with a greater need to attend to the stimuli for a longer period of time in order to effectively process the information. Because of the importance of attention in memory of students (forreview, see Banikowski& Mehring, ), longer processing times (i.e.,greater attention duration) might actually improve retention of the information being processed.…”

Assessment for Learning Within and Beyond the Classroom

“…By the embedded meanings in the proposition, "No true educator simply wants to 'teach'; educators want students to 'learn'" (Banikowski 1999), the teaching paradigm has shifted from emphasising "what students are and how to teach them" to "what teachers do and how to improve them" to the recent, "What students do…" as phrased by Biggs in 1999(Davies 2010 to make meaning of their learning. Within the existing paradigm, teaching activities are to be designed to ensure that students are engaged in meaningful learning, as a measure for bridging the gaps in performance by providing support for the less engaged to move their learning to a higher continuum: to develop the ability to link ideas, remembering them and using the acquired skills and knowledge later on.…”