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7Memory and Individualized Instruction

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Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter you will be able to:

ሁ Describe the three main types of memory. ሁ Summarize the types and characteristics of long-term memory. ሁ Analyze the theories that explain why we forget. ሁ Explain how memory can be improved. ሁ Define e-learning. ሁ Compare and contrast mastery learning and PSI. ሁ Analyze approaches to individualizing instruction.

The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests and to his imagination for his facts.

—Richard Brinsley Sheridan

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Introduction

Pretest

Determine if the following statements are true or false.

1. The capacity of sensory memory is around seven units or chunks of information. (T/F) 2. Long-term memory is generative in addition to being reproductive. (T/F) 3. Massed repetition is more effective for long-term memory than spaced repetition. (T/F) 4. False memory syndrome occurs when erroneous memories are brought about through

the suggestions of others. (T/F) 5. E-learning is used extensively in direct instruction. (T/F) 6. Most problems with ability grouping have been found in within-class groupings. (T/F)

Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Introduction We owe our awareness of self and personal identity to our memories. And no matter how much we try to share the contents of our memories with others, in the end, there is much that remains private, much for which we have no words or other symbols big enough or strong enough. But how accurate are our memories? How much can we rely on them? This chapter unlocks some of the mysteries of remembering and forgetting. It looks, too, at various ways in which instruction can be individualized and made more memorable.

“It hides in clothes closets and under beds,” said my cousin, Claude. “Really dark places. It’ll get you when you sleep mostly.”

“What . . . ?” “It’ll bite your neck and suck your blood. Or it’ll just take you away

somewhere.” “You can’t scare me,” said my older brother, Maurice. “I heard that story

before. Papooses aren’t real.” But that night when we lay in the darkness beneath the ragged green

comforter, a sudden creaking of the house’s ancient frame jolted Maurice bolt upright.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered hoarsely. “Yeah.” “It might be a papoose.” “Nah,” I answered bravely, but I couldn’t still the beating of my heart. “Go check the clothes closet.” “You go.” “You go first.” In the end, more because I was younger rather than braver, I checked the

black recesses of the corner clothes closet, sticking my hand in behind the shirts like Maurice insisted. Then I got down and peered under the bed.

From that night on, we took turns, Maurice and I, looking in the closet and under the bed. Only then could we sleep.

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

I usually sleep better now. You see, we’re grown up, Maurice and I. We’ve become totally familiar with our closets; we know there’s nothing under our beds.

But, as I discovered again last week, things can still go bump in the night: I was spending the night alone in the wilderness cabin when something startled me from my sleep in the small hours of a moonless night. I jerked upright, my heart racing. I could see nothing in the gloom inside the cabin. I strained to hear what had awakened me.

Then I heard it again, more moan than cry. Although I must have known almost at once that it was only a great horned owl, for a moment my heart lurched and a jumble of emotions and images wrapped around old childhood memories threatened to overwhelm me.

7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory These nearly forgotten childhood memories form part of long-term memory, one of the three components of the most widely used model of human memory. This model, based largely on the work of Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), makes important distinctions between sensory memory (sometimes called short-term sensory storage), short-term memory (also called working memory), and long-term memory (Figure 7.1). These distinctions are concerned mainly with the accessibility of information and the length of time during which it is available for recall as well as with the nature and extent of the processing that information undergoes.

Figure 7.1: Storage model of memory ሁ It’s important to note that these three components of memory do not refer to three different

locations in the brain or other parts of the nervous system but, rather, refer to how we classify memory storage. The goal of teaching is to bring about changes in long-term memory.

Forgotten almost

immediately

Forgotten within

moments

Recalled indefinitely

Sensory input

Short-term memory

Words, names, numbers,

sensations maintained

by rehearsal

Long-term memory

Concepts, meaning

Sensory memory

Impression or sensation

Retrieval

R e tr

ie va

Encoding

Attention

F o rg

e ttin

F o rg

e ttin

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

Sensory Memory Our sensory systems (vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell) are sensitive to an overwhelmingly wide range of stimulation. Clearly, however, they respond only to a fraction of all available stimulation at any given time. The bulk of the information available in this stimulation is never actually processed—that is, it never actually becomes part of our awareness. “Sensory memory” is the label used to describe the immediate, unconscious effects of stimulation.

Research indicates that much of the stimulation to which we aren’t actually paying attention is nevertheless available for processing for perhaps a fraction of a second. If you are engaged in a conversation with someone in a crowded room, you might seem to be totally unaware of what is being said in other conversations. But if the topic in one of these other conversations turns to something that passionately interests you (for example, you hear your own name), you suddenly become aware of what you would not otherwise have heard. This is labeled the cocktail party phenomenon (Cherry, 1953).

Short-Term Memory Sensory memory precedes attention; it’s simply the effect of a stimulus before you pay atten- tion to it. When you attend to a stimulus (in other words, become conscious of it), it passes into what is called short-term (or working) memory. Short-term memory consists of what is in our immediate consciousness at any given time.

One of the important characteristics of short-term memory is that it is highly limited in capac- ity. Following various memory experiments, Miller (1956) concluded that its average capacity is about seven separate items (plus or minus two); that is, our immediate conscious aware- ness is limited to this capacity, and as additional items of information come in, they push out some that are already there.

Short-term memory lasts a matter of seconds (not minutes, hours, or days) and appears to be highly dependent on rehearsal. For items to be maintained in short-term storage, they must be repeated (consciously thought about). In the absence of repetition, they quickly fade— usually before 20 seconds have elapsed.

The apparent limitations of short-term memory are not nearly as serious as they might seem at first. Although we cannot easily attend to more than seven discrete items at one time, a pro- cess called chunking dramatically increases short-term memory capacity. In effect, a chunk is simply a group of related items of information. Thus, a single letter can be one of the seven items held in short-term memory, or it might be chunked with other letters to form a single word—which can, in turn, be one of seven items in short-term memory. To illustrate this phe- nomenon, Miller (1956) uses the analogy of a change purse that can hold only seven coins. If the purse holds seven pennies, its capacity is only seven cents. But if it holds seven quarters, seven 50-cent pieces, or even seven gold coins, its capacity increases dramatically.

Short-term memory describes immediate awareness. Its usefulness is that it allows us to keep information in mind long enough to make sense of words and sentences, to make decisions, and to do simple things like input telephone numbers. In other words, information in this memory stage is there long enough that we can work with it—hence Baddeley’s use of the label working memory.

Just how does working memory work? Well, suggest Baddeley and Hitch (1974), there must be some sort of system that oversees and controls what happens in working memory. They

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

call this system the central executive system. Its two main functions are (1) to bring infor- mation into conscious attention either from sensory memory or from long-term storage, and (2) to process information for long-term storage. In addition, two separate systems serve to maintain information so that it remains available to working memory. For lack of a better term, Baddeley refers to these as slave systems (because they do the bidding of the central executive system) (Baddeley, 2007). The phonological loop maintains verbal material, such as words or numbers—something like a recording that loops (repeats over and over again). And the visual-spatial sketch pad presents working memory with a temporary image of material that is mainly visual or spatial. (See Figure 7.2.)

Figure 7.2: Baddeley and Hitch’s model of working memory ሁ Information that we remember must first be sensed and then must somehow be held on to and

processed if it is to be transferred to long-term memory. Baddeley’s model describes how memory functions. The central executive system controls the flow of information from sensory storage and from long-term memory, and processes it for long-term storage. The so-called slave systems maintain information so that it is available for processing.

Supervises activity of all other systems

Controls flow of information from

sensory storage and from long-term

memory

Processes material kept temporarily

available by slave systems for storage in

long-term memory

Phonological loop

(maintains verbal material like words

and numbers)

Visual-spatial sketch pad

(maintains material that is primarily

visual)

Slave systems

(maintain information so that it remains

available to working memory)

Central executive system

Long-Term Memory Long-term memory includes all our relatively stable information about the world—what we know but is not in our immediate consciousness. In fact, one important distinction between short-term and long-term memory is that short-term memory is an active, ongoing, conscious (hence working) process, whereas long-term memory is a more passive, unconscious process.

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

Accordingly, short-term memory is easily disrupted by external events—as we demonstrate every time we lose our train of thought because of a distraction. In contrast, long-term mem- ory cannot easily be disrupted. If you know the capital of Finland today, you are likely to know it tomorrow, next month, and even next year.

We transfer information from sensory storage to short-term storage through the process of attending, and we maintain information in short-term memory largely through rehearsal and repetition (the phonological loop and the visual-spatial sketch pad). But the transfer- ence of material from short-term to long-term memory involves more than simple rehearsal: It involves encoding, a process whereby meaning is extracted from experience. To encode information is to transform or abstract it—to represent it in another form.

Encoding clearly involves information processing, an event that can occur at different levels (Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Cermak & Craik, 1979). Information that is not processed leaves only a momentary sensory impression (sensory memory), information that is merely attended to and rehearsed is available for seconds (short-term memory), and information that is pro- cessed to a greater degree is stored in long-term memory.

Not all material in long-term memory is processed to the same level. If, for example, you are asked to learn and remember a word, you can process it at a highly superficial level, paying attention only to its physical appearance. At a somewhat deeper level, you might pay atten- tion to the word’s pronunciation. And at the deepest level, you would take into account the word’s meaning—a process called semantic encoding (Meade & Fernandes, 2016). (Table 7.1 summarizes the characteristics of all three levels of memory.)

Table 7.1: Three levels of memory

Sensory memory Short-term (working) memory (STM)

Long-term memory (LTM)

Alternate labels Echoic or iconic Primary or working Secondary

Duration Less than 1 second Less than 20 seconds Indefinite

Stability Fleeting Easily disrupted Not easily disrupted

Capacity Limited Limited (7±2 items) Unlimited

General characteristics

Momentary, unconscious impression

Immediate consciousness; active, maintained by rehearsal

Knowledge base; associationistic; passive; the result of encoding

The Constructive Nature of Long-Term Memory Our long-term memories are seldom exact reproductions of our experiences. In fact, memo- ries change considerably over time, often in predictable ways: They tend to be generative rather than purely reproductive. As an illustration, Loftus (1979) asked subjects to view a film in which a sports car was involved in an accident. Later, she asked questions about the accident. Some subjects were asked, “How fast was the sports car going when it passed the barn while traveling along the country road?” Other subjects were asked instead, “How fast

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

was the sports car going while traveling along the country road?” When subjects were later asked whether they had seen a barn, 17 percent of those who had been asked the first ques- tion claimed to remember seeing one; fewer than 3 percent of the others remembered a barn. In fact, there was no barn in the film.

Long-term memory is constructive memory. Essentially, this means that much of what we remember is modified by intervening events and dulled with the passage of time. Even if we were right there when the bank was robbed, in the end, perhaps fewer than half of us will be able to identify the thief; even fewer will remember the color of his hair or eyes. And some of us will remember things that we have never even experienced (Villarreal-Hernandez, 2014).

Long-Term Memory and the Brain One characteristic of long-term memory that might explain its constructive nature is that our memories appear to be scattered in many parts of our brains. Studies using positron emis- sion tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (imaging techniques that can reveal location and patterns of neural activity in the brain) indicate that there isn’t just one single memory trace for each item that we remember (Sousa, 2006). As a result, long-term remem- bering is a process of retrieving from different brain locations, isolating features of the expe- rience we are recalling, and putting them together in a sort of pattern-completion process. Several problems can, and often do, result. Often, only a fragment of the experience can be retrieved. As a result, people are unable to remember various details about an experience. Or they retrieve details of different experiences but now assume that these all belong to the same event. Or perhaps they remember an experience as though it were theirs (an episode in their own lives) when it actually isn’t. Thus, we sometimes make poor witnesses without ever intending to lie.

Influences on Long-Term Memory Not all of our long-term memories are subject to distortions and inventions. Highly significant emotional experiences sometimes give rise to long-lasting and remarkably detailed recollec- tions termed flashbulb memories—although the accuracy even of flashbulb memories is often open to question. Similarly, our memories for odors appear to be astonishingly stable and long lasting (Zucco, 2007).

Many of our recollections of real-life, day-to-day events are also extraordinarily accurate. For example, when Wynn and Logie (1998) questioned 63 adults about incidental but actual events in their lives, they found very little change in people’s recollections of these events over time. Most of these adults continued to remember with a high degree of accuracy, which seemed independent of the passage of time.

Several factors appear to be directly related to how clearly and how long we are likely to remember things. For example, highly arousing (emotionally important) events, such as those that give rise to flashbulb memories, are far more likely to be remembered (Day & Ross, 2014).

Long-term memory is also influenced by what we understand and by our intentions. Reading a novel for enjoyment is quite different from reading the same novel for an English class. In the second case, we modify our strategies. We analyze, we review, we think about—in short, we process what we read at a very different level. But if we have learned to read in order to memorize the content rather than to understand it, we might struggle mightily when asked to generalize what we have learned.

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

Another characteristic of our long-term memories is that with our highly constructive memo- ries, we tend to remember the gist of what happened (or of what we heard or read) rather than all its details. When you hear a story and then repeat it, you first recollect its general “drift”—perhaps its punch line and its setting. And when you tell the story, you don’t so much repeat as regenerate it on the basis of your understanding of the story.

Declarative and Nondeclarative Long-Term Memory When a meddling philosopher asked a centipede how it managed to walk with its many legs, the poor thing was totally bewildered. You see, it had never really thought about the problem; it just darn well knew how to walk. Sadly, after it had been asked the question, it began to try to understand the process, tried to figure out which leg went where, when, which next, and on and on, until, finally, completely perplexed and befuddled, it had wrapped its hundred legs into the world’s biggest headache of a knot.

Much of our knowledge is like the centipede’s knowing how to walk. It isn’t information that we know consciously and can put into clear, understandable words and instructions. Instead, it’s knowledge that we have in our muscles or maybe in some other unconscious part of our nervous systems. It includes information relating to things like riding a bicycle, hitting long drives in golf, or even our thoughtless responses to things that frighten or excite us. These kinds of memories are labeled nondeclarative memory (or implicit memory) simply because they can’t be put into words (they cannot be declared).

But we also have many stable memories that we can put into words—memories hav- ing to do with our names, our addresses, the meanings of words, the colors of our cars, and on and on. These memories make up what is termed declarative memory (also called explicit memory). The principal dif- ference between declarative and nondeclar- ative memory is that declarative memory is conscious memory for facts and events; non- declarative memory is unconscious memory.

Declarative memory consists of at least two distinct types of memories, explains Tulving (1991). Abstract, general knowledge about the world, such as what children learn in school, makes up what is called semantic memory.

In addition to semantic memory, each of us also has a large store of very personal rec- ollections about the things we have done and thought, the experiences we have had, and so on. This autobiographical knowledge consists of all of the remembered episodes of our lives and defines what is meant by episodic memory. (See Figure 7.3.)

Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Thinkstock ሁ These professional cyclists could no more

explain how one rides a bicycle than the centipede can tell you how it walks. But even when they are very old and have not climbed on a bicycle for many, many years, they are unlikely to have forgotten how to ride. This is one of their nondeclarative long-term memories.

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

Processes in Long-Term Memory The functioning of the information processing system (memory system) that we have been describing has a simple goal: to make sense of significant sensation and to organize and store for recall that which is potentially important, interesting, or useful while ignoring or discard- ing more trivial matters. To achieve this goal, the system uses a variety of processes. As we saw, much sensory data that is not attended to (not processed) does not go beyond immediate sensory memory. Paying attention is one of the important activities of our information pro- cessing system. By this means, information is transferred from sensory to short-term storage.

Figure 7.3: Human memory ሁ As shown in this model, long-term memory includes recollections that can be put into

words (declarative memory) and recollections that are implicit and cannot easily be verbalized (nondeclarative). Declarative memories may be recollections of personal experiences usually tied to a time and place (autobiographical or episodic memory) or more objective, long-term memories (semantic memory).

Short-term memory

Attention span; retrieves information from sensory memory and from long-term memory for processing; conscious; active; easily disrupted

Long-term memory

All relatively permanent, lasting effects of experience; can be declarative or nondeclarative

Sensory memory

Momentary sensory impression; lasts fractions of a second; unconscious

Declarative memory

(also called explicit memory)

Potentially conscious, recallable information

Nondeclarative memory

(also called procedural or implicit memory)

Unconscious, nonverbalizable effects of learning, like motor skills or classically

conditioned responses (Example: Doing a triple somersault)

Semantic memory

Stable, abstract knowledge that underlies language,

principles, facts, strategies

(Example: Knowing that the Pyrenees separate France

and Spain)

Episodic memory

Personal, autobiographical knowledge; memory of

doing things

(Example: Recalling cycling through Roncesvalles in the

rain)

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

In addition to paying attention, at least three other basic processes are involved in remember- ing: rehearsal, elaboration, and organization.

Rehearsal Rehearsal involves repeating. The simplest rehearsal strategy is to state the material (“apples and soap and bread,” “apples and soap and bread,” “apples and soap and bread”) over and over again until it seems unlikely that it will escape from memory. Rehearsal serves not only to maintain information in short-term memory but also to transfer material from short- to long-term storage. Most children younger than age five do not rehearse spontaneously but are capable of doing so when encouraged (Rai & Harris, 2013).

A large number of studies indicate that spaced repetition is far better for long-term remem- bering than is massed repetition—a finding that has important educational implications (for example, Bui, Maddox, & Balota, 2013). Thus, you are more likely to do well on your educa- tional psychology exam if you spread your study over several weeks than if you try to cram everything into the night before.

Elaboration Elaboration is a cognitive process whereby material is extended or added to (elaborated) to make it more memorable. One way of elaborating material is to associate mental images with items to be remembered. Because our memories are highly visual (photographs are more eas- ily remembered than paragraphs), the use of mental images is an important aspect of most mnemonic systems (systems for remembering).

Sometimes, elaboration involves forming associations between new material and material that is already well-known. Research suggests that elaborations that relate to meaning are highly memorable. For example, when Bradshaw and Anderson (1982) asked subjects to recall sentences such as “the fat man read the sign,” those who had elaborated the sentence to something like “the fat man read the sign warning of thin ice” performed significantly better than those who had not elaborated. Children younger than age 12 do not deliberately elabo- rate to improve recall (Ornstein, Grammer, & Coffman, 2010).

Elaborating while studying might involve making up questions, reading with a view to answer- ing questions, relating new material to previously learned material—in short, trying to, in Bruner’s words, go “beyond the information given” (Bruner, 1957). But beware of “elaborat- ing” things you don’t know well. When Lane and Zaragoza (2007) had participants generate elaborations following exposure to different images, many ended up with very vivid recollec- tions of details they had not seen and should therefore not have remembered. This may well be one of the reasons why most of us make such poor witnesses. After we have elaborated details we suspect we might have seen, we soon become convinced that we remember these details perfectly accurately.

Organization Organization refers to grouping and relating material. Assume, for example, that you need to memorize the following list: man, dog, green, cayenne, woman, cat, child, canary, jalapeño. Some of you will immediately notice that the list can be easily organized into three groups of

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

related items (pets, persons, and peppers) and will use this organization to help remember the items—which, again, is not something younger children will spontaneously do.

The organizational strategies that are so important to long-term memory can be either extremely complex or quite simple. What most of these have in common, however, is that they are based on our recognition of similarities and differences. We seem to have a tendency to see similarities and differences (and other relations such as sequences) and to generalize from them. Put another way, we seem to be information processing organisms whose func- tion is to make sense of all the data that surround us. One of the important methods we use for making sense of the world is to extract common elements from various experiences, thereby compiling concepts or ideas that we can remember.

The challenge for teachers is to find ways to improve learning—and, consequently, long-term retention. Consider, for example, the case “Bored with the Cost of Borrowing.” Here is a lesson that has little chance of being absorbed, especially with this particular class on a Friday after- noon. But the lesson in the corresponding case “I’ve Won the Bejiggered Lottery!” might work wonderfully well—and might be remembered. Why? It begins with material that is striking, it presents a situation that is meaningful, it provides opportunities for relating items of infor- mation and for emphasizing concepts (perhaps with stacks of money), and it uses visual (and memorable) teaching aids.

C A S E S F R O M T H E C L A S S R O O M : B O R E D W I T H T H E C O S T O F B O R R O W I N G

The Place: Medicine Hat High School

The Time: 3:00 p.m. Friday

The Setting: Orville Radcliffe’s 10th-grade life and career skills class

The Lesson: Personal banking

There is much noise and shuff ling, much talking and restlessness, little attentiveness. Mr. Radcliffe glances at his lesson notes. He reads the main heads:

The purposes of banks Alternatives Fluctuating interest rates The cost of borrowing . . .

“Borrrrrrring!” Mr. Radcliffe acknowledges to himself. He clears his throat:

“Ahem,” says he, by way of getting their attention. It doesn’t work.

“Today we’re going to talk about personal banking,” he mumbles uncertainly. Soon, he knows, he will have lost them all until the bell rescues him.

But that’s the lesson he prepared, and so he forges onward: “Take out your notebooks ‘cause you should make notes, ‘cause there’ll be questions about this on the exam, espe- cially about the effects of interest rates and all that . . .”

How he wishes he had prepared a different lesson. . . .

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

Why We Forget If teachers want to teach for long-term retention, it might be useful to know why students forget. Knowing why forgetting occurs might suggest a variety of methods to impede the process.

As we saw earlier, memories appear to be distributed in different parts of the brain, which partly explains why much of what we remember is often at least partly reconstructed and not always entirely accurate (Williams et al., 2007).

There are several possible explanations of what is involved in forgetting; each of these might have important instructional implications.

Fading Fading theory holds that material not brought to mind often enough (not used) tends to fade from memory. Many psychologists don’t consider fading theory (also called decay theory) very useful or informative. They argue that time, by itself, does not cause forgetting any more than it causes metal to rust or mountains to erode: Other events that occur during the passage of time account for these phenomena.

Repression There is some evidence that people may forget events that are particularly unpleasant. One explanation for repression is Freud’s belief that unpleasant memories filter into the subcon- scious mind where the individual is not aware of them even though they may continue to have a profound effect on the person’s emotional life.

C A S E S F R O M T H E C L A S S R O O M : I ’ V E W O N T H E B E J I G G E R E D L O T T E R Y !

The Place: Medicine Hat High School

The Time: 3:00 p.m. Friday

The Setting: Orville Radcliffe’s 10th-grade life and career skills class

The Lesson: Personal banking

Orville struts to the front of the class, opens his briefcase f lat on his desk so none of the students can see its contents—and then exclaims, “Now that’s more like it!” And then he takes great stacks of money from the briefcase and begins to pile them on his desk (well, maybe not exactly money, but thick rolls of newspaper cut just so, bound with elastics, with real bills on the outside).

“We don’t get paid this much in a lifetime of teaching,” says he. “But I’ve won the bejiggered lottery!”

And together, Mr. Radcliffe and his class examine the various banking alternatives open to a lottery winner, the implications of each, and on and on. . . .

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

Retroactive and Proactive Interference A highly researched theory of forgetting, and one with direct relevance for teachers, states that interference from previous or subsequent learning is an important cause of forgetting. When previous learning interferes with current recall, proactive interference is said to occur; retroactive interference takes place when subsequent learning interferes with the recall of previous learning. Teachers often have difficulty remembering the names of new students, especially if they have been teaching for a long time and have known many students with similar names. They confuse old names with new but similar faces. Their old learning interferes with learning something new—hence, proactive interference.

By the same token, once teachers have learned the names of all their current students, they sometimes find it difficult to remember the names of students from years past. Now newer learning interferes with the recall of old information—hence, retroactive interference.

Retrieval Cue Failure Some psychologists maintain that forgetting can be explained by the lack of an appropriate cue for retrieving from memory, termed retrieval cue failure. As Homa (2008) explains, learning always occurs in a specific context that includes the external environment in which the learning occurs as well as internal factors such as the learner’s mood and current thoughts and preoccupations. Aspects of this context can sometimes serve as retrieval cues. The fact that witnesses can sometimes jog their memories by going back to the scene of the crime is evidence that at least some forgetting may be due to lack of appropriate retrieval cues. Lack of clear retrieval cues is often apparent when different experiences resemble each other closely. In such cases, individuals are likely to remember only the gist or the general idea rather than the details.

Distortion Memories that don’t entirely fade are often distorted or confused with other memories. As Loftus (2007) explains, it’s as though the various features of a single past experience were inadequately bound together in memory. As a result, when the person tries to recall the expe- rience, only fragments of the episode are available and those fragments are combined with other more recent information. In the end, the person’s recollection may be largely erroneous. Loftus’s research has reported instances of memories of early events and of especially trau- matic occurrences that may be so highly distorted that, in some cases, the memories appear to be largely false (Loftus & Cahill, 2007). This research has had important implications in judicial cases where, for example, recollections of child sex abuse have been brought into question. Following a survey of 100 years of research, Steblay (2015) suggests that the legal system’s expectations regarding the reliability of eyewitness memory are often unwarranted.

Research on what is now sometimes termed false memory syndrome is highly controver- sial. The label was coined by a group advocating for parents claiming to have been falsely accused of sexually abusing their own children. It refers to erroneous memories sometimes thought to have been unconsciously brought about through the suggestions of therapists.

Aids for Remembering Each of these explanations of forgetting suggests important implications for teaching. For example, if students forget information because of disuse (fading theory), teachers can

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Section 7.1 Three-Component Model of Memory

provide repetition and review to remind them of important items. The effects of interference can be lessened by relating new material to old material. Emphasizing similarities should facilitate transfer; knowledge of differences should minimize interference and reduce distor- tion. And research shows that pointing out retrieval cues that can be used to facilitate recall can improve memory (for example, Unsworth, Brewer, & Spillers, 2013). Also, it can some- times be useful to actually teach some of the memory aids described below, many of which make use of what we know about human remembering and forgetting. (See Table 7.2 for a summary of theories of forgetting and some of their educational implications.)

Table 7.2: Theories of forgetting and some educational applications

Theory Explanation Possible instructional countermeasures

Fading Memory traces decay from disuse. Provide opportunities for repetition and rehearsal; teach in a variety of settings using different approaches; use spaced rather than massed repetition.

Repression Traumatic experiences are uncon- sciously buried and no longer consciously accessible.

Avoid traumatizing students.

Interference Old memories interfere with learning new material (proactive); or new learning interferes with recall of old learning (retroactive).

Teach for transfer; highlight similarities and differences.

Retrieval cue failure

Learner lacks cues that enable specific recall.

Point out relationships and associations that can serve as retrieval cues; teach specific retrieval cues; teach learners some of the memory aids described in this chapter.

Distortion Memory is constructive; we often remember the gist and make up the rest; hence, what is recalled changes over time.

Emphasize the most important and most salient features of what is to be learned.

Rhymes and Other Sayings Rhymes, acronyms, and acrostics are common mnemonic aids (aids to remembering) that provide very specific—and sometimes indispensable—retrieval cues. “Thirty days hath Sep- tember . . .” is a simple rhyme to help us remember how many days hath November. Similarly, the year in which Columbus sailed the ocean blue is nicely recalled by its little rhyme.

Acronyms are letter cues that help recall relatively complex material. NATO, U.S., and NAFTA are well-known acronyms. Acrostics are similar to acronyms, except that they are generally in sentence form; the first letter of each word represents an item of information to be remem- bered. Without the bizarre sentence “Men very easily make jugs serve useful nocturnal pur- poses,” I would have considerable difficulty recalling the planets in order from the sun.

Chunking, that is, combining items of information in meaningful patterns, is also a useful mnemonic aid. Chunking is the reason that the number 555-1212 is considerably easier to remember than would be “five million, five hundred fifty-one thousand, two hundred twelve.”

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The Link System The most powerful mnemonic techniques typically use visual images. Among these is the link system, which requires the formation of visual links between items to be remembered. Suppose, for example, you want to remember a grocery list that includes bread, salt, ketchup, dog food, and bananas. Visualize the first item: a loaf of bread. Concentrate on the picture that comes to mind first because it is likely to come to mind again when you think of bread. It might be bizarre, or it might be a simple image of a loaf or slice of bread. Now visualize the second item, salt, and form a visual link between the first image and the second. For example, you might see a slice of bread perched delicately on a large silver salt shaker. The salt shaker is dripping with ketchup being poured from a bottle held by a hungry dog with a banana in its ear. In most cases, you need not spend more than a few seconds with each image, nor should you rehearse the images while you are learning the list.

The Loci System One of the occasional disadvantages of the link system is that if you cannot recall one of the items, it’s possible that you won’t recall any subsequent items. A variation of the link system, the loci system, overcomes this disadvantage. It requires that you form associations between items that you need to remember and familiar places that you can therefore visualize clearly (loci is Latin for places). Rooms in a familiar house make good loci. You can quite easily “place” a grocery list in the rooms of a house simply by forming strong visual images of the objects, one in each of the rooms. If you cannot remember what you placed in the hallway, you can still go to the kitchen—or bathroom—to see what you placed there.

7.2 Teaching for Long-Term Memory: E-Learning and Individualizing Instruction

Schools teach for long-term memory. The most effective teaching is, in a sense, the most mem- orable; it brings about lasting changes in the behavior, knowledge, and capabilities of learn- ers. The main purpose of educational psychology is to uncover the best ways of doing this.

Today’s teachers have access to methods and approaches that have a long history in edu- cational endeavors. And they also have at their disposal an impressive array of tools and approaches that weren’t available to yesterday’s teachers.

E-Learning Among these new tools are those related to e-learning (short for electronic learning, also written as elearning). E-learning describes an instructional approach in which computer technology is the main component. Mostly it refers to Internet- or computer-based courses where there is little or no face-to-face interaction between learners and teachers. E-learning is used extensively in what is termed distance education.

In 1984, only approximately one of every four students had access to computers in school— and most of these students were in universities and colleges. In U.S. public schools, for exam- ple, there was an average of 63 students for every computer. By 1997, there were almost seven million computers in schools—one computer for every seven students. And by 2006,

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there was a computer for every four students. And whereas Internet access for schools was extremely unlikely in 1984, by 2005, 84 percent of U.S. schools had high-speed Internet con- nections (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997; U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, 2007; Warschauer, 2010). Today, over 95 percent of U.S. schools and more than 75 percent of all homes have Internet access (Statista: The Statistics Portal, 2016). (See Figure 7.4.)

Figure 7.4: Percentage of U.S. households with computers, 1984–2011

ሁ Since the widespread availability of personal computers, there has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of U.S. households that have them.

Source: Computers in U.S. households, 1984–2011. Data from computer and Internet use in the United States: Census, Retrieved October 24, 2016, from www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-569.pdf

19 8 4

19 8 9

19 9 3

2 0 0 0

2 0 01

2 0 0 3

2 0 0 7

2 0 0 9

2 01

0 2 01

P e rc

e n

ta g

19 9 7

Year

Positive Effects of Computers in Education Computer enthusiasts and other optimists predict sweeping, somewhat radical, and highly beneficial effects from the widespread introduction of computer technologies into schools. The effectiveness of computer technology for learning and instruction is closely related to the computer’s ability to perform tasks that many of us now take for granted but that are truly amazing—tasks like sorting, changing numbers into charts and graphs, analyzing informa- tion, or, when we instruct them to, reaching out electronically into distant, mysterious places to provide us with nearly instant access to millions of articles, books, comments, and opinions on pretty well any topic you can imagine. Students, and professors, no longer need to engage in tedious, low-level tasks like walking to libraries and searching through stacks of books and articles; we can now engage in higher-level activities like thinking. Reassuringly, report Luu

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and Freeman (2011), there is evidence that exposure to information technology significantly increases scientific literacy among students.

Green, Brown, and Robinson (2008) suggest that another positive effect of computers in edu- cation is that they can provide instruction more easily matched to individual learning styles. At the very least, they can be used to allow learners to progress at their own pace.

Others predict that smaller, friendlier, more personal schools will again proliferate, once the resource disadvantages that sometimes characterize smaller schools disappear with the com- ing of the computer. Some of these enthusiasts insist that problems with reading, writing, and arithmetic will end as people master computer skills. Indeed, some even suggest that family ties will be strengthened as more and more of the net-generation are able to work out of their homes, linked to their offices (if there still are such things) and to the world through their computers.

Less Positive Possibilities There is, of course, a less optimistic view of the likely long-term impact of computers. This view suggests that our basic computational skills may decline dramatically as computers take care of our computational needs and that social as well as reading skills are likely to suffer as children spend more time being amused by computers and their fantasy games and less time reading. Others believe that computers are unlikely to make knowledge and power more accessible to the masses but will instead have the opposite effect. Poor and ethnic-minority students sometimes have less access to computers than wealthier, ethnic-majority students (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008, 2009). (See Figure 7.5.)

Uses of Computers in Education Basically, there are three related things that students can do with computers: They can learn about them, they can use them simply as tools, and they can learn with them.

Learning about computers is what computer literacy is all about. Just as learning something about cars is essential for most of us whose activities require us to drive, learning something about computers is essential for today’s children.

Making students computer literate may no longer need to be an important educational goal. Many of the net-generation already know a lot more about computers than their parents and many of their teachers.

Computers should be viewed as another tool in the sophisticated teacher’s assortment of tools and strategies. Effective use of this tool requires that teachers (and learners as well) be technologically competent rather than simply computer literate. That is, they have to know how best to use the various capabilities of the computer to enhance student learning.

At a basic level, computers can be useful tools in the management of schools. They simplify routine clerical tasks such as registering students, storing data, solving scheduling problems, preparing and issuing report cards, and so on. And they are also tremendously useful comput- ing and writing instruments for school administrators, staff, and teachers.

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Figure 7.5: Access to computers and Internet in the U.S. ሁ Percentage of households with computers and Internet access by family income, ethnic group, and

educational attainment.

Source: Computer and Internet use in the United States: Census, Retrieved October 24, 2016, from www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-569.pdf

Percentage of households with children ages 3 to 17 with Internet access by family income

Family income

Under $50,000

Over $100,000

200 40 60 80 100

Percentage of households with a home computer and Internet access by race

White non-Hispanic

African American

Hispanic

10 200 30 40 50 60 70 80

Percentage of households with Internet access by educational attainment of parents

College degree

High school graduate

Less than high school graduate

10 200 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Race

Educational attainment

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At a more advanced level, computer programs allow access to a tremendous range of informa- tion through library systems and other databases, and communication programs allow virtu- ally instant exchange of information and opinion. In addition, lesson preparation software allows teachers to prepare dazzling, state-of-the-art presentations complete with animations, videos, Internet links, exotic music, and dancing bears. And course presentation software provides teachers with another way of presenting learners with lessons or sometimes entire courses.

In the same way computers are tools for teachers, so too are they tools for students. Thus, like teachers, students make extensive use of word processing software in doing assign- ments and writing. They might use spreadsheet software in mathematics and science or in accounting or other related courses. Some will use search engines or access databases to research various projects. And almost all will use communication software to e-mail friends, relatives, and sometimes complete strangers; to socialize on social networking sites; and to message each other.

Course presentation software, an important instructional tool for teachers, can also be a highly effective learning tool for students. For example, there are drill and practice programs, which are fairly common in elementary schools. And although some argue that drill and practice is a wasteful use of such powerful technology, computers are exceptionally good and highly effec- tive at teaching learners such things as basic computational skills, skills such as keyboarding, spelling and word-attack skills, and basic facts in any of a number of fields.

Computer simulations, which mimic certain actions or phenomena, are another type of course presentation software. For example, programs are available that mimic the circulatory system, a chemical laboratory, or the in-flight responses of a jet aircraft. Simulations allow the learner to discover the results of specific responses without the risk and expense of actually performing them. Thus, with a computer-controlled simulator, a pilot can learn that a par- ticularly unlucky combination of aileron and rudder movements can cause a crash without actually destroying either a multimillion-dollar aircraft or himself. Some simulations—now widely available even for use with smart phones—are termed virtual reality simulations. These can make you feel as though you are virtually in an airplane, or exploring an ancient Mayan ruin.

Intelligent tutor systems (ITS) (also referred to as knowledge-based tutors) are another type of course presentation software. These are programs that take into account the learner’s strengths and weaknesses and that modify their offerings accordingly—very much as a good teacher does. The cornerstones of such systems are the procedures they use to analyze the student. Intelligent tutor systems try to determine what a student knows (or needs to know) on the basis of the student’s interactions with the system—that is, typically on the basis of the student’s answers. Some attempt to determine important learner qualities such as the feelings of confidence learners have about their effectiveness as learners and their estimates of how successful they expect to be in this learning task. The system then draws from its data- base the experiences and instructions that will be most effective for this student according to the goals programmed into the system.

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One of the most important components of an ITS program is the computer’s representation of what the student is like. This representation is based on certain preconceptions about learn- ers that are built into the system. The system must also be designed so that it can obtain the information it requires about each learner.

Another important feature of an ITS system consists of pedagogical, or teaching, rules built into the system. The rules might take forms such as: “If a student classified as X gives response A, then . . .”

Individualizing Instruction One of the important advantages of computers for instruction is that they interact with the learner one-on-one. A good intelligent tutor system, for example, adjusts its offerings and its requirements according to the needs and capabilities of each learner. Such a system is an excellent example of individualized instruction. It is responsive to the fact that within all groups, some students are bright, alert, inquisitive, and interested; others not as much. One single lesson, or even a course, does not nec- essarily fit all students equally well. Much of mass education is, well, for the masses. Often, lessons are designed for all and sun- dry with little attention to individual differ- ences. A fundamentally important question is: What can an ordinary classroom teacher do to individualize instruction?

One solution is for the teacher to spend time with each student individually, respond- ing to the student’s immediate needs and interests, explaining, probing, imparting strategies, and doing other things that good teachers do. Unfortunately, teacher–student ratios, the limited time available, and the demands of the curriculum make this a difficult and often impractical solution. As a result, teachers often resort to one or more educational strategies that take into consid- eration individual differences among learners. These strategies include ability grouping (or tracking) and individualized instructional programs such as mastery learning.

Ability Grouping Ability grouping involves grouping students for instructional purposes on the basis of actual (or suspected) ability. Tracking is a related but more general term: It refers to groupings that might be based on ability but that might also be based on interests, gender, vocational aspira- tions, social class, and so on. As the labels imply, within-class grouping refers to groups or tracks that are formed within the regular classroom; between-class grouping involves the formation of groups made up of students from separate classes.

Between-class grouping of students into high- and low-ability classes was once a relatively common way of attempting to match school offerings more closely to student differences.

monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock ሁ Although there are challenges to implement

completely individualized programs for all students, individualization on a more limited scale is possible in every classroom.

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When ability was used as the basis for tracking, the expectation was that the needs of stu- dents with lower, or exceptionally high, abilities could be met more effectively if they received instruction in classrooms composed of individuals with similar abilities.

In general, research has not been kind to this expectation. For example, Bygren (2016) found that ability grouping had little effect on achievement among a group of more than 79,000 stu- dents aged 16 to 26. Still, there are studies that provide evidence of positive benefits under some circumstances. For example, Garrett and Hong (2016) report that ability grouping for math learning in kindergarten can benefit language-minority learners. Similarly, Neihart (2007) found strong benefits of ability grouping for gifted students. In summary, notes Tom- linson (2006), ability grouping is often an advantage for advanced learners, but it’s typically a disadvantage for learners who struggle.

It’s important to note, however, that the benefits of ability grouping are most often found for within-class groupings and not for between-class groupings (McCoach, O’Connell, & Levitt, 2006). Within-class ability grouping is highly common for reading instruction in first grade where instructional strategies are geared toward developing vocabulary, comprehension, and reading.

In spite of the benefits ability grouping might have for gifted learners, and the advantages it sometimes presents for small groups, especially in reading or language instruction in first grade, the research is remarkably consistent in its negative evaluation of tracking. As Herr- mann, Schmidt, Kessels, and Preckel (2016) note, many questions about the social, emo- tional, and academic effects of ability grouping have yet to be answered. And it is perhaps revealing that in schools in England, where ability grouping is common, when a sample of 5,000 students was questioned about their attitudes toward ability grouping, a substantial number were unhappy with the groups to which they had been assigned (Hallam & Ireson, 2007). The vast majority of the students wanted to move upwards. Why, they were asked? Mainly because the level in which they found themselves was too easy, too boring, or other- wise inappropriate.

Detracking As a result of considerations such as these, some groups have been highly outspoken in their attacks against ability grouping and in their calls for educational reform built around the con- cept of detracking—that is, eliminating homogeneous groupings in schools.

But detracking schools is not a simple matter, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most impor- tant is that, as Ansalone (2005) points out, tracking absolutely permeates our educational system. It is implicit in a tremendous variety of decisions that educators make regarding mat- ters such as a student’s readiness for advancement to the next level, assignment to groups for reading or math, retention or promotion, admission to special programs such as those for the gifted or those with learning disabilities, admission to vocational programs, and so on.

It’s important to note again that arguments against tracking apply primarily to between-class grouping. Within-class grouping, where groups of students are separated for specific learn- ing experiences more closely suited to their needs but remain an integral part of the regular classroom, are not subject to the same objections. Nor is cooperative learning, which also makes use of grouping but typically uses heterogeneous rather than homogeneous groups.

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Individualizing Instruction in the Regular Classroom For many practical reasons, truly individualizing instruction is often difficult or even impos- sible. Even if everyone concerned were convinced that these are the best of all possible instructional alternatives, in most instances there simply isn’t enough time, money, or energy to implement individualized programs.

But individualization on a more limited scale is possible in virtually every classroom. In fact, it is essential, especially in the now common inclusive classroom that can include any number of children with unique special needs. But even in a relatively homogeneous classroom, if instruction is not individualized to some extent, the result will be an inefficient and ineffec- tive use of educational resources. Some students will struggle needlessly and perhaps unsuc- cessfully; others will waste much of their time in a boring and unchallenging environment.

Individualization of instruction does not mean that all students work individually at all times throughout the school day. Individualization means that instructional methods, class orga- nization, evaluation procedures, and other components of the teaching-learning process are selected and modified in response to learners’ characteristics, course and lesson goals, and practical constraints. In practice, this usually means that some students are exposed to dif- ferent experiences at least some of the time. Some of these experiences might well be indi- vidual, but many will occur in small groups. And even in classes where the teacher individual- izes instruction, much can take place in whole-class situations. For instance, the case entitled “Digging Up the Truth” is an example of how instructional projects can be individualized for small groups and then combined for the benefit of the entire class.

C A S E S F R O M T H E C L A S S R O O M : D I G G I N G U P T H E T R U T H

The Situation: Edward Stewin’s combined third- and fourth-grade class

In Mr. Stewin’s class there is a small group of students keenly interested in Native Americans. So Mr. Stewin has them select and do extensive research on a particular tribe and then build articles they would have used. The group then buries the articles in the schoolyard, and another team of student “archeologists” digs them up. They later write “scientific” reports describing the tribe’s lifestyle.

As a capping exercise, the two groups collaborate to teach the rest of the class about this tribe.

In addition to ability grouping, e-learning, and approaches like Mr. Stewin’s, there are a vari- ety of instructional strategies devised specifically to individualize instruction and make it more memorable. Among them are Bloom’s mastery learning and Keller’s personalized system of instruction (PSI).

Mastery Learning There are faster learners and slower learners, Bloom (1976) informs us. This is vastly differ- ent from saying that there are gifted and less gifted learners (or that there are good learners and bad learners). What this, the most basic assumption of mastery learning, says, in effect,

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is that aptitude is mainly a function of the speed with which a student acquires informa- tion, concepts, or skills. As long as all students receive identical instruction, the correlation between aptitude and achievement will be high: Faster students will achieve more and slower students less. However, if each student is presented with optimal learning conditions, the relationship between aptitude and achievement decreases dramatically because most learn- ers now reach the same level of mastery of important objectives.

A second important assumption of mastery learning is that learning requires constant eval- uation—not for grading the learner but for guiding the learning/instruction process. This type of evaluation, termed formative evaluation, should not be confused with the more formal evaluation provided at the end of a unit or course, termed summative evaluation. Summa- tive evaluation is intended primarily to provide a grade, whereas formative evaluation is an essential diagnostic tool in the teaching process. In mastery learning, the attainment of a good grade is not the most important criterion; mastery of course objectives is.

Bloom’s (1987) mastery learning model specifies that the degree of learning is primarily a function of the time spent learning relative to the amount of time required to learn. The amount of time required is, in turn, a function of both aptitude and quality of instruction received. (See Figure 7.6.)

Figure 7.6: Bloom’s mastery learning model ሁ In Bloom’s model of mastery learning, how much a child learns is a function of how much time

is spent learning relative to how much time is required. Theoretically, given optimal instruction and adequate learning time, all learners can achieve mastery.

Examples: For John, learning Z requires 6 hours. He spends 3 hours studying:

His estimated degree of learning:

For Sarah, learning Z requires 3 hours. She spends 3 hours learning:

Her estimated degree of learning:

Degree of learning = f( )time spent time needed

= = 0.5 (That is, he learns half of Z)( )time spent time needed

3 6

= = 1 (That is, she masters Z)( )time spent time needed

3 3

The emphasis is on providing all learners with both high-quality instruction and the time required to learn. Bloom’s basic notion is that it is possible to analyze any learning sequence to specify objectives and to teach so that most, if not all, students will attain these objectives. Although the teaching methods suggested by Bloom are much the same as those ordinarily

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used by teachers, they differ in two important respects: First, they are directed toward the mastery of previously identified objectives; and second, they make extensive use of formative evaluation to diagnose learners’ difficulties, to suggest modifications in instructional strate- gies, and to identify subject areas needing more time.

A third important characteristic of Bloom’s mastery learning is that it requires the use of a vari- ety of systematic and deliberate corrective procedures in conjunction with formative evalua- tion. Among these corrective procedures are study sessions; individualized tutoring; reteach- ing; students helping each other in small, cooperative groups; and a selection of alternative instructional materials in a variety of forms. This is now termed multimedia and is largely computer based. In sum, the two underlying assumptions of Bloom’s mastery learning are:

1. There are faster learners and slower learners (not better learners and poorer learners).

2. Learning requires constant formative evaluation designed specifically to guide the teaching–learning process.

And, the three broad characteristics of Bloom’s mastery learning are:

1. Instruction is directed toward attaining specific, explicit, and previously identified objectives.

2. Instruction is guided by the results of formative evaluation. 3. There are numerous corrective instructional procedures available in the form of study

sessions, cooperative student groups, individualized tutoring, reteaching, and alterna- tive instructional materials.

One final characteristic of Bloom’s mastery learning is the provision that classes typically progress from one unit to another as a group. This is accomplished by providing enrichment for students who master course objectives first. Thus, the pace of progress through the cur- riculum is determined largely by those who require the longest time to reach mastery. Ulti- mately, all students who have mastered course objectives are given “A”s; those who have not succeeded are given “I”s (for incomplete, but meaning “mastery in the making”). No students fail in this system.

Keller’s Mastery Learning: PSI Another instructional strategy designed specifically to individualize instruction is Fred Keller’s personalized system of instruction (PSI) (Keller, 1968). PSI, also called the Keller plan, is a variation of Bloom’s mastery learning. Whereas Bloom’s mastery learning is designed for use with groups of students in classrooms, PSI is designed for individual instruction. It was origi- nally developed for teaching introductory psychology at the college level but has since been used in a variety of college courses (for example, Ironsmith & Eppler, 2007).

Like Bloom’s mastery learning, the PSI approach requires that a course be broken down into small units, that appropriate instructional materials be developed for each of these units, and that students be allowed to take as much time as necessary to learn each unit. Whenever stu- dents feel they are ready, they are given a short unit quiz, the quiz is marked immediately, and they are then told whether they need to spend more time studying the same unit or whether

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they can proceed to the next unit. At the end of the course, an examination covering all mate- rial is presented. In sum, the main elements of Keller’s PSI are:

• Instruction is directed toward mastery. • Objectives to be mastered are clearly specified. • Instructional systems are self-paced. • Material is carefully sequenced and in small steps. • Repeated testing is employed. • Learner is given immediate feedback following testing. • Emphasis is on credit for success, not penalty for errors. • Lectures are used for motivation, as a reward.

Unlike Bloom’s mastery learning, the Keller plan does not advocate the use of traditional instructional methods. Nor does it rely as heavily on corrective procedures, although alter- native learning materials are available. Instead, the onus of mastering a unit rests largely on

the student. In many cases, the unit in ques- tion corresponds to a chapter in a textbook. And, in many PSI programs, computers are used extensively. Tutoring often occurs after a student proctor marks the unit quiz, but it is not an essential part of the course, nor is the traditional lecture. In fact, students attend lectures only after they have success- fully completed specified units. Lectures are intended to serve as reinforcement for suc- cess rather than as a basis for it.

Keller’s PSI, like Bloom’s mastery learning, is designed to provide experiences of success for all learners. Both approaches recognize that there are important individual differ- ences among learners, but both contradict the belief that there are good and bad learn-

ers. Learners are faster or slower but not better or poorer. Whereas traditional approaches to instruction and evaluation make it almost inevitable that some of those who learn more slowly than their age/grade peers will fail, these highly individualized approaches ensure that almost all students will eventually succeed. All learners can master course content.

Following a review of several meta-analyses of research on mastery learning, Zimmerman and Dibenedetto (2008) conclude that these approaches are highly effective, both for reaching course goals and for developing positive attitudes toward course work. However, we should note that PSI and mastery learning have their faults and weaknesses as well and that not all evaluations are entirely positive and optimistic. For example, some critics have observed that an emphasis on the mastery of objectives that all (or most) learners can achieve does not maximize the faster learner’s achievement; at worst, it leads to boredom, destroys motiva- tion, and renders the assignment of grades meaningless because all who work long enough obtain As. Furthermore, we cannot completely discount the possibility that undue empha- sis on specifiable objectives might restrict the teaching–learning process and prevent the

monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock ሁ PSI utilizes lectures to reinforce what students

learned. Students attend lectures after they’ve mastered specific units.

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Chapter 7 Summary and Resources

occurrence of important incidental learning. These approaches also require considerable effort from schools and teachers with respect to specifying goals and systematizing and sim- plifying instruction.

Not surprisingly, mastery approaches have become increasingly common in fields like medi- cal training (for example, Wayne et al., 2008). This is perhaps because, should we ever need a heart surgeon, most of us would prefer the one who mastered the required training rather than the one who simply managed to get a passing grade on the final examination.

Chapter 7 Summary and Resources

Key Points • The three-component model of memory describes sensory memory (momentary,

unconscious effects of sensation), short-term (working) memory (immediate, highly limited, conscious awareness), and long-term memory.

• Baddeley’s model of working memory describes what happens in short-term stor- age: Specifically, the central executive system oversees the processing of information derived from sensory or long-term storage while this information is kept available in consciousness by what is termed the phonological loop (for auditory material) and the visual-spatial sketch pad (for visual material) for perhaps as long as 20 seconds, providing it is rehearsed.

• Processing for long-term storage involves encoding (transforming to abstract gen- eralities; deriving meaning). Cognitive processes employed might include rehearsal (repetition), elaboration (extending), and organization (relating, sorting).

• Long-term memory can be either declarative (conscious, explicit) or nondeclarative (implicit, unconscious). Declarative memory might be semantic (general knowl- edge that can be verbalized) or episodic (autobiographical knowledge). Declarative memory is highly constructive and subject to distortions and misremembering.

• Theories of forgetting maintain that information is forgotten because it is unused, distorted, repressed, or interfered with or because the individual has inadequate retrieval cues. These theories suggest that teachers should emphasize distinct and important aspects of situations and also stress similarities and differences, to mini- mize interference and maximize transfer.

• Mnemonic devices (memory aids) include rhymes, acrostics, and acronyms. More complex mnemonic techniques are the link system and the loci system. Each of these is based on the principle that visual imagery is an extremely powerful aid to mem- ory. Useful strategies for teaching retrieval emphasize meaningfulness, organization, visual imagery, and rehearsal.

• E-learning describes instruction in which computer technology is the main compo- nent. The optimistic view suggests that computers provide students with immediate access to high-quality information; can lead to smaller, friendlier, and more personal schools; and can reduce problems with basic reading, writing, and mathematical skills. A more pessimistic view suggests that computers may lead to a decline in computational and reading skills; might help widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots; and might depersonalize schools.

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• Computer technology is a powerful tool for individualizing instruction and making it more memorable. E-learning uses technology to teach about computers (program- ming, keyboarding, Internet access); as tools for teachers (word processing, spread- sheets, database access, communication, lesson preparation, and course prepara- tion); and as learning tools for students (drill and practice programs, simulation programs, virtual reality programs, intelligent tutoring systems, word processing, database research, Internet research, and communication functions).

• Instruction is also individualized through ability grouping. Within-class ability grouping is quite common and not especially controversial. In contrast, between- class ability grouping, which can have negative effects on lower-ability groups and sometimes no positive effect on higher-ability groups, has frequently led to detrack- ing movements.

• Bloom’s mastery learning is based on the assumption that most learners are capable of mastering important school objectives but that some require more time and instruction than others. It breaks the curriculum into small units that must be mas- tered before the student proceeds. Keller’s personalized system of instruction (PSI) places the onus for attainment of unit and course objectives primarily on the learner. Students are allowed to repeat unit quizzes until they reach a specified performance criterion and then progress to the next unit.

Posttest

1. Chunking a. involves dividing or separating information into smaller units. b. usually occurs in sensory memory. c. improves the efficiency of memory processing. d. decreases the capacity of short-term memory.

2. All of the following are required to move information into storage EXCEPT a. attending to it. b. processing it. c. sensing it. d. explaining it.

3. Toni remembers her students’ names by associating their names with visual cues from their appearances. This memory process is called a. elaboration. b. repetition. c. organization. d. rehearsal.

4. When talking with her new boyfriend on the phone, Tanisha calls him by the name of her ex-boyfriend. This embarrassing phenomenon results from a. fading. b. proactive interference. c. retroactive interference. d. retrieval cue failure.

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5. Which of the following would NOT be recommended for improving memory based on information processing theories? a. Teach test-taking and encoding strategies. b. Keep learners’ attention. c. Move quickly from old to new information. d. Provide cues and hints for learning.

6. A final exam covering all of the material presented throughout the semester would be classified as a/an a. formative evaluation. b. summative evaluation. c. needs-based evaluation. d. exhaustive evaluation.

Answers: 1(c), 2(d), 3(a), 4(b), 5(c), 6(b)

Critical Thinking Exercises • What are the differences and similarities between sensory memory, short-term

memory, and long-term memory? Can you explain these types of memory using school-based examples?

• Describe one educational implication for each of the common theories of forget- ting. What are some strategies you can implement to help students not forget information?

• Describe a mnemonic system. What are some examples of mnemonic systems? Do you find them useful? Why or why not?

• What do you think would be the most effective use of computer technology in your classroom? Explain your reasoning.

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of computers in schools? How would you use computers in your lessons to improve the learning experience?

• How can some of the principles of mastery learning be used in a traditional classroom?

Web Resources For a brief and simple review of the most commonly used model of memory, visit:

http://www.simplypsychology.org/multi-store.html

For more information on false memories, visit:

http://www.fmsfonline.org/

For more information on mnemonic strategies that can be useful for students, visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoYOb2sPnqA

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http://www.simplypsychology.org/multi-store.html

http://www.fmsfonline.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoYOb2sPnqA

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Answers to Chapter Pretest

1. False. Sensory memory helps us respond to stimuli, like a sound or a touch. The capacity of sensory memory is limited, unlike short-term memory, which can hold about seven units of information.

2. True. Long-term memories tend not to be exact reproductions. Long-term memory is generative, which fills in missing details of an experience.

3. False. Rehearsal, or repeating information in spaced repetition, can improve the transfer of information from short-term to long-term memory.

4. True. False memory syndrome is a distortion of memory and occurs when sugges- tions from others bring about incorrect memories.

5. False. E-learning is used in distance education, where the students have little to no contact with instructors.

6. False. Benefits of ability groupings are typically found in within-class groupings rather than between-class groupings.

Answers to Chapter Posttest

1. Chunking organizes information into meaningful pieces that improve the capacity of short-term memory.

2. Although explaining a concept could improve your memory, it is not required to move information into storage.

3. Elaboration involves adding more information to help improve memory. An example is adding people’s faces to help remember their names.

4. Proactive interference occurs when previous information interferes with current recall.

5. Moving to new information too quickly could hinder memory because repeating information can improve memory.

6. Summative evaluation measures learning after the material is covered and is typi- cally used to provide a grade.

Key Terms ability grouping Grouping students on the basis of ability for instructional purposes.

between-class grouping The assignment of learners to ability groups or tracks that function in separate classrooms.

central executive system In Baddeley’s model of working memory, the system con- cerned with regulating the flow of informa- tion from sensory storage, processing it for long-term storage, and retrieving it from long-term storage.

chunking A memory process whereby related items are grouped together into more easily remembered chunks.

cocktail party phenomenon The fleeting and unconscious availability for processing of stimuli to which the individual is not pay- ing attention. See also sensory memory.

computer simulation Mimicking or model- ing certain actions, procedures, or phenom- ena using computers.

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constructive memory A descriptive term for long-term memory, meant to emphasize the extent to which remembering involves reconstructing experiences.

course presentation software Programs designed to help teachers and curriculum builders prepare courses and/or delivery systems for instructional purposes.

declarative memory Explicit, conscious long-term memory, in contrast with implicit (or nondeclarative) memory. Declarative memory can be either semantic or episodic. Also termed explicit memory. See also epi- sodic memory, semantic memory.

detracking An educational reform move- ment based on the desire to rid educational systems of homogeneous grouping practices. See also tracking, ability grouping.

distance education Courses that are delivered at a distance, that don’t require on-site student presence. Such courses typi- cally make use of electronic communication technology.

elaboration The addition of pertinent details. Serves to facilitate long-term mem- ory. See also organization, rehearsal.

e-learning Electronic learning, an instruc- tional approach in which computer technol- ogy and the Internet play a central role.

encoding A process whereby we derive meaning from the environment. To encode is to represent in another form.

episodic memory A type of declarative, autobiographical (conscious, long-term) memory consisting of knowledge about personal experiences, often tied to specific times and places. See also semantic memory.

explicit memory See declarative memory.

fading theory The belief that the inability to recall long-term memories increases with the passage of time as memory traces fade. Also termed decay theory.

false-memory syndrome Label used to describe the possibility that a memory— especially of a highly traumatic event—may be a memory of something that has not actu- ally occurred.

flashbulb memories Unusually vivid and relatively permanent recollections of the details surrounding first hearing some emo- tionally significant news.

forgetting The cessation of a response as a function of the passage of time, not to be confused with extinction.

implicit memory See nondeclarative memory.

individualized instruction Instructional procedures that lend themselves to deliber- ate and systematic adaptation to the individ- ual needs, interests, and abilities of students.

intelligent tutor system (ITS) A computer- based learning system that takes into account the individual learner’s strengths and weaknesses and modifies its presenta- tions accordingly.

lesson preparation software Computer programs that assist in the preparation of lessons.

link system A mnemonic system wherein items to be remembered are linked to one another using visual images. See also loci system.

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loci system A mnemonic system wherein items to be remembered are associated with visual images of specific places. See also link system.

long-term memory A type of memory whereby, with rehearsal and recoding of sensory information (processing in terms of meaning, for example), material will be available for recall over a long period of time.

magnetic resonance imaging An MRI, a powerful medical diagnostic tool that makes use of computer-enhanced images of magnetic fields in the body to reveal details about physical and neurological structure and functioning.

mastery learning An instructional approach described by Bloom in which a learning sequence is broken down into spe- cific objectives, and progress requires that each learner master sequential objectives.

memory The storage of the effects that experiences are assumed to have on the human mind. Refers to the storage of these effects.

mnemonic system A systematic aid to remembering, like rhymes, acrostics, or visual imagery systems. See also link system, loci system.

nondeclarative memory Refers to uncon- scious, nonverbalizable effects of experience such as might be manifested in acquired motor skills or classical conditioning. Also termed implicit or procedural memory. See also declarative memory, episodic memory, semantic memory.

organization A memory strategy involving grouping and relating material to maintain it in long-term memory. See also elaboration, rehearsal.

personalized system of instruction (PSI) A mastery learning instructional approach, proposed by Keller, in which course mate- rial is broken down into small units, study is largely individual, a variety of study material is available, and progress depends on perfor- mance on unit tests.

phonological loop In Baddeley’s model of working memory, one of the slave systems responsible for maintaining verbal informa- tion, such as words or numbers, in con- sciousness so that it might be available for working memory.

positron emission tomography Also referred to as a PET scan. A medical diagnos- tic technique and research tool that can be used to provide computer-enhanced images of body structures and of neurological functioning.

proactive interference The interference of earlier learning with the retention of subsequent learning. See also retroactive interference.

processing The intellectual or cognitive activities that occur as stimulus information is reacted to, analyzed, sorted, organized, and either stored in memory or forgotten.

rehearsal A memory process involving rep- etition, important for maintaining informa- tion in short-term memory and transferring it to long-term memory. See also elaboration, organization.

repression A Freudian term for the process by which intensely negative or frightening experiences are lost from conscious memory.

retrieval cue failure Inability to remem- ber due to the unavailability of appropri- ate cues—as opposed to forgetting due to changes in memory traces.

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retroactive interference Evident when subsequent learning interferes with the rec- ollection of previously learned material. See also proactive interference.

semantic memory A type of declarative (conscious, long-term) memory consisting of stable knowledge about the world. Includes language as well as principles, rules, pro- cedures, and other verbalizable aspects of knowledge. See also episodic memory.

sensory memory The simple, unconscious, sensory effect of stimuli such as sounds, tastes, or sights. Also termed short-term sensory storage. See also short-term memory, long-term memory.

short-term memory A type of memory wherein material is available for recall for only a matter of seconds. Short-term mem- ory primarily involves rehearsal rather than more in-depth processing. It defines our immediate consciousness. See also sensory memory, long-term memory.

short-term sensory storage See sensory memory.

tracking A general term for the formation of groups on the basis of any one or more of a variety of student characteristics such as ability, interests, social class, ethnic mem- bership, language background, and voca- tional aspirations.

virtual reality simulations Computer- based simulations that typically involve a number of sensory systems (such as bodily sensations, visual images, and auditory signals) in order to produce a sensation of realism.

visual-spatial sketch pad One of the slave systems in Baddeley’s model of working memory, concerned with the processing of material that is primarily visual or spatial.

within-class grouping Ability groups or tracks that are formed and function within the regular classroom. See also between- class grouping.

ሁ The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is still found in small numbers in very limited mountainous areas of Western Europe, Russia, Asia, India, Northern China, and North America. It is no longer found in the British Isles (Southern, 1964).

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