Monthly Archives: July 2019

In the first post of the series, we looked at the definition of working memory. Simply put, it allows brains to SHREK.

That is:

Select, Hold, REorganize, Kombine

This post considers three core ideas that we need to remember about WM.

1: Working Memory is CRUCIAL to Learning

“No academic information gets into long-term memory except through working memory.”

Simply put, students have to use WM to learn almost anything.

When students try to balance chemistry equations, they use WM.

When they sound out new words: WM.

When they compare Inca and Maya religions: WM.

When they transpose a song into a new key: yup, WM.

It is, in fact, hard to think of much that students do with low WM demands. For instance, when they sing “Happy Birthday,” that’s not much of a working memory task. After all, “Happy Birthday” is in almost everyone’s long-term memory.

Of course, if you’ve forgotten the name of the person whose birthday it is, you might feel your WM scramble when you sing: “Happy Birthday dear Hmm-Hmm, Happy Birthday to you.”

2: Working Memory is LIMITED

In the first post in this series, I asked you to alphabetize five days of the week. You could probably do that quite easily.

If, however, I asked you to alphabetize 10 months of the year, you would — almost certainly — crash before you got there. (Go ahead, try it. See what I mean?)

We have enough WM for five, but not enough for ten.

People experience WM overload frequently. For instance:

driving to an unfamiliar location requires lots of WM.

Exploring a new program on your computer.

Following a multi-step recipe.

Solving the problem in this video.

Let’s pause for a moment and put #1 and #2 together. Working memory is both CRUCIAL and LIMITED. That’s a very bad combination. (If you have a wry sense of humor, you might say it sounds like your school’s budget.)

So, let’s ask a vital question: how can we increase this vital cognitive resource?

3a: Good News about INCREASING Working Memory

We don’t have to do anything special. Working memory gets bigger as students get older.

In this way, WM is a  bit like height. As long as we’re treating students (and their bodies) well, they get taller. As long as we’re treating students (and their brains) well, working memory gets bigger.

The details here get technical — after all, we have several different ways we can measure WM. But, you can be confident that your 4th graders have more WM than they did when they were in 2nd grade. And, the 6th graders have more WM still.

This growth levels off in our early 20s. Alas, WM probably begins to decline (very slowly) soon after. But, don’t worry. All the extra information you have in your long-term memory makes up for the very modest decrements in your WM.

3B: Bad News about INCREASING Working Memory

We can’t.

Better said: we can’t artificially increase WM, beyond the natural increase that comes with growth and schooling.

Better said: we can’t YET do that.

LOTS of thoughtful people are working very hard on this problem, and have had some intriguing wins.

But, as of this post, we don’t have broad data suggesting that we can train up students’ WM with specially designed computer games, or exercises, or special diet, or whatever.

To be clear: this is a controversial field, and very accomplished people have devoted years of work to it. I hope — at some point — that this breakthrough does happen.

1+2+3a+3b = ?

We know

#1: that working memory is CRUCIAL in classrooms.

#2: that it’s LIMITED.

#3a & #3b: that we CAN’T artificially make it bigger.

Put those three conclusions together, and you arrive at this conclusion:

Teachers have to work effectively WITHIN THE WM CAPACITY THAT OUR STUDENTS HAVE.

In fact, we should be EXPERTS at working effectively within their WM capacity.

Every time we go beyond their limited capacity, they experience WM overload.

And, when students experience WM overload, they stop learning. This is why I’m OBSESSED with WM.

How do we do that? How can we work effectively WITHIN their working memory capacity?

The next several posts will cover this essential topic.

When I attended my first Learning and the Brain conference, I had never even heard of working memory.

Now, I obsess over working memory. And, I think all classroom teachers should join me.

Heck, I think everyone who cares about learning, curriculum, teacher training, and education should think about working memory. All. The. Time.

In this series of posts, I’ll start by defining working memory (WM) today. And in succeeding posts, I’ll talk about using that knowledge most helpfully.

Trust me: the more we think about WM, the more our students learn.

Working Memory: An Example

As an example of WM in action, I’m going to give you a list of 5 words. Please put those words in alphabetical order. IN YOUR HEAD. (That’s right: don’t write anything down…)

Okay, here’s the list:

Think of the five workdays of the week. (Hint: if you live in a Western society, the first one is ‘Monday.’)

Now, go ahead and put those five words into alphabetical order. Don’t peek. I’ll wait…

 

Probably you came up with this list:

Friday, Monday, Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday

I do this exercise with teachers often. For most everyone, that’s fairly simple to do. I’m guessing you got it right quite easily.

Working Memory: A Definition

To succeed at that task, you undertook four mental processes.

First, you selected relevant information. Specifically, you selected the instructions that you read. And, you looked into your long-term memory to select the workdays of the week.

Next, you held that information. If you had let go of the instructions, or of the days of the week, you couldn’t have completed the task.

Third, you reorganized the days of the week according to the instructions. You started with a chronological list (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…), and converted it into an alphabetical lest (Friday, Monday, Thursday…).

In many WM tasks (but not this one), you might not only reorganize, but also combine information. If, for instance, you added up 7+12+4+18+6 in your head, you selected, held, and combined those numbers into a new number.

So:

Working memory is a limited, short-term memory capacity that selects, holds, reorganizes, and combines information from multiple sources.

In a later post, I’ll talk about some finer points in the definition of WM. For the time being, focus on those four verbs: select, hold, reorganize, combine.

Working Memory: An Acronym

Because WM is so important, it would be great if there were a handy acronym. Happily, there is!

Select

Hold

REorganize

Kombine

What does that get you? SHREK! (I know: I misspelled ‘combine.’ But: I lived in Prague for a year, so you can forgive me for that useful alteration.)

Working Memory in the Classroom

Now, ask yourself: which of these classroom tasks requires working memory?

That is: in which of these cases do your students have to select, hold, reorganize, and/or combine information?

Solving a word problem.

Comparing W.E.B. du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

Transposing a song into a new key.

Applying a new phonics rule to various combinations of letters.

Choreographing a dance routine.

The correct answer is: ALL OF THEM.

In fact, practically everything we do in school classrooms requires working memory. Often, it requires A LOT of working memory.

To Sum Up

We use WM to select, hold, reorganize, and combine (SHREK) information.

Students use WM constantly in classrooms, for practically everything they do.

Simply put: no academic information gets into long-term memory except through working memory. It’s that important.

Up next: we’ll highlight key facts about WM. Then we’ll talk about using that knowledge in your teaching.

If you’d like some homework, here it is:

Ask yourself: what work that students do in your own classroom requires working memory? Try to be specific: what are they selecting? What are they holding? And so forth…

Also ask yourself: what work does not require WM?