Some tips to remember material

Unfortunately, you are right. If we get an illness, that is bad. For that we have to train our brain so when the disease will come, our brain will be strong with many connections, many memory backup plans and we will still be able to function for a longer period. For that issue, it is recommended to play chess, read book, activate our brain on logical problems. What do you think ?

Doing will help for understanding in the highest level. understanding things in the highest level doesn't require much to remember, you can get to the solution yourself. I sometimes think on memory as the last solution because it doesn't mean the person understand how things work. If he uses the material, it is better for the understanding and he will know how to solve things even if he doesn't remember the solution. Repeating the actions will also help to remember intuitively what to do every stage. The screens will remind what to do. I like you comment. I will consider making papers with questions so they will think some more.

Dear StLouisMetroTutoring, first of all, thank you so much for sharing the practical experience you have. You give here material learned in university courses and I even learn one class like that called "tools for success in studies" You actually gave us here a short but exact lesson that teaches the whole course. I can tell about your 5th paragraph 5 that, it reminds me an Alice in Wonderland episode when there was the forest of forgetfulness: Alice had to enter the forest to do something and look for someone and she told the cards to go into the forest and do it. She told them a tip to remember what they need : she told them to repeat the sentence all the time about what to do. When the cards came back from the forest, they were still repeating the sentence but they didn't do what it said. That was so funny and it happens in real life too. People can memorize facts but, don't use them or understand why they even remember them. In general, when we learn something, the more questions we can answer about it, the more we understand the material. Some are simple dry facts questions, some are questions that involve analogies to other things in life, some are the integration questions (those kind of questions we see on the tests, Those require to use a lot of the material and analogies and practices from it to get to the answer). And some more kinds that I don't remember.

Exactly! So if the students understand the material, they don't really have to memorize anything. When they see a question about it, they can just discuss it or use what they know. I think this is why the upper levels of learning are so important. The lowest level, knowledge, unfortunately, is what is tested the most. This is simple recall. Memory. Just repeat back what you learned. Absolutely no understanding ever needed to happen. But when we start analyzing and evaluating and synthesizing, there has to be a basic understanding first. Then all of the additional work we do adds to the understanding. By the time we're through, we understand the information so well, we're long past rote memorization. If multiple levels of learning are used, the student should be able to use the material to create something new. Creation is actually considered part of Synthesis, but I usually see it as a goal (or level) unto itself. I just wrote on another discussion about the methods I use for remembering different things. The example I use is when I need to go to the store and remember 5 or 6 things. If I use several of these upper levels of learning, I can easily remember them and don't ever need to write anything. I use synthesis when I write the list according to where they would be found in the store. I use analysis when I count the number of items on the list. Then I write the first letter of every word. This is probably way back at the knowledge level. This just helps me prepare for the next step. Then I create something new. I use the first letters of each item, in order if possible, to create a word or if a word isn't possible, I keep them in order and create a silly sentence. Using this method, I've never forgotten anything on the list. In fact, I still remember the 6 items from the list I used in the discussion yesterday. My silly sentence was Have Early Morning and Colorful Day. My items were a pound of hamburger, a dozen eggs, a quart of milk, a bottle of aspirin, a container of cotton swabs, and a bag of dog food. We can use this in the classroom if we prepare. Using the higher levels doesn't have to take lots and lots of time. Preparing this list, doing three different higher level activities, took me all of about 10 minutes. While repeating items over and over will certainly help, it's not nearly as effective as working with the information. Repeating information is probably on the upper levels of knowledge. You don't have to understand it to get it. You're just recalling the knowledge repeatedly. But the simple task of repeating it, helps it stay in your memory longer. But if you use that knowledge somehow, transform it into something new, or analyze it, or combine it with something else it is remembered much better. This is why the mini quizzes work so well. I don't ask questions that are word for word out of the book. It requires thought to answer the questions and it requires working with the information to answer the questions. Something else I do with my beginning students is help them use the computer, using the tasks we learn in class, to accomplish things they want to do. If it's something they want to do, they're more apt to repeat it. Making them more apt to remember it. For example, one of the things we learn about is how to use the Internet to search. So we search for information that is of interest to them. Sometimes we search for the names of football coaches (I've got a lot of men in my classes). Or we search for the history of our town. Or we find information about the computer. If there are interests in the class I know about, I use them to gain their interest in what we're doing. When I teach them about Word, we create resumes. Many of my students are young and haven't entered the work force yet. This is a great way for them to use Word templates. Once their curiosity is piqued and they see the direct relation to their lives, they do it on their own time. They don't need me hovering over them to continue to do it. I find these are the skills they know best at the end of the class.

We tend to remember the beginning and the end of things. Like movies, stories, material to learn... So if you have small amounts of information everyday, you have a high chance to remember them because the beginning and the end make the most part of the facts. Of course, practice and understanding help a lot to memorize things. I just started to teach another old man about how to use computers and if he practice twice a week, it's not enough. He almost forgets everything like how to start the power point, where to copy the photos from and how to get back to the gallery... I will have to guide him in private a lot of extra time.