This document discusses brain-based learning and memory. It explains that memory allows humans to remember past experiences and use them to respond to future events. There are two types of long-term memory: declarative and nondeclarative. Declarative memory involves consciously remembering facts and events, while nondeclarative memory involves procedural skills and emotions. The document also discusses how understanding memory can help teachers select strategies to improve student retention and retrieval of learned information. Effective strategies include distributed practice over time rather than cramming, and using hands-on learning and immediate application of knowledge.

1. Brain Based Learning
Memory, Retention, and Learning

2. Take a moment to think about
what you know about the brain’s
ability to remember and retain
new information. How does this
affect your classroom instruction?
What strategies do you use to
make sure students retain
information?

3. What is memory?
 Gives us a past
 Gives us a record of who we are
 Essential for human individuality
 Without it, life would be a series of meaningless
encounters that have no link to the past and no use for
the future.
 Allow individuals to remember experiences and use them
to respond to future events.

4. Two Types of Long Term Memory
Nondeclarative Declarative
• Sometimes called implicit • Also called conscious or
memory. explicit memory
• Previous experiences aid • Remembering
in the performance of a names, facts, music, and
task without conscious objects.
awareness of these
previous experiences • Conscious, intentional
recollection of previous
experiences and
information

5. 3 Types of Nondeclarative
Memory
1. Procedural- remembering how to do something
(Think of something you did this morning that required
procedural memory.)
2. Motor Skill Memory- performance of daily skills we do
without even realizing we learned them or are using
memory to do it.
(Think of something you did this morning that required
motor skill memory)
3. Emotional Memory- unconscious response can turn them
toward or away from similar learning experiences
Flashbulb memory is called by such as powerful emotional
experience that we can instantly store it in our long term
memory.

6. 2 Types of Declarative Memory
Episodic Memory Semantic Memory
• Memory of events • Knowledge of facts
in one’s own and dates not
history related to any
• Helps a person event.
identify time and
place an event
happened

7. Why is this important for
educators?
 How a learner processes new information presented in
school has a great impact on the quality of what is
learned and is a major factor in retaining information.
 Understanding memory and how it is formed can help
teachers select strategies to improve retention and
retrieval of information.

8. Learning and Retention
Learning Retention
 Involves brain, nervous
system, and  Process by which long
environment. term memory preserves
a learning so that it can
 Can learn something for locate, identify and
a few minutes and then retrieve it in the future.
lose it

9. The Retention Puzzle

10. Did You Know?
 The idea of “Practice makes Perfect” is rarely true.
 If a learner practices a skill incorrectly, unlearning and relearning the
skills is very difficult.
 Cramming for an exam is called massed practice. This is not an effective
strategy for retention. Distributed practice over time is the key to
retention.
 By forgetting something trivial, we allow room for more important and
meaningful experiences.
 We remember best what comes first, second best what comes last, and
least of what is in the middle.
 It is important to teach new information first!
 Kids are so used to quick change and novelty in their environment so it
is important to keep learning segments shorter.
 Teachers that go off task between learning segments keep the kids more
focused during learning segments.
 Kids will retain 5% of information taught in lecture but 90% if they teach
others or use the information immediately. Kids will retain 75% of the
information if they practice by doing.