What do you get when you combine the brain, long-term memory, MTV, the Magna Carta, homework, school schedules, and grade level standards? Let's put them in the Education Innovation blender and find out.
More from Brain Rules by John Medina: Chapter 6 Long-Term Memory
We want our students to remember everything we teach them right. Of course, we do, but John explains that the process of transforming a memory into a one that can be remembered for years to come can take years to complete. This process is called System Consolidation, and it can take years to complete. So, maybe you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself next time you ask your students a question and they can’t remember. It’s not you or them; it’s their brains’ fault.
John also explains that forgetting may actually be a good thing. Forgetting allows us to prioritize events that are essential to our survival. If it is not important, we make it less of a priority. We forget them. So, maybe you can’t blame a kid for forgetting the date the Magna Carta was signed. His or her brain may not consider that information important for survival. Knowing the names of every band on MTV’s TRL show maybe important to his or her survival. (His or her social peer group survival)
John puts forth some ideas for the school of the future that would help increase long-term memory.
The Brain Rules Schedule:
“In the school of the future, lessons are divided into 25-minute modules, cyclically repeated throughout the day. Subject A is taught for 25-minutes, constituting the first exposure. Ninety minutes later, the 25-minute content of subject A is repeated, and then a third time.”
All classes would follow such a schedule and classes would be extended into the summer to account for the necessary time required to follow such a schedule.
The Brain Rules Content Review Schedule:
“In the future school, every third or fourth day would be reserved for reviewing the facts delivered in the previous 72 to 96 hours. During these ‘review holidays,’ previous information would be presented in compressed fashion. Students would have the chance to inspect the notes they took during the initial exposures, comparing them with what the teacher was saying in the review.”
The Brain Rules Homework Policy:
“It is quite possible that such models would eradicate the need for homework.” Why? Because homework, which serves to repeat exposure to content would not be necessary if the student is being re-exposed to the content in the school day.
The Brain Rules Grade Level Standards Changes:
“Today, students are expected to know certain things by certain grades. Curiously absent from this model is how durable that learning remains after the student completes the grade. Given that system consolidation can take years, might the ideas of grade-level expectations need amending? Perhaps learning in the long view should be thought of the same way one thinks of immune booster shots, with critical pieces of information being repeated on a yearly or semi-yearly basis.”
This is one are that John seems to me, to be off the mark in his assessment of education. In my experiences, critical ideas are re-visited through the grade levels in elementary school. Possibly junior and high schools need more re-visiting of important concepts.
Catalytic Questions:
Could you rearrange your school’s schedule to accommodate the Brain Rules school schedule idea?
Who would resist it? Who could assist you with it? Who would support it?
Do the Brain Rules ideas remind you of anything that you could draw on to adapt these ideas? Could you adapt part of these ideas?
In what ways could you modify these ideas to work for your classroom or school?
If you looked at the end result of these ideas, could you work backwards to develop a plan that would enable these goals to be reached in a manner suitable for your school?
In what ways are you already doing things that could be modified or adapted to the Brain Rules ideas?
What further information do you need to make these ideas a reality?
Based on the Brain Rules ideas, what activities are you currently doing that you should stop doing?
Are you mentally criticizing these ideas without giving them a chance to be thought through or explored?
Could one of these ideas serve as inspiration for something you are dissatisfied with?
Is there a role for technology in these ideas? If so, how might that look at your school?
Recommended Reading:
Tips and Techniques for Memory Enhancement
Learning About Swimming Takes Place Best At A Pool: Brain Rules Part 8
The Golden Moment of Learning: Brain Rules Part 7
Great Teaching and Presentation with the Brain Rules Lesson Plan: Brain Rules Part 6
Are You Paying Attention? -- Brain Rules Part 5
Theory of Mind-- Brain Rules Part 4
Billions of Inetelligences? --Brain Rules Part 3
Student and Teacher Relationships: Brain Rules Part 2
Increase Test Scores with Exercise:Brain Rules Part 1
Recent Comments