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STUDY GROUP OUTLINE

Fact Sheet 5: Getting Information into Memory
Principle: Students, Teachers, and Lessons Interact

1. “Learning for understanding actually helps people remember better because it helps information get into memory in a way that is easier to recall . . .” (Pg 47). From your own life, give an example of information you learned from understanding and information you learned by memorization. Looking back, which information have you been able to continue using years later?
2. Experts say that memory improves when the purpose of reading is to understand rather than to complete an assignment (Pg 48). Have you ever asked students what is the purpose of reading? If so, do their answers support the research addressed in the text? If not, perhaps you could make this the topic of a discussion and graph in an upcoming class.
3. Do your tests and classroom discussions focus on “getting the right answer” or “understanding” the material? (Pg 48) How could you revise your classroom activities to shift the focus from answers to understanding?
4. “Students can answer factual questions surprisingly well even if they do not understand what they have read.” (Pg 49) When was the last time you realized that you and your students had an entirely different image of the topic you were discussing or reading about? How did you find out and what did you do to correct the problem?
5. For meaning to take place, repetition must be “meaningful.” (Pg 49) What repetitive activities do you include in your classroom presentation? Based on descriptions in the text of meaningful and meaningless activities how do you rate your use of repetition?
6. If “a question that is connected to the answer in a meaningful way is easier to answer than one that is randomly related, even if the random information is true” (Pg 50) then how do you compare questions you ask to the author’s standard of related in a meaningful way?
7. This is a formula for memory: Memory In + Memory Out = Learning. (Pg 50) Is your own memory organized for easy access? Are you able to retrieve information you know you learned at some time in the past but haven’t accessed for many years?
8. When information is learned in multiple ways (i.e., by hearing and by writing vs. by hearing only) it is easier to access later; in other words, as more learning paths are created more exit paths for that knowledge to be used are also created. (Pg 51) Describe a lesson you presented in your class during the past two weeks, explaining the different types of activities you used to create multiple learning opportunities. If you haven’t used multiple activities in the past, how could you expand a future lesson to include many different presentations of the same material?
9. Have you assigned students to be the “teachers” in your class for specific topics, chapters, days, etc? (Pg 51) If so, did they present the information effectively? What activities did they/the group use in their teacher role? Did any of the students use an activity that you have modeled? That you had not modeled?
10. Field trips present opportunities for students to get hands-on experience in areas that cannot be taught well inside a traditional classroom. (Pg 51) What field trips have you taken with students, and what preparatory and what follow-up activities did you use to enhance the field trip? What do you wish you had done differently?
11. Do you tell students in advance what they are going to do in class that day? (Pg 53) Do you remind them at the end of class what they did that day? Do you tell them how this day’s instruction fits into the overall strategy for that week . . . month . . . or term?
12. The author suggests that students may learn better from a “10-week unit on the circulatory and respiratory systems than from 10 weeks on the human body.” (Pg 53) Why do you think this is true? What material are you currently teaching broadly that you could revise so you teach it deeply?
13. In the “What it means for teachers” section, the author presents many suggestions, divided into “Students’ Goals, Teach for Understanding, Questions for Understanding, Many Senses Are Better Than One, Doing Is Better Than Seeing Or Hearing, More Detailed Information Is Easier To Remember, and More Meaning for Information Is Easier To Remember. (Pgs 53-55) Choose any five suggestions and describe how you will implement those ideas into your lesson plan next week.
14. The “reporter’s questions” (Pg 55) or the “W questions” can stimulate students to cross-reference information they add to their memories. How do you add Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? questions to your classroom presentations? Are some of the questions easier for your students to answer than other questions?

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