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Typical Long-Term Memory Storage Processes at Different Grade Levels

Typical Long-Term Memory Storage Processes at Different Grade Levels
photo by: Arewn Abendstern
By J.E. Ormrod
Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall

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.

Excerpted From:

Educational Psychology Developing Learners
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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. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.

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