by The Open University
Available in 11 free installments
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Learning cannot take place without memory, and we expect our students to be able to process, synthesise and recall a vast amount of information every day. There are, however, some simple strategies that we can employ to help them to do this.
Firstly consider the natural concentration span. A rough guide is that concentration span in minutes is equivalent to chronological age in years, +/− 2 minutes. That means that even our most attentive 18 year olds need a short concentration break every 15?20 minutes. So when planning lessons, think about providing a brief break or change of focus or activity every 15 minutes or so. This is sometimes known as ‘chunking?, e.g. give 10 minutes to answer questions 1?3, then have some feedback/checking of answers, before a further 10 minutes to answer questions 4?7. Concentration breaks may also be a useful time for quick administration tasks like collecting in homework or taking the register.
Beginnings and endings of lessons are vital times in terms of review and recall. Evidence shows that students will remember most information from these parts of the lesson, yet they are the times when extremely valuable learning time can be easily wasted. So get in and get learning straight away ? have an activity ready on the board for students as they enter, and look for short, engaging starter activities. Chunking lessons also means that you automatically create many ‘smaller? beginnings and endings within a lesson.
Reviewing information is also vitally important for longer-term recall. Ideally, students should be reviewing key learning points from their work at the end of each lesson, then at the end of the day, after a week, after a term and after a year. This obviously involves some effort on their part, but teachers can get students into good reviewing habits by ending the main part of each lesson at least five minutes early, and devoting the time remaining to a review of key learning points. This activity might be to summarise three key points from the lesson, a simple quiz or word puzzle, or a small group discussion.
Review a lesson you have recently taught which involved a long activity. Break this down into smaller ‘chunks? of 10?15 minutes? activity, interspersed with short 1?2 minute tasks that allow students to process the information they have learned. These processing tasks are to get away from the idea of ‘in one ear and out the other? ? by forcing the brain to engage with the new information, students are much more likely to be able to recall it in the future. The simplest way to do this is to get a student to verbally explain to another student what they have just learned. This also relates to what we know about the ‘pyramid of learning? ? we retain most information after teaching others.
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