The title of this chapter, "Why Do Students Remember Everything That Is On Television, and Forget Everything I Say", was very thought provocative for me. I don't know how many times a day I say to myself, "Why didn't my child remember this?" or "Why can't my co-worker seem to remember how to do something I have shown them 5 times how to do" or even "Why can't I seem to remember ......?" In this chapter, we learn about the role that memory plays in acquiring background knowledge that is necessary for learning.
The author begins the discussion of the importance of memory by talking about what may happen when we don't remember something. He gives the example of asking someone to summarize the last professional development session they attended. If that seems to be a difficult task, then one of several things may have occured. 1) If you don't pay attention to something, then you will not learn it. If you were thinking of other things during the session or lesson, then you won't remember what was being taught during the session or lesson. 2) The process used to draw information from long-term memory failed. 3) The information is no longer in your long-term memory and has been forgotten. 4) Sometimes you do pay attention and material is in your working memory; however, it does not make it to your long-term memory.
For new material to be learned and placed in long-term memory, it must reside in working memory. This means that you need to "pay attention" to the new material for it to end up in your long term memory. Also, how you think about the experience will determine whether it will end up in your long-term memory. Therefore, when teachers design lessons, they need to make sure that students are "thinking about the meaning" of the material being presented.
How can teachers do this? The author identifies two qualities that effective teachers have. Good teachers are able to connect personally with students and they organize learning material in a way that is interesting and easy to understand. These teachers are able to present material in a manner that gets students to pay attention. They also organize the ideas of a lesson in a way that students will learn it and remember it.
What if some material does not have meaning? An example the author provides is when students are at the beginning level of chemistry. Students may be asked to learn symbols for elements on the periodic table - yet they do not have the background knowledge of these elements. Rote memorization will need to be used in this learning experience and there are several mnemonics devices that help people memorize material that does not have meaning.
How can teachers ensure that students "think about meaning"? Willingham provides six suggestions:
1. Try to anticipate what each lesson will actually make students think about.
2. Think carefully about attention grabbers - make sure the "grabber" is directing student to think about the lesson, and not the person or item used to grab their attention.
3. Use Discovery Learning with care - memory is the residue of thought; therefore, students will remember "incorrect" discoveries as well as correct ones.
4. Design assignments so that students will unavoidably think about meaning
5. Use mnemonics when it is necessary to learn something without meaning.
6. Try organizing a lesson plan around the conflict
The end of this chapter was also very thought provoking for me. Willingham states, "I've always been bothered by the advice 'make it relevant to the students' for two reasons. First, it often feels to me that it doesn't apply. Is the Epic of Gilgamesh relevant to students in a way they can understand right now? Is trigonometry? Making these topics relevant to students' lives will be a strain, and students will probably think it is phoney. Second, if I can't convince students that some material is relevant, does that mean I shouldn't teach it?"
In my intial discussion post, I stated that I think it is important now more than ever to make learning relevant to student lives. Do I just say that because students are constantly asking, "What does this have to do with me?" or "Where will I ever use this?" Willingham goes on to state, "... I think there is value, interest, and beauty in learning about things that don't have much to do with me. I'm not saying it never makes sense to talk about things students are interested in. What I'm suggesting is that students interests should not be the main drivng force for lesson planning. Rather, they might be used as intial points of contact to help students understand the main ideas you want them to consider, rather than as the reason or motivation for them to consider these ideas."
What do you think?
When I was getting my teaching certificate the big push was to make subject matter relevant to students’ lives. I agree that can be hard to accomplish and still come across as genuine, but I think it is important to make lessons relevant if it fits with the subject matter. At the high school in my district there is a class where the students are building a small house for Habitat for Humanity and applying the geometry they are learning in the classroom to the building process. After reading this chapter I am wondering if they will remember the hammers, drills and skills they are learning or if they will retain the math concepts.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't students remember what they have learned is hitting home with me with this class. I was very frustrated to try to find how to get back in here to post, feeling inept because I had been here before. I am understanding why students shut down when they don't feel successful.
ReplyDelete'Great job with the "Super Summary" on this section! I've been going back-and-forth with this book and/or author since I began reading it. I'm not quite sure that I'm completely "on board" with everything he's stating. For the most part, though, I agree with you...it is fairly thought-provoking. This section dealt a lot with getting students to remember what we teach. It seems like whenever I can have the students actually experience the learning first-hand (hands-on, etc.) I get better results as to their remembering. Unfortunately, I often I get in a rut, and forget that point. I also liked the point the author made about students remembering incorrect information just as easily as they remember correct information (although they don't always remember it easily!).
ReplyDeleteI can usually find it easy to relate math or writing to their lives. I'm finding it harder to relate the reading. What I mean is the students understand why they need to read, but how do you relate inference, visualization, connnection, etc. to their lives when we as adults don't stop and discuss our reading every day.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of what he has said is great but we need to think about where all the background knowledge is going to come from. Maybe we don't necessarily need to concentrate on only the students interests but we need to make the material interesting to the students. Otherwise we need to spark the students interests. I also like the six steps to help the students learn.
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