How Do We Really Learn? Seven Surpringly Simple Ways to Make Memories
Debra Em
Hoping it’s not a Snooze Fest
On a rare, sunny day in the Pacific Northwest, Nanette, her husband, and I headed for the speaker’s hall, anticipating a lecture titled, Making Memories. On one hand, I was eager to hear the information and on the other hand, I was a little concerned about trying to stay awake through a dull, scientific lecture complete with PowerPoint slides filled with stats, brain images, and complicated explanations of how a memory is formed, stored, and retrieved.
As the lights went down, Mark Pitzer, Ph.D., enters the stage, and begins to entertain us with hilarious stories while drawing on a white board. Each story punctuated an important concept about how we make memories.
It felt like we were at a comedy club and not a neuroscience lecture. I remembered so much about the lecture and how we make memories that I use this information in my courses. His teaching approach worked, and this blog post is the proof in the neural pudding.
My Making Memories Experiment
Check out my brief five minute How We Learn demonstration and notice that I’m using a magnetic marker board. Is this novel? Yes. Does your brain pay attention as I change out the different magnetic images? Does the video title make your brain want to know, “Well, does she fail???” You’ll need to watch the video to see what happens with my memory experiment.
How We Learn
This download goes with the video.
Trash Can or Filing Cabinet?
Throughout the day, your brain is learning all kinds of stuff and while you’re sleeping it decides…
Hmmmm…. should I put that memory in the trash can?
OR
Should I put that memory in the filing cabinet so it can be retrieved at another time when needed?
The Power of Maybe
Making a lesson memorable comes down to how much James Bond intrigue you brought to your lesson, or what Dr. Pitzer calls, “The Power of Maybe.”
The Power of Maybe is a term used to describe the little tricks you do to keep the brain wondering, “What’s coming next?”
Too much uncertainty could lead to shutting down so it’s important to find the balance between, “I know what’s coming next” and “Now there’s a twist I wasn’t expecting.”
What Determines if a Memory is Tossed or Stored?
The sensory input, movement, emotions, and the Power of Maybe makes the difference between the dumpster or the file drawer. Next time you’re teaching a potentially world altering lesson, think, “When these tikes are winding down at day’s end and snuggling into bed with their favorite teddy, is this lesson going into the trash can or the filing cabinet?”
When I teach, I’m aiming for the filing cabinet. I teach using lots of imagery, movement, fill-in teaser blank Think Sheets, and doodle pages that bring the Power of Maybe into my lessons.
Creating active lessons ensures that my students are working as hard as I am because that’s the only way they’ll remember all the good stuff I want them to learn! The addage, “Teach with the brain in mind” is actually “Teach with a filing cabinet in mind.”
Let’s wrap this up with a summary of the seven surprisingly simple ways to make memories that are spared the fate of the nightly dumpster fire (and by the way, unless you and your students are getting eight hours of sleep each night, the brain can’t process memories at all).
Tell a story with just the right amount of emotion and interest, not too long to bore the poor kids to death, just long enough to create a sense of intrigue and curiosity.
Write down important information with an actual pen - not typing and not recording it on the phone (now I know some of our children need tools and can’t write things down so modify this as needed).
Draw or doodle important concepts of what’s being taught; no artistry needed, stick figures work and to whatever degree you were gifted or not gifted with artistic talent, just go with it; for children who can’t doodle or draw, find images to support the lesson.
If you are providing your students with something in writing, make sure the font is large and easy to read because the brain doesn’t want to work that hard to read something too small or ornate that it can’t be read easily; it also doesn’t trust or remember the information as well as larger print.
Repeat the key point, concept, or message at least three times; the more the brain hears the same thing over and over, the more it believes it’s true and will remember it; this also makes you get really clear on your key take aways.
Add the “Power of Maybe” to everything you teach so the brain isn’t quite sure what’s coming next; the brain loves patterns and looks for them but within the pattern, it needs a “What’s coming next?” moment to stay focused.
And of course, MOVEMENT to provide sensory and proprioceptive input to help the brain activate more pathways for learning and remembering.
The Most Remarkable and Terrifying Event that I’ll Remember Forever
On the way home from the lecture, something both remarkable and terrifying happened that changed my life forever, but your time is valuable so I’ll save that for another day.
Is your brain wanting to know what happened on the way home from the lecture that changed my life?
That’s the Power of Maybe.
Made you wonder. And that’s the magic behind learning and making memories.
Speaking of memories, let’s make some together. If you’re lucky enough to have some extra cash and are looking for a way to spend down end of the year funds, why not take a course with me? I’d love to work with you and your team. No team? Consider taking a DIY course. I’ve created engaging videos, lessons filled with instantly usable activities, plus a bunch of downloads.
P.S. Nothing. Nothing happened on the way home from the lecture other than I got a little carsick sitting in the backseat. Darn that over-responsive vestibular system of mine. Note to self, keep Bonine on hand at all times.
BUT, once upon a time, I was on a sinking boat in the ocean and that was terrifying and an event I’ll always remember. The harrowing experience had everything my brain needed to ensure it was filing cabinet worthy!
You can watch Dr. Mark Pitzer here (after you read my blog : ))