What Affects Children’s Memory for Learning?
Pretty recently, I saw a post on Instagram saying something along these lines…
Kids Remember:
10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
70% of what they say & write
90% of what they do
Which is great visually, it makes you consider how important learning by doing would be in comparison to reading. But the neuroscientist in me made me question all the even numbers. As much as I’d love to see a list of numbers rounded to the tenth degree, it almost never happens when we’re reading research. It also made me consider my experience as an OT, and other kiddos in treatment that learn differently. I have read research that states people who are using different sensory systems to learn a new task or skill, have a better chance at retaining it. But, I couldn’t help but question where that statement derives from.
Here’s what I found…
There was an educational theorist named Edgar Dale in the 1960’s who developed a theory that “learning by doing” allows for individuals to learn better as opposed to hearing, seeing or reading information (See Table Below). This has become known today as “experiential learning” or “action learning”. As much as the premise of his theory may hold true, the numbers don’t seem to play out accurately in research.
Here’s what we do know about kids learning patterns (based on research):
Everyone Learns differently. The way the brain stores information may be similar, but the efficiency and the way we process things as individuals vary.
Read with your child! The earlier the better, it has proven to support emotional well being, speech, reading (themselves), empathy towards others. Even having children read with caregivers helps children feel closer to their parents.
The more familiar children are with an item, the better their memory is on it. This emphasizes the importance of exposure to different environments/topics for learning.
Young children often forget the strategies for memory strategies, and need someone to remind them. Giving credit to the coaches in our families.
Preschoolers tend to remember things they did better than things they saw. Supporting Montessori style of Education.
One research study showed that children ages 2.5-3.5 whose mothers used highly elaborative techniques in conversation when talking to their children, recalled more detailed memories than those that did not. Mothers also tended to speak to girls with more elaborative techniques than boys, which may explain why women tend to have more detailed and vivid memories from an early age than men.
***Highly elaborative language techniques include; asking a child a question that elicits more information. For example, After asking a child “Do you remember how we traveled to Florida?” receiving an answer, “No,” from the child then asking “Did we go by car or plane?”
A low elaborative language technique would follow up with (repetition) “How did we get there? We went in the _____.”
Bilingual children tend to have better attentional control, which may enable them to focus on what is true rather than on what only seems to be so.
To see a visual of the E. Dale, Audiovisual Methods in Teaching, click here
To learn more, please feel free to reach out to me at smplytherapy@gmail.com.
Resources:
Subramony, D., Molenda, M., Betrus, A., and Thalheimer, W. (2014). The Mythical Retention Chart and the Corruption of Dale’s Cone of Experience. Educational Technology, Nov/Dec 2014, 54(6), 6-16.
Subramony, D., Molenda, M., Betrus, A., and Thalheimer, W. (2014). Previous Attempts to Debunk the Mythical Retention Chart and Corrupted Dale’s Cone. Educational Technology, Nov/Dec 2014, 54(6), 17-21.
Subramony, D., Molenda, M., Betrus, A., and Thalheimer, W. (2014). The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Bibliographic Essay on the Corrupted Cone. Educational Technology, Nov/Dec 2014, 54(6), 22-31.
Subramony, D., Molenda, M., Betrus, A., and Thalheimer, W. (2014). Timeline of the Mythical Retention Chart and Corrupted Dale’s Cone. Educational Technology, Nov/Dec 2014, 54(6), 31-24.
