Teaching With the Brain in Mind

work, kids, teacher, and meeting space. Our language
is a classic example of having to pull hundreds
of words “off the shelf ” within seconds, to
assemble even the most common sentences. This
theory explains why a similar word—close, but
still wrong—will come out of our mouths when we
are trying to say something.
The other theory is that memories are frozen
patterns waiting for a resonating signal to awaken
them. They’re like ripples on a bumpy road that
make no sound until a car drives over them.
Neurobiologist William Calvin says the content
may be embedded in “spatiotemporal themes,”
which will resonate and create a critical mass
needed for retrieval. Enough of that thought’s identical
copies have been made for the cerebral code
to trip an “action switch” for you to recall (Calvin
1996). This computational theory explains why a
student trying to remember information for a test
comes up with the answer a half hour too late. It
may take that long for the “intention to recall” to
create enough “activated thought patterns” to hit
critical mass. Earlier, the brain may have had too
much other competing information processing to
retrieve it.
Variety
Our separate memory pathways are used for different
types of memories. Retrieval is quite specific.
Neuroscientist Jeri Janowsky of Oregon Health Sciences
University says it’s common for us to be
good at one type of recall, like faces and places,
but not others, like addresses and dates. For example,
consider the link-and-peg systems popularized
by media memory experts like Harry Lorayne and
Kevin Trudeau. These systems ask you to connect a
new item with a previously memorized word or
103
Memory and Recall
number. If the word brain was second on my list of
things to recall, I might link it up to my second
peg word, which happens to be the word pants. I’d
visualize images of a brain spray painted all over
my new pair of pants. The association is now
pants = brain. Each additional word would have its
own linking word. But can we all do these memory
“tricks”? Most learners can use the peg systems and
benefit greatly. Students who often are thought of
as “lazy learners” may in fact simply be recalling
only what they can. When your students can recall
names and dates, it doesn’t mean they’ll be good at
recalling the locations that geography requires. Figure
11.2 describes these memory pathways.
FIGURE 11.2
Memory Pathways
Explicit
Includes both
short-term
(5–20 seconds) and
working memory
(seven +/– chunks)
ABC
Semantic
words, symbols,
abstractions,
video, textbooks,
computers,
written stories
Episodic
locations,
events,
circumstances,
"Where were
you when...?"
Procedural
physical skills:
bicycle-riding,
body-learning,
manipulatives,
hands-on
learning
Implicit
Reflexive
automated,
nonconscious
learning
Conditioned
Responses
“hot stove effect”
flash cards or
many repetitions
Emotional
intense
emotions...
from trauma
to pleasure