Forgetting Helps You Remember
What! Forgetting Helps You Remember?!
Would you be surprised if I told you that forgetting information at times can actually be a good thing? If you allow a little decay on your brain, which essentially acts as a resting bicep muscle, it actually makes the muscles in your brain become stronger. Let me put it into more simple or relateable terms. Are you someone or do you know someone that goes to the gym? If so, you probably know that you are not supposed to exercise one section of your body, or one muscle for multiple days in a row. Instead, you know that you should take a few days in between working out that same muscle again. Your brain works the same way.
Studying a new concept right after you learn it doesn’t deepen the memory; studying an hour later, or a day later does. Forgetting actually acts as a filter for competing facts. Subsequent practice helps to deepen the learning of new material.
What’s The Fluency Illusion?
The fluency illusion is when you study too soon so the information is in your short term memory and you think you know the information but you actually do not because it has not yet made it into your long term memory storage. For the full effect of storage and retrieval, the fluency of information is needed. In order for this information to be accessible in the moment at any time, the fluency of the information must be built up to make new words readily available to the mind.
So what happens if we do not get the information into our long term memory storage? German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus explains this through his theory of the forgetting curve. The forgetting curve explains how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it. As seen in the chart below, the curve shows how we slowly forget information over time if there is no attempt to retain it.
Classroom Application:
When you finish a unit for the year, don’t just completely forget about it. As the year goes on, remember to occasionally go back and review your old units with your students. This will re-exercise the brain muscle and help to create a longer retention of the information for both you and your students.
For More Information Look Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCsQHe-NpaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4XhBydNYSw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rJZAfSpEgM
Whoa. I had no idea about this! I will definitely review units of study afterwards to help my students learn the concepts better. I love your gym analogy...it makes so much sense. Thank you for pushing my thinking deeper!
ReplyDeleteI definitely have learned about this before! I took a class not this freshman year, so it was nice to read your blog post because it brought back some information I forgot about. I liked how you added the last part about classroom application because I clearly remember in grade school this was one of the main things they didn't apply. They often times would teach a subject and then move on and never return on that subject so all the information learned was often forgotten. I also really liked how you added hyperlinks for people to gain more access on information if they wanted. Nice post!
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