Abstract:

Recent developments in technology have allowed neuroscientists to observe the activities in various parts of the human brain when processing information—both that which is newly received and that which is recalled from an earlier experience. Combined with what is already known about brain development and the manifestations of memory in the spheres of psychology, cognition, and behavioral science, this relatively new understanding about memory and information processing has important implications for educators.
What are those implications? Specifically, the pressing questions include the following:
• Since the best kept memories are those that are accompanied by the unexpected—either something unexpectedly good (a surprise birthday party) or unexpectedly bad (being assaulted or witnessing a murder)—how can educators use “tricks” of memory-processing to help students maintain the knowledge they gain throughout the semester?
• Because memory is a recycling process—that is, information is not only remembered when recalling a memory, but also reprocessed and reshaped—how can educators employ the axiom that a good lecture “tells the students what is going to be said; says it; then tells them what was just said” to help students permanently recall and recycle the lessons of the class—for not only in-class work but for future intellectual pursuits?
• Given that human brain development is incomplete even when students are in their undergraduate years (research suggests that the frontal lobe is still forming even into the 20s), should this guide an educator’s approach to teaching in terms of methods or subject matter?
This article offers background information on what is known about brain functioning and its practical application—that is, not the neuroscience itself, but rather the practical outgrowth of those studies, as interpreted by experts in related fields, and how the information can be implemented in the classroom.