Issue 3: Memory Retention During a Lecture
Did you know?
Research shows most students are incapable of remembering 75 percent of what they hear during a 40- to 50-minute lecture until about the sixth grade, and even until high school for some students.*
"Creative thinking may simply mean the realization that there is no particular virtue in doing things the way they have always been done." –Rudolph Flesch, Educator
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The focus of this issue is HOW TO ENHANCE STUDENT RETENTION DURING A LECTURE.
Tips
Three quick ways to spice up a lecture and improve your students' retention:
- Come to class dressed according to the topic of your planned lecture. For a history lesson, for example, come dressed as a famous person from the era your class is studying. Tell the class about your character. Throughout your lecture, use props to illustrate particular points you want to address. Check your students' recall by holding up the props again at the end of the lesson and asking your students what they remember about the part of the lecture to which each prop related.
- Divide a lecture into segments and intersperse the class period with at least one of the following sensory activities: moving around the classroom in pairs and repeating back to each other what they've just learned, drawing a graphic organizer or a picture to demonstrate their understanding of the material, sharing as a class how the lecture's content applies to their personal lives.
- Offer extra credit to students who volunteer to lead in a peer teaching activity. For every lecture you plan, give a volunteer a subject-related article to read in advance. Before you begin your lecture, give the student five minutes to educate his or her classmates on the topic of the article. Allow time for the peer teacher to answer any questions the class may have.
The above examples model a concept called "Auditory Plus One" (the concept of adding another sensory approach — visual, kinesthetic, or tactual — to a traditional auditory lesson).
Reference:
*R. Dunn (1988). Capitalizing on students' perceptual strengths to ensure literacy while engaging in conventional lecture/discussion. Reading Psychology, 9, , 431-453.
