07/09/98

Photographic Memory and Experiential Learning..

Q: When you wrote about the "Memory Pyramid" you did not mention anything about people who remember most of what they read, like I do. I remember 75-80% of what I read once, even several days later. Am I weird or something?

A: You may have an excellent visual memory, coupled with considerable knowledge and highly organized mental storage of that knowledge, organization which eases recall. Such skills don't make you weird; they make you fortunate (and probably gifted).

In general, memory for specific details is pretty abominable, especially after a few days. People tend to remember the gist of things. We can improve memory traces by using mnemonic devices, such as conscious association of someone's name to a well-known person with similar attributes. The greater and more vivid the associations, the greater the likelihood of recall. Other ways to enhance memory include learning by doing and rote memorization.

Q: If research shows that people retain information best by using it and teaching it, how do we get the schools to use that approach? In my experience most teachers outside of special education and the primary grades use the lecture method, which is the least effective of all. Old habits die hard.

A: Many teachers enhance learning by teaching through projects that require integration and application of knowledge from several subject areas. For example, students who design and run a class "swap shop" (or other small business) need a variety of academic and life skills to make it a success.
One year, when studying a science unit about teeth and bones, one group of my students assembled chicken skeletons and another collected teeth from their dentists and carved replicas of them out of soap. Each project involved several steps, careful planning, interviews of the dentists and written commentary plus drawings to document their projects. The fact that students devised these projects on their own contributed to the intensity of their interest, their persistence and to the high quality of the end results. And most of the students were only 9 or 10 years old!
Teachers who try project learning rarely return to a lecture format, because students quickly tire of being spoon-fed information and become restless or unruly. Every subject can be brought to life in some form or another. For example, in high school, after reading a Shakespearean play, why not ask the students to develop Elizabethan scripts, select the best ones and produce short plays of their own? Teachers who emphasize experiential learning engage students in a process of discovery, during which the teachers provide information, resources and specific skills as needed.
Community programs can enhance public school curricula, too. The YMCA sponsors a mock legislative experience called Youth in Government. High school students evaluate legislation, amend and debate it, form political parties, assume leadership positions and ultimately occupy the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in Hartford to act out the entire process of seeing a bill become law. Participants learn about the workings of a democracy in ways no textbook or classroom lecture could teach them. Teachers supervise the preparatory classes until students are ready to take over at the end. Youth in Government is an example of participatory education at its best.

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.