We’re in the field of education, so obviously we want our students to learn. But what happens when students don’t have all of the tools and strategies they need in order to learn effectively? There are numerous strategies for all types of learning that can make this easier. Side note: A lot of people use the term learning skills or study skills, but they really are learning strategies. Skills are automatic, where with strategies you continually need to focus on them.
We’ll look at other types of learning in later posts, but today, I want to talk about rote memory and quick memorization strategies.
Ordinarily, we want students to put information into long term memory, but there are times when quick memorization is key. Before we dive into strategies, let’s learn a bit about why rote memory and quick memorization are even important.
WORKING MEMORY
Working memory is a cognitive system that holds a limited amount of information. It is similar to short-term memory, except rather than just a storage system, working memory is where you will also “work with” that information and do something with it.
For example, working memory allows a reader to hold letters in their mind while they are sounding out a word. It allows you to remember something that you hear long enough to write it down, such as when writing a math problem. It even applies to remembering instructions.
CHUNKING
As mentioned above, there is a limited amount of space involved in working memory. There’s not an exact number, but it is usually around 7 pieces of information that can be held in your mind at once in working memory. This could be a phone number, or a series of a few words.
However, there are ways of tricking working memory into holding slightly more information with the use of chunking.
Chunking is lumping together groups of information. For example, instead of trying to remember these numbers, 90184364, you can instead try to group the numbers into pairs: 90-18-43-64. This can allow you to remember this amount of numbers easier.
Teaching students to chunk information as a learning strategy can allow them to quickly store more information at one time in working memory
REHEARSING
Rehearsing helps you to keep information in working memory a little longer. It involves repeating the information in your mind (or out loud) until you can do something with it. For example, when you’ve just met someone and want to remember their name, you may rehearse it until you get to a place where you can write it down. It’s not a plan to put anything into long term storage – just to keep it in a place where you are able to remember it long enough.
MNEMONICS
Mnemonics are popular in many classrooms for allowing students to remember a list of information in order. This involves creating a phrase that is easy to remember and represents the first letters of the words you are trying to remember.
A popular mnemonic is using Every Good Boy Does Fine to represent the order of keys on a musical staff, or My Very Excellent Mother Just Sat Under Neptune to remember the names of the planets in order.
Mnemonics can actually be used to help store information in long-term memory rather than working memory. However, there’s not a lot of meaning required, so this is a rote memorization strategy.
LEARNING STRATEGIES PRACTICE
In a later blog post, we’ll learn about other learning and study strategies that require you to make meaning with what you’ve read or heard. These strategies above are all included with directions and practice activities in this resource below. Click on the picture to view it.
