Semantic/Declarative Memory
Declarative memory is the "what." It's words, symbols, facts, lists, definitions, figures, etc. Another term commonly used is declarative learning. It's all the stuff you can talk about, write about, and explain to others. This is the information kids need to learn, remember, and recall to achieve learning goals and experience success in most classrooms.
I've learned...
- Working memory for this type of learning has a small capacity. Too much direct instruction without time to process ensures that some of the information will be lost or overwritten.
- Semantic memory has the weakest retrieval system, yet it is what most teachers focus on most. This type of declarative learning is usually what's on "the test."
- Sometimes information becomes inaccessible or lost because the original learning was trivial, too complicated or seemed irrelevant to the student.
- New information is only stored for about 20 seconds unless it is rehearsed or reviewed.
- The key to storing this type of memory for later retrieval is varied multi-sensory rehearsal and repetition. Over time, stronger synapses are formed with more dendritic branching, and the information becomes wired in the brain.
- Attention is critical in review and rehearsal. If kids are bored with our teaching methods, it is safe to say their brains are not paying attention, and the likelihood of them remembering the content is slim.
- Review, rehearsal, and practice create stronger, faster networks by building a fatty layer of myelin along the well-used pathways. This process is called myelination.
- With myelination, the neurons can transmit information more smoothly and efficiently, making learning more accessible when needed. Many have likened this to the difference between traveling an old bumpy dirt road with potholes and rocks to traveling a superhighway.
- Deciding how you will reinforce learning goals after 1 hour, after 24 hours and after 7 days is an important planning consideration. If students only get one instructional hit, the information will likely be lost.
- It is much more challenging to memorize facts than it is to remember an experience. It is especially difficult when there is no existing neural network for the new "stuff" to plug into or connect with. Therefore creating an experience to activate existing neural networks before introducing something new will result in better learning.
- Pairing semantic knowledge with location, movement, and emotion will create stronger pathways to memory.
Given the time available, what exactly do I want students to be able to do, know, and understand?
How can time be best organized so that what students learn has permanence?
How can time be best organized so that what students learn has permanence?