HOW MEMORY WORKS

You may find the following results from this test:

More people remember

1. the words at the end of the test;

2. the words at the beginning;

3. George W. Bush and Sex;

4. democracy;

5. agriculture, crops, plants, soil, animals.

Can you suggest any reason for these results?

In any activity or lesson people often remember best:

1. What comes at the beginning and end. People are more alert at the beginning and the end is more recent when they try to remember. People often lose attention in the middle.

2. People who are in the news, such as George W. Bush or things that are interesting to them like sex.

3. Things which are repeated e.g. democracy.

4. Things which fit together and have meaning e.g. agriculture, crops, plants, soil, animals.

IN OUR TEACHING

• The beginning and ends of our lessons are very important:

• have a good introduction;

• have a conclusion which summarises the main points of the topic.

• Don’t just stop because you run out of time.

• Try to introduce some interesting or surprising things into your lesson to keep people awake. You may deliberately use such points even if they are not essential ideas within your topic, as long as you don’t go off the point completely.

• Repeat important ideas, information and skills frequently.

• Make sure your lesson is meaningful.