learning is knowledge that stays in long term memory

The common elements to move information from

working memory to--> long-term memory:

• Rehearsal
• Meaningful learning- relating new info to what they already know
• Elaboration
• Organization- cause and effect (if then)
• Visual Imagery
• Mnemonics

Rehearsal–repeating information verbatim, either mentally or aloud, within a short time span. Rehearsal is a good way of keeping information "fresh" in working memory, but it is a relatively ineffective way of storing information in long-term memory, in large part because the information remains isolated from other knowledge; in other words, it involves rote learning . Students are most likely to use rehearsal when they have little prior knowledge to which they can relate the new information they are studying.

Meaningful learning–making logical connections between new information and prior knowledge. Generally speaking, information learned in a meaningful fashion is acquired more quickly and recalled more easily than information learned in a meaningless , rote fashion such as rehearsal.

Elaboration–embellishing on new information using what one already knows, perhaps by thinking of possible explanations for a particular fact or perhaps by generating new examples or applications of a concept. Elaboration can occasionally interfere with learning if the learner imposes incorrect assumptions or beliefs on the new material. In general, however, elaboration enhances learning and later recall of classroom subject matter.

Organization–making connections among various pieces of new information so that they form a cohesive, integrated structure. A body of new information is recalled more readily when it is internally organized (e.g., when it includes cause-and-effect relationships among various ideas).

Visual imagery–encoding new information in a visual form, perhaps as a mental picture or diagram. Visual imagery tends to enhance memory, and some visual images last for significant periods of time. Individual differences exist, however: Some learners are better visual imagers than others.



Meaningful learning, which often includes elaboration, organization, or both, involves making connections among pieces of information. In what specific ways does the teacher promote such connections? 

• She reminds students of several previously learned vocabulary words relevant to today's lesson.
• She says, "Pretend that you are slaves . . . If you were a slave, what are some things you might have done to get back at a master?" Here she is asking students to relate the experience of slavery to things that they themselves might do.
• She says, "We had a word in vocabulary the other day that I hope you can remember, that describes the way [ Lincoln ] looks sometimes in some pictures. Anybody remember?" Here she is asking students to connect Lincoln's appearance to something they have recently learned: the word gaunt .

Might any of the teacher's strategies promote visual imagery? 

• On a map she points out the three major sections of the country prior to the Civil War, thereby helping students to form a visual image of how the country was divided.
• She encourages visual imagery by saying, "Abe Lincoln . . . Can you describe how he might have looked from the pictures you've seen?"
• Her use of the word gaunt to describe Lincoln should promote visual imagery as well as meaningful learning.

Do you see any occasions when some students might resort to rehearsal to learn certain ideas? 

Possibly the students have memorized definitions to the vocabulary words; they are most likely to have done so if they believed that they would need to remember the definitions verbatim on a quiz or other classroom assessment. Also, the teacher encourages students to put a new vocabulary word, abolitionist , in their notes, but she doesn't tell them exactly what they should say about this word in their notes. As you will discover when you read Chapter 4, many young adolescents believe that "knowledge" about school subject matter consists largely of a collection of discrete facts that should be learned by rote, and their notes may reflect this belief.

What additional strategies might you use in this lesson to promote effective long-term memory storage processes? 

There are many possible answers here. Following are three examples:

• Show old drawings or photographs of slaves and typical slave quarters.
• Have students role-play specific events that contributed to the outbreak of the war.
• Bring in copies of relevant newspaper articles from the years prior to the Civil War (e.g., the 1840s and 1850s). Artifacts, models, manipulatives
• guest speaker
• electronic resources