The Role of Memory in Learning

posted on Mar 17, 2020

In modern education, the word memory is often looked down upon when uttered in the same context as learning.

In modern education, the word memory is often looked down upon when uttered in the same context as learning. The general notion associated with memory is mugging up where students memorise the matter at hand, with or without understanding the underlying concepts, only to forget the same later on in their future lives. Memorising definitely does not work in the 21^st-century. But memory of the brain is something entirely different when it comes to learning. Technically stating, whatever we learn as a child and an adult ultimately gets stored in the memory centres of our minds. What we call understanding is actually an efficient process of encoding into and recalling from the brain’s memory.

This is why the teachers of the best school in Noida Extension 2020 utilise the power of memory to teach their students. They harness the neurological connections of the mind to relay information and impart knowledge. Such schools do not encourage their students to memorise. Instead, they use reinforcing techniques that boost memory and lead to better learning.

The connection between memory and learning

The brain receives the required information from its surroundings, encodes the data into a storable format, and keeps it in the hippocampus for future retrieval. Thus, the data becomes our memory. Learning happens when we connect these pieces of memory by an associative thread. And as the association strengthens, we remember and learn to apply the teachings in our actual world. Thus, memory is related to learning. You can imagine that it leads to learning. But they are never the same thing.

On the other hand, we tend to lose or forget a few of our memories as well. This can happen when the encoding process was insufficient to store the information properly, or there was too much information to encode, or retrieval is not happening at the present moment even when the data is present in the memory. This causes a rupture in the thread-building process. Due to the absence of a node, the association does not form and learning becomes inadequate. As evident, the teachers of the best convent school in Greater Noida West look to create valuable memories to pave the path for increased learning.

How to create memories in classrooms?

To restate, memories are formed when the following sequence of events occurs properly.

1. Encoding
2. Storing
3. Retrieving

These, in turn, depend on the following factors to function efficiently

1. The volume of information the mind has to memorise
2. Rest and stress levels of the mind during memory creation
3. The extent of our exposure or familiarity with the subject or topic
4. How well the information is organised
5. Prior experience regarding the matter
6. Level of motivation, drive, and interest to create the memory

The above list is endless. Various factors impact memory creation and retrieval in human minds and teachers have to focus on that many parameters periodically to ensure that students are effectively storing the given information into their memories.

Take the degree of familiarity as an example. If something new is being presented to the students, they will find it difficult to encode and store it in their memories. However, if the concept is repeated with sufficient spacing, a familiarity builds up around the topic and students will find it easier to memorise and recall with each repetition. That is why teachers often ask students to read the chapter to be taught in class beforehand and summarise the lessons of the previous class the next day. This builds familiarity, builds memory, and leads to learning.

Something similar happens with experience as well. Our cognitive minds constantly keep a watch at our surrounding environment and pick up bits of information from our experiences, both consciously and unconsciously, to store them in our memory. Like, we remember that touching something hot will burn our skin or running in the sun may cause headaches. When a similar thing happens again, we recall our previous experience from our memory and that reinforces our learning. We can now predict that the cup is about to get hot or how much sunlight causes headaches. Teachers of the best play school in Greater Noida use experience to teach subjects. The examples that they bring in classrooms are naturally what most students face in their daily lives.

Memory is necessary, memorising is not

The top schools like BGS Vijnatham maintain this technical ethos on their premises. BGS teachers harness the neurological potential of memory and learning to educate the students and a part of the professional development training involves learning the nuances of the brain in understanding academics. That age is gone where students are merely expected to memorise for their exams. Today, schools like BGS look to create application-worthy memories, taking precise care of the biological process of learning and attending to the personal needs of the children and their developing minds.