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Strategic Learning and Memory
Day 7 – BUSN 1100
What will we focus on today?
What is strategic learning
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Three step process
Strategies that facilitate effective learning
How brain and memory processes affect learning
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How the brain moves information into long term memory
What interferes with memory
Strategies that help memory
Personal Reflection
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What steps in the strategic learning process do I need to improve?
What memory strategies work for me?
What is strategic learning?
Strategies that are effective in helping students to
learn, understand and retain information
Referenced to
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How our brain and memory processes work
•
What provides the best results for the time that we have
Basic Rule of
Strategic Learning
Best understood as a three step process
1: EXPOSURE
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Become aware of new information
2: REVIEW
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Reinforce your original learning and move it into LT memory
3: PRACTICE
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Improves your ability to recall the information (e.g. for test)
http://proxy.library.niagarac.on.ca:8080/login?url=http://digital.fil
ms.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=8673&xtid=7079&loid=12543
Process 1: EXPOSURE
Key strategies:
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Get focused (e.g. pre-reading of lecture/text materials)
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Show up for class
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Listen actively
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Get engaged
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Take good notes (basis for review)
You now have the basic information you are trying to move into
Long Term Memory
Process 2: REVIEW
Review and actively engage your original notes
• Re-work, summarize and organize information
Key strategies are:
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Set up review time each week to minimize the
effect of the forgettting curve
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Make summary notes of lectures or assignments
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Create 3 X 5 flash cards, graphic organizers, charts
Process 3: PRACTICE
Strategies that require you to apply the information you
are trying to remember – moving from STM into LTM
Key Strategies:
• Drill with flash cards / Trivial Pursuit type questions
• Recitation
• Group study
• Spiraling back to review previously learned material
http://proxy.library.niagarac.on.ca:8080/login?url=http://digital.films.com/
PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=8673&xtid=7079&loid=12544
Add pizza and it can actually be enjoyable
Why do these strategies work?
These strategies are based
on the way the brain
and memory works best
Working “SMART”
instead of scrambling and
using ineffective strategies,
energy and time
Memory – the key to learning
How does
memory
work?
Memory processes
Memory is central to learning
The diagram to the right illustrates
schematically the current view of
memory, based on the model of
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
SENSORY BUFFER
The sensory buffer is only
technically a part of memory
Best regarded as part of
the perceptual system
Information may stay there for about 1/15 of a second
while the brain assembles it to “make sense”
Very selective about what it attends to – FILTERS
SHORT TERM MEMORY - STM
Holds material for about 15- 30 seconds, although this can be
expanded by practice (impacted by dementia)
Has a capacity of seven items (+ or – 2)
“Items” are defined by meaning (chunked)
rather than size – assuming a label for the
“chunk” already exists in long-term memory
Research suggests STM deals best with sounds rather than
visual stimuli – usually takes longer, thus attended to longer
STM moves information into Working Memory
Working Memory
Actively holds information to do tasks
such as reasoning and comprehension,
and further information processing
Require the goal-oriented active monitoring or manipulation of
information in the face of interfering processes and distractions
This THINKING PROCESS involves:
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the EXECUTIVE SYSTEM
ATTENTION control of Short Term Memory
Executive System of the Brain
The EXECUTIVE SYSTEM controls and manages other thinking processes.
Functions largely carried out by prefrontal areas in the CEREBRAL CORTEX
(grey matter – thinking part of our brain)
This brain region is important in planning, decision making and
moderating correct social behaviour.
The basic activity of this brain region is considered to be orchestration
of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals.
Moving information from STM to
Long Term Memory (LTM)
McMaster University
Student Services Centre Video
Full Frontal Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMqAEGPtJaM&feature=youtu.be
REHEARSAL and ELABORATION
Rehearsal
The process of continually recalling
material into STM in order to memorize it
Elaboration
The process of assimilation and accommodation
- we code or chunk information for LTM
Another stage where materials may be lost or changed
Longer Term Memory
LTM
LTM has infinite capacity
There are three components of LTM:
Semantic memory
Concepts and Ideas
Episodic memory
Memories of events
Procedural memory
Skills and “know-how” rather
. than “know-that” knowledge
.
Each of these types of memories are different
•
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Amnesia affects episodic but other memories remain intact
Procedural is more robust than semantic or episodic memory
Points to consider about memory
The memory process is SELECTIVE
At each stage information is FILTERED and even altered
Working memory fosters the bridge between short term memory
and long term memory (influenced by our focus)
Progression to long-term memory (if it is reached) may well take
less than a minute.
The forgetting curve is like a playground slide; we forget most of
what we learnt in the first 24 hours; then it proceeds slowly
Engage the material
Importance of attending
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Lots of information never gets past the sensory buffer
Perception we can multi-task but information never gets
past the sensory buffer unless attended to.
Actively engaging the material
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Importance of reflecting, rehearsal and reviewing
information by comparing it to prior chucks
Looking for patterns; evaluating what is relevant
Importance of your “chucks” and PARADIGMS
–
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These are your organizers and filters
If they are not well developed, then information is
often discarded because of Cognitive Dissonance
Note:
Your mental and physical
state affects your memory
Don’t let stress build up
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Emotional energy interferes with your ability to memorize
Stop rushing around
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Faster you work, the more likely to forget something, less likely to
organize material effectively and reflect properly on information
Eat properly
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Too much food/types of food affects your energy level and focus
Exercise
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Increases blood supply to the brain, positive feelings
Rejuvenate – get enough rest
Why do we have
trouble remembering?
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Did not learned the material well in the first place
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Disuse –
natural decay when retrieval or
rehearsal doesn’t occur
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Interference –
emotional state, other information
competes, lack of organization
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Different context from the original learning
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Lack of attention and effort
Strategies for remembering materials
What do you
find effective?
Spread out memory work
Review memory work within 24 hours of the first study
session is most effective way to master material
New fact
Short Term
Memory
No Review
Lost
Review
Long Term Memory
Leverage the Spacing Effect
Rapid Loss in
First hour/day
- then slows
Spacing Effect
Best time
to review for
optimum
LTM retention
1st – 1 hr
2nd – 1 day
3rd – 1 week
4th- I month
5th – 6 months
Recite material aloud
Research studies show that answering questions aloud
Improves recall by 80%
Use all your senses
See it (Visualize), Say it, Write it , Repeat it, Smell it
Each time you write it out:
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Write it in fewer words
Keep shortening it until you have a few key words
Key words you can later expand on
Use graphic organizers
- Visually see the patterns and relationships
Timelines
Flow charts – sequence steps
Clusters
Patterns
Use Mnemonics
A variant of cue-dependence is much used in mnemonics —
tricks to facilitate memorizing (Music and rhythms are powerful)
Learning the Periodic Table Video
http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/exercises_m
usical_mnemonics.htm
Other strategies
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Attention and focus
Expect to remember
Develop interest
Be selective and prioritize important information
Try to understand, not just memorize
Build background to make sense of information
Organize material
Recite and rehearse
Take good notes
See article on
Review soon after learning
Memory Improvement
Spaced practice
Sleep on it