By Understanding Brain Science, Teachers Can Enhance Student Memory

As teachers, we want to do everything we can to enhance students’ ability to remember what we teach. By understanding some basic brain science, we can improve student memory, especially for those students with a LBLD whose memories may be weak to begin with.

According to Dr. Judith Willis, a neuroscientist turned elementary and middle school teacher, the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is the part of the brain that constructs memory. However, information will not reach this region of the brain if the brain feels stressed. The amygdala, which controls our emotions, will obstruct the transfer of information to the PFC if it is experiencing a state of high stress.

Stress can be defined as not only anxiety or fear, but also includes feeling boredom and – especially important for students – feeling that information is not relevant.

Furthermore, if information is short circuited by the amygdala, not only does it never reach the reflective PFC and site of memory-making, it can also lead to student zoning out or even acting out. 

For the classroom teacher, teaching to reduce mental stress and enhance memeory can be accomplished by creating engaging lessons that incorporate:

• novelty
• topic relevance
• student movement
• student choices
• student collaboration

Students will remember you for it!