Wednesday, March 23, 2011

WORLD OF LEARNING: WORKING MEMORY

"Brain Has Three Layers of Working Memory, Study Shows" ScienceDaily 3-21-11

Working memory really interests me. No matter the number of layers, or amount of items that can be held, it seems clear to Daniel Willingham in Why Don't Students Like School? that working memory's space is not only finite, it's extremely limited. You can cheat that by squeezing more into each item--chunking--or by quick and easy access to patterns in long-term memory--automaticity.

The lead author of this particular study put it this way: "Predictability can free up resources so a person can effectively multitask. When you do the same sequence over and over again, your memory can be partially automatized so you have the ability to do another task concurrently."

Two parents have recommended Milton Dehn's Working Memory and Academic Learning, so I just ordered it.

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