Why did the Chickenman cross the road?

Recently my year 8 students (just 12 years old) have been learning about lots of different memory techniques and how to practice them in other subjects. They have been trying out memory techniques that they may have used before or know such as mnemonics, raps, rhymes, SPECS, mindmaps, etc we even learned how to use Derren Brown’s memory peg system. They were learning about this to really begin to understand that there are ways to improve memory.

They all appreciate learning about this as they have been discussing why it is important to learn. The following reasons are what they came up with:

• In school examinations and, more importantly in life, a good memory is a predictor of success.
• If we know more about memory we can improve our recall and learn more effectively.
• If we can learn these memory techniques we can use them in all our other subjects.

 As part of the final session I asked them to explain to others about memory techniques. Some did posters, powerpoints or role play’s it was completely their choice. I recorded the sound on one of the role plays see below:

 These students can see the importance of learning these skills yet some teachers don’t. Do you allow students to develop and learn skills as part of your specific subject based curriculum or do you do it in other ways?

http://drop.io/saltashmemory