School Success 101: Sample Lesson
SS101 OL – Lesson 2: How memory works
Pre-reading questions
Directions: Answer these questions to the best of your ability. You don’t have to do any research
or reading for this. Just write down your own opinion. The answer doesn’t have to be long either—
just a sentence or two that completely answers the question.
1. Have you ever drawn blank when you tried to answer a test question, even though you studied
the topic before hand?
a. Describe a time when that happened: What was the test on?
b. Why do you think that happens?
1. Have you ever tried to memorize something on purpose?
a. Did it work?
b. How did you try to memorize it?
The Lesson: How memory works
Directions: Read this lesson and answer the questions afterwards.
When we talk about how memory works, we eventually must discuss how learning takes place.
But first, let’s return to your Pre-Reading Questions for this topic. Why do you draw blank on a test,
even though you studied your notes and reading assignments?
Why you draw blank on tests
There are several reasons I can think of, in my experience as a student and teacher, as to why we
draw blank on a test even after studying for it:
1. We didn’t understand the information before we tried to memorize it.
2. We didn’t do enough of the right kinds of activities to store the information in
our memories.
3. In the case of our notes, we didn’t write down enough of the right information,
and/or we may have tried to write down too much of the details while missing
the main points of the teacher’s lecture.
4. We may be worried about something—either the test itself, or something else
in our lives that concerns us. Worry can disrupt the functioning of our
memory.
We didn’t understand the information before we tried to memorize it:
Did you ever try to remember something you didn’t understand—directions about some task your
parents or your teacher wanted you to do, history, English grammar, math, science? I asked this
same question when I discussed “Reading.” It’s an important question.
You can’t easily remember something you don’t understand. So, the first step in memorization
starts with comprehension.
So, there are two stages to the learning process:
1. Comprehension
2. Memorization
Friendly advice: Don’t try to move into the second stage before you’ve spent all the time you need to
in the first stage. It won’t work.
We didn’t do enough of the right kinds of activities to store the information in our memories:
See below, “How to comprehend and memorize information.” Those strategies are the right kinds
of activities.
In the case of our notes, we didn’t write down enough of the right information, and/or we may have
tried to write down too much of the details while missing the main points of the teacher’s lecture:
Note-taking is discussed in detail in another lesson.
We may be worried about something—either the test itself, or something else in our lives that
concerns us. Worry can disrupt the functioning of our memory:
It is very difficult to focus and learn anything when we are worried about something—including the
test we are about to take. I will discuss strategies to eliminate test anxiety throughout this course.
Let’s talk now about how memory works.
How memory works
Memory is divided up into two parts:
1. Short term memory (also called working memory), which I’ll refer to often as
STM or WM
2. Long term memory, which I’ll refer to by the initials, LTM
Short term memory (or working memory) is sort of like an unsaved document on your computer
screen. You either save it (put it into hard drive—LTM), or you exit without saving it. You can only
have a limited amount of unsaved information on your screen at a time.
Long term memory (LTM) is more like the hard drive in your computer. It holds our long term
memories—even ones (both pleasant and painful) going all the way back to earliest childhood. We
have our home phone number stored there; our memories about our vacations and most special,
fun moments; our memory about our most embarrassing moment; and so forth. Both feelings and
factual information (like math formulas, dates and events we studied in history, facts we learned in
science class, and the concept, “verb” and “noun,” from English class) are stored in long term
memory.
Let’s return to the short term memory (like an unsaved document we are working on—which is
why it is also called working memory). This is where we store facts or information which we need
only temporarily, such as numbers we are plugging into a math problem, the name of someone we
have just been introduced to, or facts of a story a friend is recounting during a phone conversation.
We may not need to memorize any of these facts for future use, but they are at least stored in
working memory, temporarily.
But some things we do want to store for the long term. When your Mom or Dad told you the phone
number for emergencies, 911, you held it in short term memory for a while, and then you somehow
stored it in long term memory in case you needed it in the future.
If we are to truly learn something (math, history, science, English), then we must understand how
to “save” it to “hard drive” (memorize it, or “learn” it). So how do we do that? We’ll return to that
question momentarily.
Before exiting from a document you just created, you have two choices:
1. Name and save the document (it will be stored in the hard drive—which is the
computer’s equivalent of our brain’s “long term memory”)
2. Exit without naming and saving the document (it will be wiped out and lost
forever)
You have the same two choices with information temporarily stored in short term (or working)
memory.
There are two ways in which information is stored in long term memory:
1. Intensity (it was so fun or painful or embarrassing that you will never forget it,
even if the event only lasted for a few seconds)
2. Duration
Duration is the key for learning school subjects in most situations. Duration means, “over time.”
It’s like getting a sun tan. You can’t get a deep sun tan unless you spend long enough out in the
sun. To learn material (math, history, etc.), you need duration, repetition, review.
True, an experiment the teacher did for you in science may have been so interesting that you
remember it, even though it took place only in a few moments of class. Or perhaps a story your
history teacher told you about a famous event or person was so intriguing that you will never forget
it, even though the story was told in a matter of minutes. But these are unfortunately the exception
to the rule in academic learning. So much of what we learn in school must be done through
repetition—through duration, not intensity.
And remember what I said a while ago about how important comprehension was for
memorization? To “learn” something (memorize it), you must first comprehend or understand it.
Learning means growing in understanding about that something, and then storing it in LTM—
through duration.
How to comprehend and memorize information
Can you recall the two stages of the learning process, from above?
Let’s review. The two stages are:
1. Comprehension
2. Memorization
In actual practice, the two often happen simultaneously during the learning process. As you read a
book, for example, you are both gaining in comprehension about a subject, and beginning to store
some of the information in memory (at least short term memory). It helps, however, to separate
these two stages, because we must realize that memorizing something long term is impossible if
we don’t comprehend or understand it.
Once you comprehend a topic you are able to memorize the information related to that topic. Once
you have comprehended and memorized material (math, history, etc.), we say you have learned it.
Then, and only then, are you ready to take a test on it.
The activities below are good both for helping you comprehend the material, and for helping you
memorize it (by duration or multiple exposures). Remember the illustration about getting a sun
tan?
1. Distinguish between the main ideas and supporting details of each paragraph while reading
(see the lesson on “Reading”), then read the information enough times until it “sinks in”—that is,
until you understand and remember it (Re-read). Read the book aloud if that works better than
reading silently.
2. Take notes on a lecture or class discussion and review your notes (see the lesson on “Note-
taking”). Read them aloud if that works better than reading silently.
3. Record a lecture or discussion and listen to it enough times until it sinks in.
4. Ask questions as you read or listen to a lecture.
5. Discuss your readings or lecture with a study partner (friend, parent, brother, sister, or other
relative). Try to explain or teach the material to them. (This is actually one of the BEST ways to
learn ANY thing. You have to really know something to teach it to others. After all, who else needs
to know something really well but a person who wants to teach others?)
6. Highlight or write summary notes on readings (and review your highlights or notes).
7. Create flash cards and review the material with them. (This gives you something you can
touch, and allows you to walk around your bedroom or house while reviewing the information—
especially helpful if you have trouble sitting still.)
8. Quiz yourself on readings or class notes, or allow someone else to quiz you.
9. Write a paragraph describing and explaining a math formula or math problem, a map you’re
studying in history or geography, or a model of the atom you’re studying in science.
10. Draw a picture which illustrates something you are reading, whether it is a math, science,
history, or literature textbook.
11. Create other graphics to illustrate written material: create lists, maps and timelines for
history; flow charts for math or science processes; tables; charts; etc.
12. Trace existing maps, pictures or other graphics in your textbook.
13. Build physical models—either static or working ones. You can convert things you see or
read about or hear about into things you can touch. Use Styrofoam, toothpicks, dowels, modeling
clay, wood, etc.
Examples of concepts you can convert into physical models:
Science: the structure of an atom or molecule
Math: a flow chart
History: a timeline or map
English: a diagramed sentence with a different shape representing each
part of speech
Now, go back over the above list and choose five activities that you think would best fit your way of
learning. Write them down (below) and memorize them. You will be asked to list all five during the
end of course assessment.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Post-reading assessment questions:
Directions: Answer these questions after reading the lesson.
Don’t worry if you have to peek at the reading assignment to answer these questions! Remember
what I said about the need for comprehension and duration? You are building comprehension, and
providing repetition (duration), by answering these questions. It will stick with you over time.
A. There are four reasons I gave you above, as to why we draw blank on a test even after studying
for it. What were they?
1.
2.
3.
4.
B. What are the two stages to the learning process?
1.
2.
C. When you want to create a new document (use working or short term memory to work on
something else), what two choices do you have with the old information?
1.
2.
D. What are the two ways in which information is stored in long term memory?
1.
2.
E. List the five activities you selected to help you comprehend and memorize information.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
© 2005, Michael T. Swords
SS101 OL – Lesson 2: How memory works
Pre-reading questions
Directions: Answer these questions to the best of your ability. You don’t have to do any research
or reading for this. Just write down your own opinion. The answer doesn’t have to be long either—
just a sentence or two that completely answers the question.
1. Have you ever drawn blank when you tried to answer a test question, even though you studied
the topic before hand?
a. Describe a time when that happened: What was the test on?
b. Why do you think that happens?
1. Have you ever tried to memorize something on purpose?
a. Did it work?
b. How did you try to memorize it?
The Lesson: How memory works
Directions: Read this lesson and answer the questions afterwards.
When we talk about how memory works, we eventually must discuss how learning takes place.
But first, let’s return to your Pre-Reading Questions for this topic. Why do you draw blank on a test,
even though you studied your notes and reading assignments?
Why you draw blank on tests
There are several reasons I can think of, in my experience as a student and teacher, as to why we
draw blank on a test even after studying for it:
1. We didn’t understand the information before we tried to memorize it.
2. We didn’t do enough of the right kinds of activities to store the information in
our memories.
3. In the case of our notes, we didn’t write down enough of the right information,
and/or we may have tried to write down too much of the details while missing
the main points of the teacher’s lecture.
4. We may be worried about something—either the test itself, or something else
in our lives that concerns us. Worry can disrupt the functioning of our
memory.
We didn’t understand the information before we tried to memorize it:
Did you ever try to remember something you didn’t understand—directions about some task your
parents or your teacher wanted you to do, history, English grammar, math, science? I asked this
same question when I discussed “Reading.” It’s an important question.
You can’t easily remember something you don’t understand. So, the first step in memorization
starts with comprehension.
So, there are two stages to the learning process:
1. Comprehension
2. Memorization
Friendly advice: Don’t try to move into the second stage before you’ve spent all the time you need to
in the first stage. It won’t work.
We didn’t do enough of the right kinds of activities to store the information in our memories:
See below, “How to comprehend and memorize information.” Those strategies are the right kinds
of activities.
In the case of our notes, we didn’t write down enough of the right information, and/or we may have
tried to write down too much of the details while missing the main points of the teacher’s lecture:
Note-taking is discussed in detail in another lesson.
We may be worried about something—either the test itself, or something else in our lives that
concerns us. Worry can disrupt the functioning of our memory:
It is very difficult to focus and learn anything when we are worried about something—including the
test we are about to take. I will discuss strategies to eliminate test anxiety throughout this course.
Let’s talk now about how memory works.
How memory works
Memory is divided up into two parts:
1. Short term memory (also called working memory), which I’ll refer to often as
STM or WM
2. Long term memory, which I’ll refer to by the initials, LTM
Short term memory (or working memory) is sort of like an unsaved document on your computer
screen. You either save it (put it into hard drive—LTM), or you exit without saving it. You can only
have a limited amount of unsaved information on your screen at a time.
Long term memory (LTM) is more like the hard drive in your computer. It holds our long term
memories—even ones (both pleasant and painful) going all the way back to earliest childhood. We
have our home phone number stored there; our memories about our vacations and most special,
fun moments; our memory about our most embarrassing moment; and so forth. Both feelings and
factual information (like math formulas, dates and events we studied in history, facts we learned in
science class, and the concept, “verb” and “noun,” from English class) are stored in long term
memory.
Let’s return to the short term memory (like an unsaved document we are working on—which is
why it is also called working memory). This is where we store facts or information which we need
only temporarily, such as numbers we are plugging into a math problem, the name of someone we
have just been introduced to, or facts of a story a friend is recounting during a phone conversation.
We may not need to memorize any of these facts for future use, but they are at least stored in
working memory, temporarily.
But some things we do want to store for the long term. When your Mom or Dad told you the phone
number for emergencies, 911, you held it in short term memory for a while, and then you somehow
stored it in long term memory in case you needed it in the future.
If we are to truly learn something (math, history, science, English), then we must understand how
to “save” it to “hard drive” (memorize it, or “learn” it). So how do we do that? We’ll return to that
question momentarily.
Before exiting from a document you just created, you have two choices:
1. Name and save the document (it will be stored in the hard drive—which is the
computer’s equivalent of our brain’s “long term memory”)
2. Exit without naming and saving the document (it will be wiped out and lost
forever)
You have the same two choices with information temporarily stored in short term (or working)
memory.
There are two ways in which information is stored in long term memory:
1. Intensity (it was so fun or painful or embarrassing that you will never forget it,
even if the event only lasted for a few seconds)
2. Duration
Duration is the key for learning school subjects in most situations. Duration means, “over time.”
It’s like getting a sun tan. You can’t get a deep sun tan unless you spend long enough out in the
sun. To learn material (math, history, etc.), you need duration, repetition, review.
True, an experiment the teacher did for you in science may have been so interesting that you
remember it, even though it took place only in a few moments of class. Or perhaps a story your
history teacher told you about a famous event or person was so intriguing that you will never forget
it, even though the story was told in a matter of minutes. But these are unfortunately the exception
to the rule in academic learning. So much of what we learn in school must be done through
repetition—through duration, not intensity.
And remember what I said a while ago about how important comprehension was for
memorization? To “learn” something (memorize it), you must first comprehend or understand it.
Learning means growing in understanding about that something, and then storing it in LTM—
through duration.
How to comprehend and memorize information
Can you recall the two stages of the learning process, from above?
Let’s review. The two stages are:
1. Comprehension
2. Memorization
In actual practice, the two often happen simultaneously during the learning process. As you read a
book, for example, you are both gaining in comprehension about a subject, and beginning to store
some of the information in memory (at least short term memory). It helps, however, to separate
these two stages, because we must realize that memorizing something long term is impossible if
we don’t comprehend or understand it.
Once you comprehend a topic you are able to memorize the information related to that topic. Once
you have comprehended and memorized material (math, history, etc.), we say you have learned it.
Then, and only then, are you ready to take a test on it.
The activities below are good both for helping you comprehend the material, and for helping you
memorize it (by duration or multiple exposures). Remember the illustration about getting a sun
tan?
1. Distinguish between the main ideas and supporting details of each paragraph while reading
(see the lesson on “Reading”), then read the information enough times until it “sinks in”—that is,
until you understand and remember it (Re-read). Read the book aloud if that works better than
reading silently.
2. Take notes on a lecture or class discussion and review your notes (see the lesson on “Note-
taking”). Read them aloud if that works better than reading silently.
3. Record a lecture or discussion and listen to it enough times until it sinks in.
4. Ask questions as you read or listen to a lecture.
5. Discuss your readings or lecture with a study partner (friend, parent, brother, sister, or other
relative). Try to explain or teach the material to them. (This is actually one of the BEST ways to
learn ANY thing. You have to really know something to teach it to others. After all, who else needs
to know something really well but a person who wants to teach others?)
6. Highlight or write summary notes on readings (and review your highlights or notes).
7. Create flash cards and review the material with them. (This gives you something you can
touch, and allows you to walk around your bedroom or house while reviewing the information—
especially helpful if you have trouble sitting still.)
8. Quiz yourself on readings or class notes, or allow someone else to quiz you.
9. Write a paragraph describing and explaining a math formula or math problem, a map you’re
studying in history or geography, or a model of the atom you’re studying in science.
10. Draw a picture which illustrates something you are reading, whether it is a math, science,
history, or literature textbook.
11. Create other graphics to illustrate written material: create lists, maps and timelines for
history; flow charts for math or science processes; tables; charts; etc.
12. Trace existing maps, pictures or other graphics in your textbook.
13. Build physical models—either static or working ones. You can convert things you see or
read about or hear about into things you can touch. Use Styrofoam, toothpicks, dowels, modeling
clay, wood, etc.
Examples of concepts you can convert into physical models:
Science: the structure of an atom or molecule
Math: a flow chart
History: a timeline or map
English: a diagramed sentence with a different shape representing each
part of speech
Now, go back over the above list and choose five activities that you think would best fit your way of
learning. Write them down (below) and memorize them. You will be asked to list all five during the
end of course assessment.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Post-reading assessment questions:
Directions: Answer these questions after reading the lesson.
Don’t worry if you have to peek at the reading assignment to answer these questions! Remember
what I said about the need for comprehension and duration? You are building comprehension, and
providing repetition (duration), by answering these questions. It will stick with you over time.
A. There are four reasons I gave you above, as to why we draw blank on a test even after studying
for it. What were they?
1.
2.
3.
4.
B. What are the two stages to the learning process?
1.
2.
C. When you want to create a new document (use working or short term memory to work on
something else), what two choices do you have with the old information?
1.
2.
D. What are the two ways in which information is stored in long term memory?
1.
2.
E. List the five activities you selected to help you comprehend and memorize information.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
© 2005, Michael T. Swords
Convenient online tutoring for
School Success
at school-success.net
School Success
at school-success.net
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