Hmm...What did I come here for?

How many times have you been in the store, with or without your trusted list, and forgotten what you needed? Why does it seem effortless to remember a telephone number / Social Security number, and the likes rather than random numbers? The difference lies in presentation.  

Individuals use memories in all aspects of daily life as they learn, in their opinions, and in their decision making. Much research has been accomplished in the area of memory and the storing of information over the years. It is the responsibility to ensure lessons are created so that students can best create lasting memories of material for better reclamation for future use.

 Babies begin creating memories as they utilize all senses. They pick up a block with their hands and where does it go? It goes straight to their mouth! What a way to learn. They have just used more senses than we do as adults, sight/touch/taste/smell perhaps. Did they make a connection to that block? Why certainly. They continue this learning process all the while creating a sort of map in their brain, which will be used later for recall of information.

The baby grows into childhood and continues its learning, but probably without the oral sense met. During this time the child is most likely creating his or her first of many episodic memories such as riding a bicycle or learning to swim. Regardless of the task, an episode is helping create an imprint on the brain for future recall of information.

The aspects of learning and memories prior to a child arriving as school have significant impacts on their total school experience. A great classroom has an educator that facilitates lessons that encourages a child to use their background knowledge. For a successful learning experience the teacher must incorporate various tools to maintain all students’ excitement.

One such measure to help student’s love learning and to create retrievable memory is using the Palvio’s dual coding hypothesis of using pictures along with text for better connection with material to imprint the brain or use lots of images in Power Point, but must be associated with lesson (Orey 2008). Another such method is through elaboration. Elaboration is the most important method for storing information in long-term memory. An example of elaboration is: when learning about General Robert E. Lee, leader of the South during Civil War – my friend Lee, he wears Lee jeans, we live in the South, I was the leader today, etc. By making these connections we are continuous creating a web of knowledge so we can “get back to that information” in our long-term memory (Orey 2008).

Regardless of the types of memories the student’s create, it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure they are positive ones so they continue to “want” to learn. Now…what I was here for again?

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Cognitive Learning Theories. [DVD]. Baltimore: Author.