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Sensory memory allows us to remember tastes, smells, touches, sounds, and sights we have experienced (Ohwovoriole, 2023). Because we are constantly taking in information from our senses, sensory memory typically holds information for a short amount of time. It is important educators are aware of sensory memory, what it is, and how they can implement practices in the classroom to support sensory memory. When a sensory experience keeps happening, the brain starts to attach other memories to it (Ohwovoriole, 2023). This sensory experience stops living in the sensory memory and might move to the short- or long-term memory (Ohwovoriole, 2023). In an educational setting, teachers could have sensory related things for children to hold or interact with while learning so they will better remember the information and potentially begin to store information they learn in their long-term memory.

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Photographs help us maintain memory storage through connections.

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Memory is the brain's ability to recall information and experiences. Memory allows us to remember things we have gone through, skills we have learned, and everyday routines. Having the ability to remember experiences we have gone through individually and shared with others is the most special part about memory. Memory establishes the foundation for our learning as we can build off of it to learn new things.

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Short-term memory is also sometimes referred to as working memory, and it is the part of the brain that includes all the early steps of temporary memory that will lead to stable long-term memory (Sousa, 2022). Information in the short-term memory is only stored there for a short amount of time while the working memory is the structures and conscious processes used in the moment while doing something (Sousa, 2022). The working memory is working most when a person is doing something that requires steps or parts to be remembered in the moment, and short-term memory stores information for a short time and then moves or forgets it. Working memory and short-term memory go hand in hand with one another. One example of short-term memory is remembering what happened moments ago in a movie and an example of working memory would be a number you calculated as part of a mental math problem, but they both include information that is only stored for a short amount of time, only for the time the information is needed (Psychology Today, 2024). Having an understanding of short term/working memory is important for educators to know so they can apply teaching practices to best support student's learning. To better have information stick, implementing activities that are hands on may help support the short term and working memory to store information longer, and be able to remember it when they are experiencing the hands-on activity again.

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Long-term memory refers to the transfer of information from short-term memory into long-term memory in order to create stable memories. Long-term memory has unlimited storage and is categorized into two parts, declarative and non-declarative. There is high importance of long-term memory as it helps us to recall major events and experiences we have had in our lives (Cherry, 2023). Long-term memory is needed when we need to access skills or behaviors that we have learned already that may need to contribute to survival (Cherry, 2023).

It is helpful for educators to be aware of long term memory and its importance so they can implement teaching practices, strategies, and activities that will help support student's brain and memory development.

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What Happens in the Brain When Memories are Established?

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What Happens in the Brain When Memories are Established?

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Memories play such huge part in our brain development and learning, but how does the brain establish these memories? Information is received via the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that is crucial for the formation of new memories (Humphrey, 2015). When information is received by the hippocampus, the hippocampus receives and links all the relevant information together and then encodes it into a new memory which forms a new synapse (Humphrey, 2015). The hippocampus sorts through the information based on its importance and relevancy. Important things are stored more readily and effectively than the more routine things that we do. The hippocampus prioritizes daily routines and repetitions and typically will store them in the short-term memory (Humphrey, 2015). It is the hippocampus job to find a storage place for the information we receive and memories we make. Memories are stored all throughout the brain and not just in a few specific areas. When there are similar memories, they tend to clump together in the area that they apply to. For example, visual memories all are stored near the visual cortex. When memories are activated in our brain it strengthens the memories and our memories are constantly being updated and tweaked (Humphrey, 2015).

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Trauma can have many effects on all the types of memory in the brain. Research has shown that people who have gone through trauma have a smaller and less active hippocampus which can cause issues around memory and problem-solving (Lebow, 2021). Trauma has shown to prevent information, including words, images, and sounds, to be able to combine to make a sematic memory (nicabm, 2017). Episodic memory can be affected by trauma by being shut down completely and break up the sequence of events into pieces (nicabm, 2017).

Trauma can also affect the memory’s functionality and structure. Memories that are gained under specific emotional or physical conditions can become suppressed if it was a traumatic experience. These types of memories typically remain inaccessible until something triggers the trauma again (Harbor Mental Health, 2023). Memory loss can sometimes act as a defense mechanism to protect from recalling the traumatic experiences which causes the person to relive it again (Harbor Mental Health, 2023). Our brain will block these memories out like they never existed because it takes us to such a horrific state to relive the experience over and over.

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Retention is an important process that the brain uses to keep information that it learns. It is the process in which long term memory saves information it has learned in a way that it can be located, identified, and retrieved at a later time (Sousa, 2022). For retention to occur, the learner must give conscious attention and the information needs to be information that builds conceptual frameworks that are meaningful for the learner (Sousa, 2022). It is important that educators understand retention and what can affect a student's retention rate in their learning. One example is if a student does not feel comfortable in a classroom and is not interested in the content they are being taught, they are most likely not going to retain the information. If the student feels comfortable in their learning environment, and they are interested in the content being taught, they are more likely to retain the information.

A learner’s ability to retain information depends on multiple factors including amount of time spent learning the information, degree of interest in content, the way the information is taught, even the type of teaching method used. There are certain teaching methods that show more success in retention of learning than others. The various teaching methods include lecture/direct, visual and verbal, hands on/practice, practice and teaching others, and no one teaching. It is important that an educator is aware of the different teaching methods so a balance and use of all of them can be implemented in their teaching. Every student is unique, and it is important that a variety of teaching methods is used so every student is getting the type of instruction that works best for their learning and they will more likely retain what they learn.

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It is helpful for teachers and educators, even trainers to be aware of and understand the different types of memory. Teachers should also know how to include and support the different types of memory in their teaching and instruction. Professionals should know of the different memory types, when and how to use them, and how to instruct students in a way that they can move new information they are learning over to long-term memory (DiTullio, 2021). There are a variety of strategies that can be used to support teachers with the different types of memory. Some of the strategies include interleaved practice, applying research on memory, activating background knowledge, use of retrieval practice, and contextualizing learning.

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Interleaved practice is when teachers help support students in making connections. When teachers implement interleaved practice, they help students make connections to various topics while they are learning (DiTullio, 2021). An example of this is if a student is learning about a particular event in history, and a teacher connects it to something else that was going on at that same time that was impacted, it will allow the student to make stronger connections. Interleaved practice helps to improve students’ retention of new information, leading to faster acquisition of information (DiTullio, 2021).

Teachers who understand and use foundational research on memory in their teaching can improve students’ learning by allowing them to move new learning from working memory to long-term memory. When this happens, the working memory is not being over worked and bombarded, so it is able to move information to long term memory and tackle new incoming information with a fresh mind that has room to process new learning. From this happening, students may then become to feel more confident, proud, and smarter which leads to them being more willing to stick with difficult concepts and problems and be able to gain a deeper understanding of the content (DiTullio, 2021). When students are confident and engaged, teachers then are more confident, energized, and motivated to teach their students.

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First part of long-term memory is declarative memory. This is where the brain stores information that includes remembering of facts, names, music, and things such as where you have worked, or animals you have owned. The declarative memory is the part of the memory that strongly connects to experiences and emotions that have stayed stored in our brain. The most common form of the declarative memory is a conscious and effortless recall of information and experiences (Sousa, 2022). The declarative memory includes two parts within it which are episodic and sematic memory.

Episodic memory is the part that includes conscious memory of events in our personal life experiences such as milestone birthdays, obtaining injuries, or what we ate for dinner last night (Sousa, 2022). Episodic memory is the memory of remembering, it provides us with the time and place that an experience occurred that made us who we are today (Sousa, 2022).

Sematic memory is the memory of knowing, including the knowledge of facts and data that necessarily is not related to any event (Sousa, 2022). An example of a sematic memory would be knowing who the sixteenth president was, or the Capital of Nebraska, when you know information but do not have an experience connected to it.

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Long-term, non-declarative memory is made up of all memories that are mostly unconscious memories, mostly including procedural memory. Procedural memory includes memories of movements including how to walk, ride a bike, or use a cell phone (Cherry, 2023). The non-declarative memory holds memories that can be used for things but cannot always be explained in a straightforward manner, these memories do not require the intentional recall of experiences like declarative memories (Sousa, 2022). It is the memory that comes natural to us, instinctual. The non-declarative is made up of four different categories of memories including procedural, perceptual, classical conditioning, and non-associative learning. All of these categories play a big role in composing the whole of the non-declarative memory and allow us to naturally remember the things we know how to do.

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Cherry, K. (2023, February 28). How does your long-term memory work?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-long-term-memory-2795347

DiTullio, G. (2021, September 9). How to engage students’ memory processes to improve learning. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-engage-students-memory-processes-improve-learning/

Harbor Mental Health. (2023, February 17). Does Trauma Cause Memory Loss?. Harbor Psychiatry and Mental Health. https://harbormentalhealth.com/2023/02/17/does-trauma-cause-memory-loss/

Humphrey, L. (2015, September 16). What happens in Your brain when you make a memory?. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/16/what-happens-in-your-brain-when-you-make-a-memory

Lebow, H. I. (2021, July 2). How does PTSD affect the brain? the physical effects of trauma. Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/ptsd/the-science-behind-ptsd-symptoms-how-trauma-changes-the-brain#next-steps

nicabm. (2017). How Trauma Impact Four Types of Memory. naddac. https://www.naadac.org/assets/2416/2019NWRC_Michael_Bricker_Handout4.pdf

Ohwovoriole, T. (2023, March 14). Different Types of Memories. VeryWellMind. https://www.verywellmind.com/different-types-of-memory-and-their-functions-5194859#:~:text=Memory%20is%20the%20ability%20to,%2C%20and%20long%2Dterm%20memory.

Psychology Today. (2024). Types of memory. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/memory/types-memory#short-term-memory-and-working-memory

Sousa, D. A. (2022). How the brain learns (Sixth). Corwin, a Sage Publishing Company.

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Transfer is another important process that the brain has. It is the process that allows the brain the ability to learn in one situation and then apply what was learned in a different situation (Sousa, 2022). The transfer process is the foundation of higher mental processes such as problem solving and creative thinking. Transfer is made up of a two-part process transfer during learning and transfer of learning. Transfer during learning is the effect that past learning has on the processing and gaining of new learning (Sousa, 2022). Transfer of learning is the degree to which the person applies the new learning to future situations (Sousa, 2022). When the brain learns new information, it searches in long-term storage sites for any information that has been learned in the past that relates to the new information. If similar information is found then the memory networks are activated, and the memories associated with the new information are reconsolidated in working memory (Sousa, 2022).

It is important for educators to know the role of transfer in student’s learning. The more connections that learners can make between past information and new learning, the more likely they are to make connections and find a sense of meaning, which then leads them to retain the new learning (Sousa, 2022). Teachers can apply connections to continue within the curriculum areas and activities. This will help students to establish a framework of associative networks that can be referred to for future problem solving (Sousa, 2022). Educators can enhance successful transfer of new learning by supporting and using an integrated curriculum that includes thematic units that can be built upon.

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Another strategy to support brain and memory development is activating background knowledge. Background knowledge plays a crucial role in learning. A student may already have neural pathways in the brain for new information to connect to and strengthen, and if these pathways are not activated, the student is going to struggle with making connections and retaining information. To activate these pathways in student’s brains, before teaching a new skill, teachers should use concept mapping, word webs, KWL charts, think/pair/share activities, and even videos to help activate previous knowledge and enhance the learning of new information (DiTullio, 2021).

Let’s say a student does not have background knowledge to activate and has never learned the information before. If this is the case then educators can use strategies such as flash cards, writing down a daily summary of learning, or stating three main points and their importance from the lesson being taught (DiTullio, 2021). Teachers must keep in mind that if a student doesn’t have background knowledge of certain concepts being taught, they need to implement practices to start the foundation of that learning of that concept. This is when repetition and check ins will be helpful to see where a student is at in understanding the information being taught to them.

Contextualizing learning makes learning relevant and interactive. Educators can support contextualized learning by mixing up the way information is taught and delivered to students. If a teacher is teaching a lesson only by lecturing to the students, a lot of the information will not stay in the student’s memory. Instead of a teacher lecturing for an hour, teachers can break the lecture into parts, having students listen to lecture for only 10 minutes at a time and then applying other strategies such as turn and talk to a partner, have students do a demonstration, have a hands on activity, summarize or draw a picture that encompasses the main learning points, or using concept mapping throughout the lesson will help students retain more of the new learning (DiTullio, 2021).