OCEANA – Logbook – memory

Week January, 20th 2017 by Isabelle Malet


Do I have a good memory? Oh my memory fail me …
New chapter with the 8-9 years old children, but how important. Learning, is it memorizing all lessons done in the classroom?


So, to begin, all children are going to experiment situation of memorizing. Memory is at heart of children’s new questions: sure, it’s with our brain that we memorize, but what is the mechanism of memory? Is it efficient?
About 15 times are projected during 30 seconds. Children will have to list them on a paper sheet afterward. 20 minutes after, after the session, they will have to do it again.


By pair, they have to tell to the other a list of number, the other have to repeat what he recall. The list increase and they do it again. They succeed until the line with 7 numbers to repeat, after that, the success rate decrease. Indeed, it is possible to give back a list of number immediately but only for less than 7 numbers.
They is not only one memory but different type of memory. They lived two situations that illustrate short term, working memory and long term memory. Short term or working memory is used to maintain in mind a phone number in mind but is not saved for long. Recall in long term memory was more or less efficient today, according to students. You have students that have strategies and students that realized that it is really difficult to recall information seen one hour before.


We were able to observe a real dynamic between children that shared their own strategies. To memorize is such an essential of learning in school that some students were searching answer on the neighbor sheet even if the exercise wasn’t evaluated.

Next week, before the holidays, we will continue with learning about memory.