Although most adults can recall times in school when a greater emphasis was placed on whether we remembered the facts than on whether we understood how to use them intelligently, memorizing lists of facts and information is not an adequate approach to 21st-century learning. Rote learning for the Industrial Age differs significantly from dynamic memory, where learners examine what they know as they think about the quality of their own thinking and decision-making.
Perhaps the most useless of all academic exercises is memorizing terms from the dictionary. Instead, schools should use the SCREAMS approach to build a firm foundation for student vocabulary, by:
- Saying/pronouncing key vocabulary words
- Concept mapping or word webs
- Reading words in context
- Extracting personal meaning
- Active learning experiences where students use the new word frequently
- Memory formation (sense-making) based on utility
- Self-monitoring for new opportunities to use the newly learned word
Our memories receive varying but focused treatment depending on the nature of the memory. A working memory is deliberately short-term, with limited recall capacity, because its “useful life” is brief by deliberate design. When we dial 411, all information reaching the auditory cortex and the hippocampus must be meticulously recalled with detailed precision. However, its utility is short-lived, with a correspondingly short-lived memory record (less than 30 seconds) established for the phone number. We are obligated to rehearse that number silently or aloud to retain it in working memory long enough to dial it.
Abbreviated memories of this genre typically have a capacity of seven items +/- two items. Thus, we can easily recite the seven days of the week, a seven-digit telephone number, Snow White’s seven dwarves and the seven deadly sins. Yet, on average we can remember no more than seven of the biblical Ten Commandments, but seldom all 10. By grouping information into chunks, creating mentally bite-sized smaller groups of the larger units, recall improves impressively. A telephone number of 4082669497 is easier to remember as (408) 266-9497, by combining the random numbers into small groups. It is no surprise that math problems with a two-digit divisor and a three-digit dividend requiring 27 memorized steps are often met with failure and frustration.
Random numbers offer one level of memory challenge, while random information frequently exceeds its numerical cousins in difficulty. When attempting to memorize unrelated terms, mnemonics present the most practical solution. For students attempting to remember the most important neurotransmitters, the term “San Dope” works effectively.
Mnemonics: “SAN DOPE”
- Serotonin 5-Hydroxytryptamine
- Acetylcholine (ACh): Neurons that synthesize and release ACh are referred to as cholinergic neurons
- Norepinephrine (NE)
- Dopamine (DA)
- Oxytocin
- Phenylethanolamine **
- Epinephrine (adrenaline)
** Phenylethanolamine
N-methyltransferase converts norepinephrine to epinephrine.
Whether you are a teacher, student, or parent, there are numerous means by which memory can be enhanced. Hands-on, active learning is concisely captured in the following Chinese proverb:
I hear and I forget.
I read and I remember.
I do and I understand.
For millennia, learning by doing served societies well as the fundamental basis of apprenticeship and mentorship. However, the list of best memory techniques goes well beyond just doing.
When St. Anthony was pleadingly asked by a blind man, “What could be worse than losing your eyesight?” the Franciscan priest’s response was, “Losing sight of your vision.” Our vision for learning in our classrooms and homes should be crafted around the evolutionary history of the human brain. When we teach students to maximize their learning through multiple, related, firsthand active experiences, we teach them how to learn for a lifetime, rather than to memorize just for Friday’s test.
Visualization and Memory Lists
Review the following lists for 60 seconds each, then write down as many words as you can recall from each list.
List A List B
design hat
credit sunshine
such boat
pleasure school
cannot daisy
within teacher
blank water
quick stairs
task duck
settle fish
into baseball
their teacher
Words that can be visualized are easier to recall.
What would happen to your recall after:
1. Counting backward by three beginning with the number 200?
2. Studying information from five other unrelated subjects?
3. Writing a 500-word essay?
4. A break of 10 minutes? one day? one week? one semester?
