The table below lists the developmental trends of the typical long-term memory storage processes at different grade levels for children from kindergarten to high school.
| Grade Level |
Age-Typical Characteristics |
Suggested Strategies |
| K-2 |
- Organization of physical objects as a way to remember them
- Appearance of rehearsal to remember verbal material; used infrequently and relatively ineffectively
- Emerging ability to use visual imagery to enhance memory, especially if an adult suggests this strategy
- Few intentional efforts to learn, remember, or elaborate on verbal material; learning and memory resulting from other things children do (creating things, talking about events, listening to stories, etc.)
|
- Get students actively involved in topics, perhaps through hands-on activities, engaging reading materials, or fantasy play.
- Relate new topics to students' prior experiences.
- Model rehearsal as a strategy for remembering things over the short run.
- Provide pictures that illustrate verbal material.
|
| 3-5 |
- Spontaneous, intentional, and increasingly effective use of rehearsal to remember things for a short time period
- Increasing use of organization as an intentional learning strategy for verbal information
- Increasing effectiveness in use of visual imagery as a learning strategy
|
- Emphasize the importance of making sense of, rather than memorizing, information.
- Encourage students to organize what they are studying; suggest possible organizational structures for topics.
- Provide a variety of visual aids to facilitate visual imagery, and suggest that students create their own visual images of filings they need to remember.
|
| 6-8 |
- Predominance of rehearsal as a learning strategy
- Greater abstractness and flexibility in categories used to organize information
- Emergence of elaboration as an intentional learning strategy
|
- Suggest questions that students might ask themselves as they study; emphasize questions that promote elaboration (e.g., "Why would _______ do that?" "How is _______ different from _______?").
- " Assess true understanding (rather than rote memorization) in assignments and quizzes.
|
| 9-12 |
- Continuing reliance on rehearsal as an intentional learning strategy, especially by low-achieving adolescents
- Increasing use of organization and elaboration to learn, especially by high-achieving adolescents
|
- Ask thought-provoking questions that engage students' interest and help students see the relevance of topics for their own lives.
- Have students work in mixed-ability cooperative groups, in which high-achieving students can model effective learning strategies for low-achieving students.
|
Sources: Barnett, 2001; Bjorklund & Coyle, 1995; Bjorklund & Jacobs, 1985; Bjorklund et al, 1994; DeLoache & Todd, 1988; Fivush, Haden, & Adam, 1995; Flavell et al, 2002; Gathercole & Hitch, 1993; Kail, 1990; Kosslyn, Margolis, Barrett, Goldknopf, & Daly, 1990; Kunzinger, 1985; Lucariello, Kyratzis, & Nelson, 1992; L. S. Newman, 1990; Plumert, 1994; Pressley, 1977, 1982; Pressley & Hilden, 2006; Schneider & Pressley, 1989; E. Wood et al, 1999.
Excerpt from Educational Psychology Developing Learners , by J.E. Ormrod, 2008 edition, p. 214.
© 2008, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
