Developing Children’s Memory Blia Xiong and Youa Thao

Focus The focus were on children in the Lilac Room. Our focus is on children's memory. How can we better understand children's memory recognition and development skills through story mapping? We were trying to understand how children can remember sequence of events of a story that has been read to them.

Process We implement this investigation by observing what type of books the children of the Lilac Room are most interested in. Materials that were included are the followings: Magnet board Color paper characters (being laminated) The Three Little Pigs book A checklist DRDP Measure 29 We first read the story book to the children. Then afterwards asked the children if they can reconstruct the story from memory. The outcomes we see for children is that they get the chance to work on their memory skills, enhance their own understanding of story events being told, and the cause and effect of the story.

Process Continue Timeline March 24-April 3, 2014, pre-test begins. A checklist related to DRDP Measure 29 was used to measure which level the targeted children were at. April 7-April 17, implementation starts. April 21-April 29, implementation continues along with post-test. The same checklist related to DRDP Measure 29 was used for post-test. April 30-May 1, collected and organized data.

Findings 2 out of 10 children were able to complete the story map on their own. 7 out of 10 children completed the story map with a peer’s help. All 10 children were able to manipulate materials. 9 out of 10 children can remember some story objects and routines without being told. 8 out of 10 children memorize/retell the story by relating the main events in sequence. 10 children all made at least one comment about a detail in the book (e.g. “That’s the house with the bricks.”). According to the findings we learned that 3-4 years old children’s memory are at the building stage. The child can store and retrieves their memories. Feedbacks from others:

Reflection According to our findings and results from the inquiry, the inquiry were: Effective Children were able to enhance their memory skills When children are performing the activity with a peer, if another child gets the story line wrong, another child will correct the story mapping by explaining and showing the events in the book. However, we discovered that the location of where the inquiry was located at, made the inquiry less interesting to the children. Children will often move the inquiry to another location where it seemed to please or made it simple for them to complete the task.

Recommendation Set the inquiry in a more accessible area. Provide a larger floor space for the activity. Inquiry could have been extended by creating activities relating to the book, The Three Little Pigs (e.g. child create own pig puppet).

References Galdone, P. (1970). The three little pigs. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  Kienapple, K. & Lange, G. What and how preschool children remember in early childhood education settings. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/contentdeli very/servl et/ERICServlet ?accno Lan, X., Legare C.H., Ponitz, C.C., Li, S., & Morrison F.J. (2011). Investigating the links between the subcomponents of executive function and academic achievement: A cross-cultural analysis of Chinese and American preschoolers. Journal Experimental Child Psychology, 108(3), 677-692. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022 096510002122 Ornstein, P.A., Haden, C. A., & Hedrick, A.M. (Dec. 2004). Learning to Remember: Social Communicative Exchanges and the Development of Children’s Memory Skills. Developmental Review, 24 (4), p. 374-395. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.mantis.csuchico.edu/science/article/pii/S027322970400043 7   Scott. L. C., & Goetz, E. M. (1978). Memorization tasks: Rote learning vs. "fun" learning. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERIC Servlet?accno=ED174357

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