Memory Facilitation

Memory Facilitation
In the Secondary Education Classroom
Grahm Hannah

Memory Facilitation in the secondary education classroom is a vital concept to the teacher and students. The way for students to be able to remember and utilize content area knowledge is through memory. Memory, however, is a complex function that must be understood in order for one to create a classroom where it isfully operational and readily available as a process that students can benefit from. Information and learning strategy dissemination are the end goal for teachers. The mental process that makes this possible is memory. It is then the teacher’s responsibility to understand this mental process and how to promote its function in the classroom.
For the purposes of generalizability, theinformation-processing model of memory will be summarized and analyzed to explain this mental process. This model has several key components that all contribute to the overall process. First, our sensory register is the brain function that receives all stimuli that is present in our environment. Each one of our senses is sending information about the environment to our sensory register at all times. Theinformation that is present in the sensory register is only present for a few seconds and then it is lost or retained by yet another memory function. The deciding factor as to whether or not the information or sensation reaches the next stage in memory processing is decided by attention. In order for the information to continue down the memory assembly line one must pay attention to the stimuli.The second mental process involved in memory is the working memory. This is where the information that was attended to is processed and meaning making occurs. In order for the information to be activated it must be rehearsed. There are two types of rehearsal that allow for information activation. “Maintenance rehearsal involves repeating the information in your mind, while elaborativerehearsal involves connecting the information you are trying to remember with something that you already know, with information from long-term memory”, (Woolfolk, 1998). Therefore, the information must become a solid foundation through repetition or become part of a preexisting schema if it is to become a long-term memory.
The last process that occurs in this process is the storing of informationin the long-term memory. When information is connected with information that is already in your long-term memory and it is rehearsed, that is utilized from time to time; it will also become part of the long-term memory bank. When this is complete, that specific piece of information can be an anchor for yet another piece of information to be connected in the web of long-term memories. The moreconnections that exist between the various pieces of information that we have stored in our long-term memory, the more likely that this information will be retrievable and used to form even more long-term memories.
There are three types of long-term memory that store different categories of knowledge. Semantic memory contains facts and generalized information including concepts, skills andlearning strategies, (Banikowski, A., 1999). This type of memory is organized into schemata that help us relate new information to old information. Episodic memory is the memory of personal experiences that is tied mostly to visual and auditory memories. Procedural memory is the ability to recall how to do a physical task. These memory categories are all useful for teachers to understand becausethe engagement of these various types of memory will aid the student in their memory creation and retention.
This process can be understood by looking at how I learned to use the future tense in Spanish. I was sitting in Spanish class and incoming stimuli were flying at me from all around, literally bombarding my senses. I could smell Maureen’s hair from a desk away, I could feel the...