Holding Information in Mind

Important interfaces exist between the process of understanding and a student’s memory functions. That is, understanding is more effective when you remember and remembering is more effective when you understand.

Students need to be made aware of the interactions between memory and understanding, as well as the important differences. For example, just because students understand something when they first read it or hear about it does not mean that they will remember the information later. Likewise, it is clearly possible to remember something without understanding it. In fact, students may not actively process information they understand because of the misconception that understanding equals remembering.

However, the functions of memory also have a facilitative role in understanding. This has implications for instruction and management. Moreover, memory functions have a strong developmental component. Younger students tend to rely on rehearsal strategies to recall information, whereas older students tend to make rich semantic relationships among “to be remembered” information as an aid for recall.

Students who do not develop these tactics on their own can be taught to use more sophisticated strategies to facilitate memory. This chart describes some of the important skills related to holding information in mind.