WORKING MEMORY: THE TEMPORARY STORAGE SYSTEM OF THE BRAIN.

 

Working memory: The Temporary Storage System of The Brain.

In our previous post, we talked about executive functioning skills and how important they are for your kids. If you have read that post, you will agree with me that the value of these skills cannot be over-emphasized. So in this post, we will take a broader look at one of the executive functioning skills- Working Memory. We will discuss its importance and explore ways through which we can help our kids to acquire it as a skill and set them up for success.

 

What is Working Memory?

Working memory involves one having the ability to store information in one’s mind and being able to call it up for future use. It is also referred to as short-term memory.

Assume that you asked your son to go to the store down the road to get you a list of 5 items and even when you asked him to repeat the items you told him to buy and he did that perfectly. Then after the 10-minute walk to the shop, he is struggling to remember the items you asked him to buy. He would need to possess an excellent working memory to recall the exact 5 items you asked him to buy. It is also required in school activities. Another instance where working memory is utilized is when a pupil is required to solve a class problem by following the same steps which the teacher had used earlier in solving the problem. So working memory could be viewed as the ability to remember things after a while.

Any child that must excel academically needs to have a good grip on working memory.

Importance of Working Memory

Working memory is important for the following reasons.

     1.       It helps a child to remember how to apply formulas to solve math questions.

     2.       It also helps one to engage in group discussions and contribute intelligently.

     3.       It improves the ability to carry out instructions and complete tasks without omitting any of the tasks.

    4.       It is needed for reading and comprehension.

    5.       It also improves fluency in reading.

    6.       It is a very important skill needed for problem-solving. A lot of children who struggle with problem-solving usually have a deficiency in working memory.

 

Activities That Help to Build Working Memory.

     1.       You can encourage your child to teach you something you just taught him or he just read. Don’t pressure him if he can’t remember everything, just keep at it, and he will improve.

     2.       Teach your child to utilize reading skills and tools. Some reading tools include:

                  a.        using a highlighter to mark important points so it sticks in the memory for longer

b.      Use of visual cues: That is associating a concept you are trying to study or memorize with objects, diagrams, pictures, symbols or words. If for instance, your child is learning the concept of “good manners” he can utilize visual cues by pasting pictures that portray good manners around his room or anywhere else he can easily access them. Some of these pictures could include, a child greeting an elder, a child sweeping his classroom or a child giving back money he saw on the ground which belongs to someone else.

c.       Teach mind mapping in reading ( Mind mapping involves writing a central theme about what you are reading or the task to be done and then attaching other secondary points to this central point in a diagrammatic presentation. The brain remembers pictorial information longer than textual information. So mind mapping is a very valuable reading tool and it works well to boost working memory not only in children but adults too.

d.      Create mnemonics/memory aids (learning technique that helps to retain and retrieve information in the human memory to improve understanding) like ROYGBIV for the seven colours of the rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet) or MR D NIGER (for the characteristics of living things). There are so many types of mnemonics. Some of them include:

i.                     Rhyming mnemonics e.g. the rhyme used to remember  the number of days in each month - “30 days hath September, April, June and November--------”

ii.                   Song mnemonics e.g. the song used by Pre-K and early years pupils to learn the alphabet— “ABCD-EFG-HIJKLMNOP------”

iii.                  Chunking mnemonics: This involves breaking large concepts into smaller ones e.g. breaking down a mobile number 0123456789 into 012-345-6789 makes it easier to memorize

iv.                 Acronyms mnemonics: This involves forming a word using the first letter of the individual words that make up an institution or agency. e.g. W.H.O to represent World Health Organization

v.                   Acrostic mnemonics: this involves using the first letter of every word on a list to string a sentence. e.g. Using the sentence below (left) to remember the planets in the solar system(right) in their correct order.

Others include keyword mnemonics, connection mnemonics, method of loci mnemonics, peg method mnemonics, etc.

     3.       Teach your children to journal or create small notes from a volume of reading. The small notes are usually a concise summary of the main concept and this method also helps the memory to retain information better.

    4.       Practice mental math: Mental Math are math questions that the child has limited time to think out the answers to and supply. This activity will stretch and build the brain’s memory. 

    5.       Play memory games like

a.       10 things about me: Have the children sit in pairs. In each group/pair let the first child tell the second child 10 things about himself/herself. After which the second child is to repeat the 10 things the first child told him/her in the order in which it was said. (The first child could write it down just so the answers given by the second child could be compared to know how well he was able to remember all he was told). They can now switch places and the memory game is repeated.

b.       I Love the colour, ----:  In this activity children form a group in a circle. Child 1 starts with the statement “It is a beautiful day, and I love the colour blue”. Child 2 continues saying “It is a beautiful day and I love the colour blue, I love the colour red”. Child 3 continues saying “It is a beautiful day, and I love the colour blue, I love the colour red, and I love the colour yellow”. It continues in this form with the next child repeating what the previous have said in the same order and then adding his colour preference until someone fails and gets taken out of the game. It continues until a final winner emerges.

c.       Hold up a board or cardboard paper on which different pictures or numbers or alphabets or shapes, or colours are stuck for a brief second (about 10 seconds) and put it away. Then have each child recall what was shown to him. For each round, you increase the difficulty level by either reducing the viewing time or by increasing the items placed on the board.

d.      Card games can help too because to win the child has to remember the rules of the game.

e.      Letters Unscramble: You can ask the children to form the correct word from an unscrambled word e.g. forming BRIDE from DERIB or you can ask them to make up all the words that can be formed from a word e.g.  Forming RATE, TRUE, ATE, ARE, ERA, TEA, EAT, TEMPER, TEMPERATE, RUE, RUT, MAP, MAT, MATE, from the word “TEMPERATURE”.

f.        IDENTIFY THE MISSING CARD: Have a series of cards face up and have a child look at it for about 20 seconds. The child closes his eyes and then a random card is removed, after which he opens his eyes and must determine which card was removed.

g.       SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: show two almost identical images to the child and let him point out the difference(s).

     6.       Improve their brain power by giving them brain-empowering nutrition. Some fruits like blueberries and nuts like walnuts do wonders for the brain. To know more about the type of nutrition that boosts brain power for your kids, read my post on brain development and nutrition here.

    7.       Physical exercise and good sleep also help brain development and will boost working memory skills.

Working memory is practically needed in all our daily activities, so children must be empowered with it for their overall success.

Did you get value, leave a comment, suggestion, or question. Also, read the other posts on our blog about Executive functioning skills.