Chapter six

What?

Memory is a very difficult thing to understand and how everyone will have the same memory from the same experience is all up to how it was stored into their memory. There is not one specific place in the brain that memory is stored. The brain has the capacity of have multiple storage methods. The different method of storage in different parts of the brain determines the type of memory people store. There is explicit or implicit knowledge which was also discussed in this chapter. Explicit knowledge is a memory that someone can describe and consciously aware of. Implicit knowledge is that a person cannot consciously recall or explain, yet it does not affect the person's thinking or behavior. Philosophers all agree that learning is due to experience. Throughout the chapter it discusses that prior knowledge and beliefs play a major role in the meaning that people construct. If a person puts meaning to something he or she is learning it is remembered better than if he or she takes it at face value. Visual metaphors are also helpful for being able to label, store, and retrieve information. Each time we recall a memory from our minds we reconstruct that memory; although we are unable to reinterpret that memory. The reason why certain memories are not easily recalled is because there is decay and interference which blocks certain memories from being restored.

So what!!!

Chapter six had very good ideas and explanations for why certain memories were hard to recall. The chapter also spoke of how each individual interprets information in a different way. This is very useful for teachers to understand that what they might want students to know is different from what the students are hearing. In order to make sure students are understanding the assignment or the lesson teachers need to repeat themselves several times and make it very clear on what student need to retain from a particular lesson. This is called the primacy and recant which is the first and last thing that is discussed in a class. Prior knowledge of a subject for student is also very important to understand that some students have a prior knowledge of a subject which makes it easy for them to understand a subject. While teaching students there needs to be many different types of teaching involved in order to help store that information into students long-term memory. Teachers could use such methods as rehearsal, meaningful learning, organization, visual imagery, or mnemonics among many others. Knowing this information will help me as a future teacher that not all of my students are storing the exact same thing into their memory. I need to have many different experiences for my students to have the opportunity to learn and recall that information correctly.

Now what???

I still need to understand how to be perfectly clear on what I as a future teacher want my students to know. I need to understand my own memory and how it works as well as others to help me be a well diverse teacher. I need to learn techniques that will help my students be able to have good retrieval skills as well. I still need to understand how elaboration works. I understand that it is a process by which learners expand on new information based off of what they already know, but i still am unsure of how a teacher can clarify exactly what a student knows.