Memorizing Things
Working with children, one should remember that the memorizing processes of theirs are quite different from the ones going on in the brain of an adult person. Thus, the strategies applied must differ from the ones used in working with adults. Memorizing such simple things as the parts of a cell or the names of the first three presidents of the United States, children need a lot more concentration and effort than an adult person.
Thus, it is necessary to take specific measures for the children to remember all these things. Certain strategies are the most preferable for memorizing the data not connected logically and being merely several terms.
In the case when the students need to memorize the parts of a cell, it would be a good idea to provide each of the students with supportive visual material, which will serve as the image the students will take as the basis for the memorizing process. In this case, the students will be able to intertwine the image with the specific term, which will help them not to get carried away by the unknown words which they cannot associate with anything familiar. It would be also a good idea to hand the students the sheets to fill in the blanks with the new terms after they have considered the handouts.
Making children remember historical events has always been a problem for teachers. To make the kids memorize the names of the first three presidents of the United States, it is possible to employ the strategy of developing the clues for storing information (Thorne n.d.). Thus, George Washington is already a name memorable enough; while John Adams can be associated with Adam, the character from the Bible and Thomas Jefferson can be associated with Tom and Jerry cartoon – silly but efficient. With the techniques which make the students feel what they are trying to remember, the result will be worth trying.
The Civil War: A Hard Topic to Master
Since the subject of the Civil War is extremely important and just as hard to handle for an average student, specific techniques are required to help the students to memorize the pool of facts which they are diving in. Because diverse information is involved, including numbers, figures, the historical context, and other data which is hard to pull together, it is necessary to help the students pull through the different kinds of information and not to get lost in the attempts to catch every detail in the focus of their memory.
What the teacher must do in this situation is to incorporate three ingredients of the course so that the students could memorize the events and the dates with maximum efficiency. What they have to embrace is the relevance of the event, the emotion, and the historical context in the light of which the events are viewed. The teacher also has to demonstrate the connection between the emotion and the context within the topic.
To achieve the abovementioned, it is necessary to apply one of the specific techniques of memorizing. Since short-term memory which is usually involved in the process fails to hold all the data pouring into the brain (Mohs 2006), it is necessary to apply to those methods which are aimed at working on short-term memory development. In this case, splitting the information into portions (LiveScience 2009) will be of great help to the students.
As they are presented with all the pieces of information about the Civil War, it could be a good idea to suggest to them to assemble what they have already got. The discussion where everyone would be involved will be of great help to the students. In this case, the students will benefit twice, for they will keep the relevant data in their mind, evaluate the context of the information, and will be able to express their opinion on the subject. With the modern techniques of memorizing, the process of learning can increase times, and the teachers must make good use of it.
Reference List
LiveScience Staff (2009) Single Brain Cell Can Hold a Memory. LiveScience. Web.
Mohs, R. C. (2006) How Human Memory Works. Discovery Health. Web.
Thorne, G. (n.d) 10 Strategies to Enhance Students’ Memory. Center for Development and Learning. Web.