Memory and Attention in Children
by: Debbie Cluff
What is the relationship between Memory and Attention in the classroom? As a teacher, it is important to maintain the child’s attention, but does memory have a co-existence in this field? Attention is seen as being important because, “we do not pay close attention to much of the information to which we are exposed, typically only scant mental processing takes place, and we forget new material almost immediately”. If attention is important in retaining our memory, it is important to understand what our memory does and how teachers should understand these patterns and processing levels which determine a child’s thought. One might suggest, “The best way to remember new information is to consider it thoroughly when you are first exposed to it-reflecting on how it relates to information that you currently know” (Feldman, 2000). A teacher needs to learn how to keep the child’s attention in the daily lesson plans and focus on maintaining the child’s long-term memory.
Memory is defined as, “the process why which we encode, store, and retrieve information” (Fogel, 1991). This means that our students have to process 3 steps in order to remember the information taught in class. The teacher is in need of understanding these steps in order to incorporate memory into their lesson plans. The three main concepts of memory, also referred to as the memory storage systems, are Sensory Memory, first thoughts lasting an instant, Short-Term Memory, information held between fifteen to twenty seconds, and Long-Term Memory, permanent memory (Feldman, 2003). Understanding these three different systems can help a student move the information taught in class from their sensory memory to there long term memory. In order for this to happen a teacher must move the information provided through all three different systems before a students can retain the information to the fullest.
Typically in a classroom, material is presented and the information is remembered or not remembered. Most teachers have not found out the “secret” to placing information in their students minds without having them forget it before lunch time. If looked back upon personal classroom experience, one can easily remember a few specific lessons their teachers provided. For example, in 5th grade Ms. Ferrell had the class learn about the world by putting the students in news groups. Each student was to report on a specific topic and they were then video taped. How is this remembered? This project kept the students attention long enough to place this memory in the long-term system. This is how teachers need to incorporate the lessons that are most important to the learning system. “Therefore, it enters memory at a deeper level- and is less pat to be forgotten than information processed at shallower levels” (Feldman, 2000).The lessons need to be interesting and captivate the child’s attention long enough to provide a specific memory of that lesson plan. “At the deepest level of processing, information is analyzed in terms of its meaning” (Feldman, 2000). This is every teacher’s dream, the key of processesing and remembering in our students.
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Memory and Attention in Children
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About The Author
Debbie Cluff is the founder and owner of Links for Learning, www.links-for-learning.com. Links for Learning is the online tutoring and instant homework help site for students in Reading, Writing, and Math. Debbie is the mother of 2, with one on the way, and has been married for 5 years. She has her BA in Liberal Studies, her Master's in Education, and is currently in the 1st grade classroom. She can be reached at debbie@links-for-learning.com.
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