Need to Know About Memory: Explored (pt. 3)

Jonathan Firth's Memory & Metacognition Updates #73

Hello! Recently I have been sharing some thoughts on the question: What do new teachers need to know about memory?

You can find my previous two posts on this issue below:

Part 1

Part 2

In the final post on this theme, I’ll look at the following issue: what information about memory do new teachers actually experience as part of their education or training?

To Recap

The points I’ve raised so far are quite brief, considering the scope of what we could say about memory (all of these ideas, as well as some more advanced ones, are covered in detail in my recent book). To recap, the six things I’ve included are:

1. The concept of memory;

2. Memory is relevant to teaching;

3. Forgetting is rapid and catastrophic;

4. There’s a key difference between learning and performance;

5. The role of WM and LTM;

6. Desirable difficulties (especially spacing, retrieval practice and variation).

I feel these are a great starting point for getting teachers to think about applying memory to the classroom.

Teacher Education - The State of Play

So, how similar are the points I’ve shared to what you were told as a new teacher?

I can say that pretty much none of the above points were covered in any of the training or CPD I did early in my career. However, I began teaching quite a long time ago now, and had studied psychology, so I knew what working memory (for example) was before I ever taught a lesson.

And what about now?

I’m curious to know how widespread these ideas are in initial teacher education today. A view I sometimes see shared on social media is that student teachers are not learning about cognitive science in general, and memory in particular. But is that representative? I can’t be sure!

Without surveying every course or knowing the situation in every country, I’d tentatively agree that many trainees are not getting enough guidance on memory and other cognitive science concepts.

At the University of Strathclyde we have a core module on our primary education degree that covers memory, motivation and metacognition, as well as an optional module where students can delve into neuromyths, Bjork’s concept of desirable difficulties, and other issues. I hope that many other courses (perhaps an increasing number?) are building this in.

If you’re a teacher educator or a recent trainee, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Easter Break

As next Monday is Easter, I’m taking a little break from these updates until the end of April. Before doing so, I thought it might be useful to share the posts so far this year, to make them easier to find!

Please find them listed below…

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• Explore Cognitive Science in 2024

• Effective-Note Taking

• A Dozen Simple Metacognition Strategies, Part 1

• A Dozen Simple Metacognition Strategies, Part 2

• The Motivation to Study

• Motivation Applied – What Drives Your Professional Learning?

• Is the Classic Model of Memory Accurate?

• Simplistic Assumptions About Memory

• Working Memory

• Need to Know About Memory: Explored (pt. 1)

• Need to Know About Memory: Explored (pt. 2)

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Out of interest, the posts on A dozen simple metacognition strategies were the most popular. Many thanks to those who read them, and for anyone who’s new to these updates, it could be a good place to start.

Hope you have a great week, and a lovely holiday if you get one,

Jonathan

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Please note that my slides and similar materials are used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. This means you can use or adapt them with attribution for non-commercial purposes. If you wish to use my materials for other purposes, feel free to get in touch.