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Human Memory and Knowledge Construction: Increases in Student Learning

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Human Memory and Knowledge Construction: Increases in Student Learning
Human Memory and Knowledge Construction: Increases in Student Learning

It is essential to help students effectively store and retrieve information from their long-term memory. Human memory is related to the way information is received, interpreted, stored, and retrieved. In short, information is brought into the sensory register. The stimulus then moves into the working memory and is then stored in the long-term memory. An understanding of Piaget’s theory of knowledge construction helps teachers to guide meaningful lessons and conversations that maximize student learning. It is therefore crucial that teachers understand human memory and learning as well as strategies to enhance these aspects in the classroom to support student learning. An understanding of memory is essential for teaching students.
Memory is the process of storing and retrieving information and behaviors. Human memory has several components that are essential for effective storage and retrieval. Storage is the process of taking what was presented and placing it in a location in the brain’s storage space for later retrieval. Retrieval is the process of recalling the information that was previously stored. One way to think about this part of memory is to think of the brain like a file system. Although it is not entirely accurate, this analogy works to describe parts of the storage and retrieval process. In this way, the brain is like a filing cabinet. There are files for many concepts and the information is stored according to these files. This is a person’s schema; Schema is an organized set of information about a topic. For example, a person could have a schema for beaches. This schema would contain information such as white sand, the sound of seagulls, and tide pools. If this was a file system, there would be a file labeled beaches, and inside of that file would be information, pictures, and memorabilia related to beaches. One way that human memory is different from a filing system is that



References: Ormrod, J. (2012). Learning, cognition, and memory. In Essentials of educational psychology: big ideas to guide effective teaching (3rd ed., pp. 16-55). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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