1. Four Ways to Improve Student Memory (and your own!) Marilee Sprenger brainlady@gmail.com

2. Number One:Work Working Memory Adults: After 5 weeks of training, brain activity increased (Nature Neuroscience) Children: Working memory workouts showed improvement in a range of cognitive abilities and… Higher IQ scores (8%)

3. Those with low working memory capacity should make every effort to work in a distraction-free environment, to clear their minds of distracting thoughts, focus on only one goal at a time, and reduce the amount of information they’re processing at one time as much as possible. And the most useful way in which you can ‘improve’ your working memory capacity is by becoming sufficiently skilled at particular tasks so that they take up less working memory

4. “Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” Roger C. Schank, Cognitive scientist Fact: the queen died and the king died. Story: the queen died and the king died of a broken heart. E.M. Forster Number Two: Storytelling

5. Number Three: VISUALIZING · Create a map of the U.S. · Draw a picture of the inside of a computer · Draw a picture of a concept, such as freedom · Create a blueprint of the school or your classroom · Play Pictionary® · Create symbols for certain concepts, such as a torch for freedom

6. Number Four: Mnemonics

7. 1.One is bunPat your hands like a bun 2.Two is shoeWith two fingers point to your feet 3.Three is treePut your hands up in the air 4.Four is doorOpen the door 5.Five is hiveBat at the bees 6.Six is bricksLift a heavy brick 7.Seven is heavenPoint up to the sky 8.Eight is gateHop over the gate 9.Nine is lineDraw a line in the air 10.Ten is henFlap your arms like wings

8. 11. Goalpost Hold up your two pointer fingers 12. EggsCrack an egg 13. Black catPet the cat 14. HeartMake a heart with your fingers 15. FameSpread your arms and say “Fame!” 16. DrivingDrive a car 17. MagazineTurn the pages of a magazine 18. VoteMake a check mark in the air 19. Remote controlClick the remote to change the channel 20. 20-20 visionMake circles over your eyes like glasses

9. Body File 1.Head 2.Nose 3.Mouth 4.Shoulders 5.Arms 6.Hands 7.Waist 8.Thighs 9.Knees 10.Feet

11. References Baddely, A. (1998). Memory Sprenger, M. (2005). How to Teach so Students Remember Sprenger, M. (2006). Differentiation through Learning Styles and Memory Sprenger, M. (1999). Learning and Memory, The Brain in Action Thwait, B. (2007). The Big Learn