For many years I have been teaching my students that the best way to ‘memorize’ something is to think about it, to understand it, and to practice with different approaches within the concept. This blog elaborates even further about the connection between thinking and memorizing.
A few weeks ago I read this post by Joe Kirby on Knowledge Organisers. It made a great deal of sense to me for 3 main reasons:
1. It reminded me of how I learnt to spell – I’d learn the words, cover them up, write them out and then check my spellings. This process was then repeated – and it worked.
2. Students having to think about and recall knowledge, is going to make them remember it. To quote Daniel Willingham:
3. I teach science – a subject that requires students to be able to recall a great deal of knowledge. What’s the point of teaching them how to structure a 6 mark extended writing answer, if they haven’t got the knowledge in the first place? It’s like asking a builder to build a wall, without any bricks.
Knowledge organisers seemed to address all three of these points. …
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David J Terrell 