1st and foremost, we must get students attention. If students do not pay attention, what teacher teacher will go into left ear and come out from right ear. . It takes about eight seconds of intense focus to process a piece of information into memory. Therefore, we need to get students attention and engage students in the learning, for example through set induction.
Then, it would be an advance if students know what they will be learning. Before going into topic, teacher can give an introduction of what is going to be learnt. Hence, students can pay more attention to the main theories and put aside other less important things.
In order to remember a concepts efficiently, we should understand about it. Mathematics is not like history (event history has causes and effects), students ought to understand why they need to do this, is this the only way, what they need to do and so on. For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorizing isolated details.
We must construct our new knowledge based on previous knowledge. Giving example(s) is one of the good ways of doing so. By linking true life example with the concept, students will remember more easily. Also, they are going to appreciate the concepts as something useful rather than a piece of theory.
There are 2 types of connection, intraconnection and interconnection. For example, while teaching probability, we make intraconnection with topic such as ratio, fraction and percentage; interconnection with subject biology such as calculating probability of getting a girl or a boy in one pregnancy. Not only that we can ease the learning of new concepts, we can recall and recap what we learn in the past.
Based on behaviorism and information processing theory, repetition helps build information and reaction. Hence, teacher can give exercise and test in order to help students do revision. Furthermore, one can have an assessment of what had remembered. Teacher had students to jot down all the points that can remember (without refer to the notes), if possible have a mind map, then, review the original notes quickly and compare both sets. Through this, we can check what we had mastered and what have not, thus further action can be taken to improve them.
Review or recall is a type of repetition. At the end of each lessons, teacher should have a short recview session, to summarize what students had learn that day. Teacher could invited students to summarize the lesson that day, instead of doing it herself. On the next class, a recall session could be done to recall what had been learn in previous class. What researchers call “spaced rehearsal” is more effective than “cramming.” If we are able to “over-learn” information so that recalling it becomes second nature, so much the better.
In two way communication class, discussion is very much encouraged, whether it is a whole class discussion or a group discussion. Speaking about what we have learned will implant it more deeply in the memory center of the brain making it easier to remember when the need arises. Discussion is also a way of interpreting information in our own way. Discussion helps us to check our understanding, compare with others and make collaboration.
Though human brain is one of greatest creation of God, we are not supercomputer. We do forget. Hence, in order to remember we might forget, we should take notes of what we learn, using both words and pictures, manually or using electronic devices. In addition, we can highlight the main point to mark important points. In case of we really forget, visualization creates strong connection for recalling the material. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain.
Read out loud, this is what we had done since we start learning, but some of us has stop doing it. For some, read out can implant information in our mind more easily.
We cannot learn efficiently with an exhausted mind. Teacher could not blame students for not learning, she should understand why they are not learning. Teacher should schedule a brief rest period after each learning session for optimum retention. The optimal learning session is around 30 minutes, after that, students should be allowed to have a break to relax and to let the information ‘sink in’. During this period, teacher can refresh her mind also, besides responds to some students’ questions or problems.
Give students some brain games. Playing brain games keeps the brain sharp. Example, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, creating mnemonic and other challenging tasks help to remember what you are learning.
Imagine now you are try to make sense of the complicated concept of trigonometry equation, you are just one last steps from the final solution, suddenly, ‘Shake, shake and shake shake your heart’, it was handset ringtone!!! What would you feel? Somemore, it is the teacher mobile phone. Could you still concentrate on the learning. We need a conducive and distraction free environment for learning. During class, teacher and students must disconnect from communication devices, to make sure the class is not distracted and interrupted. Some classical music in the background helps many students relax and have better focus, thus helping to retain more of what they are learning. In addition, routine and predictable lesson also send signals to the body to relax and be open to learning.
Allow students to involve as many sense as possible in learning and tailor information acquisition to their learning style. Most people are visual learners; they learn best by reading or otherwise seeing what it is they have to know. But some are auditory learners who learn better by listening. They might benefit by recording information they need and listening to it until they remember it. So, teacher should not feel awkward if students try to record the class.
Give encouragement but not stress. If students able to think positively about the success of understanding and remembering what they learn rather than thinking about the failure becoming a successful learner, they will be more likely to remember and do well. Terrible feelings actually hampers the ability of the brain to remember, while positive mental feedback sets up an expectation of success.
based on:
http://helpguide.org/life/improving_memory.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Can-You-Train-Your-Memory-to-Retain-100-Percent?&id=985370
http://www.ehow.com/how_4705170_remember-what-read.html
http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2010/30-tiny-tips-to-remember-what-you-read/
Based on reading of the information processing theory and its effect on children and learnin at
http://www.helium.com/items/1678590-the-information-processing-theory-and-its-effect-on-children-and-learning
Most of the concepts in the article has been discussed in Monday class, so i would just write what i think is useful.
The information processing theory is an interesting theory that discusses how a person processes information as a child and how the child's processing develops as the child ages; environment and heredity can influence information processing and the intelligence of a person.
Maybe due to good previous experience, whenever I read something, I want to know what I would gain from reading it. Here it is, ‘In order to be an effective and understanding teacher it is important to understand how information is processed by the mysterious mind.’ It is relevant because teacher's can plan lessons that are structured in accordance with the developmental needs of the students. If a child is not developing at a normal rate, a teacher will be more aware of this problem.
Attention is causes information to move from the sensory register to the working memory (or short term memory) while rehearsal, organization and elaboration cause information to move from the working memory into long-term memory.
The development of abilities and cognitive processes occurs steadily and gradually through trends, we cannot force children to learn in advance. Environment and heredity are both factors that can influence intelligence and the processing of information.
One of the lines that I like most in this article is ‘‘the child is born with freewill and free thought, and the child can overcome most influences of environment and heredity if the child chooses to’’. There is no reason that one cannot improve if he try very hard, and make the environment or people around him an useful resource. Just as the sayings, there is no ugly woman, only lazy woman.
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