Combating Forgetting Kathleen Riepe Learning Assistance University of Wisconsin-Parkside 2002c

1. Combating ForgettingKathleen RiepeLearning AssistanceUniversity of Wisconsin-Parkside2002c

2. Credits • Becoming A Master Student, 8th edition. • Dave Ellis. Houghton Mifflin. 1997 • How to Study in College, 6th ed. • Walter Pauk. Houghton MIfflin. 1997 • College Reading & Study Skills, 2nd ed • Kathleen McWhorter. Harper Collins. 1997 • Secrets Our Body Clocks Reveal • Perry, Dawson. Macmillan Publishing, 1988 • First Things First • Steven Covey. Simon/ Schuster. 1994 • Photos • Don Lintner, University of Wisconsin-Parkside

3. Get the Big Picture • Making sense of all that Gray Matter • Stress and Memory • Theories of Forgetting • Strategies to Combat Forgetting

4. Why Get the Big Picture? “With hocked gems financing him, he defied all scornful laughter that tried to prevent his scheme. ‘Your eyes deceive,’they said, ‘It is like a table , not an egg.’ Now three sturdy sisters sought truth. As they forged along, sometimes through calm vastness, yet more often over turbulent peaks and valleys, their days became weeks as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the edge. At last, from nowhere winged creatures appeared, signifying the journey’s end.”

5. Billiards and the Brain

6. PBS. ORG Three D Animation

7. Synapse Firing Neurons

8. Neurons

10. Cerebellum

11. Limbic System

12. Occipital Lobe

13. Parietal Lobe

14. Temporal Lobe

15. Short Term Memory

16. Long Term Memory

17. Movement

18. Stress and Anxiety Explaining Controlling

19. Recognizing Stress & Anxiety: Symptoms • Pounding Heart • Shaking • Dizziness • Sweating Palms • Shortness of Breath • Headache • Irritability • Mental Blankness

20. Explaining Anxiety:Fight or Flight: The Body’s Natural Response to a Threat to its Physical Wellbeing Intellectual Wellbeing Social Wellbeing is toRelease Adrenalin and Cortisol to Fight the Threat or to Flee from the Threat

21. Controlling Anxiety: By Breaking the Cortisol Grip

22. Cortisol - The stress hormone • In response to stressful situations • The hormone cortisol is released into the body • Memory is significantly impaired Quervain, University of Zurich

23. Cortisol - The stress hormone • Limiting stress is the single biggest way to get your brain to work better • Ongoing stress on a regular basis interferers with the ability to think well. • Brain lives on oxygen and glucose. • Stress slows down circulation to the brain. • Body doesn’t consider the brain all that vital at the time of fight or flight.

24. Control the cortisol by fooling your Limbic Brain • Humor • Time Management • Posture Message • Breathing • Going to Your Fantasy Place • Healthy Lifestyle • Nourish your Brain • Exercise your Brain • Rest your brain

25. Humor • Time Management • Posture Message • Breathing • Going to Your Fantasy Place • Healthy Lifestyle • Nourish your Brain • Exercise your Brain • Rest your brain

26. Happily Ever Laughter • Laughing releases the feel good hormone – endorphine- also a natural pain killer. • Laughing lowers your blood pressure and heart rate. • Laughing raises T-lymphocytes in your body. • Increases your immune system . • There is a 45 minutes residual chemical effect in your body after hearty laughter.

27. Posture Message: Tells your limbic system everything is fine. • Sit confidently • Hold your head up • Smile or Chuckle to yourself

28. Breathing: Don’t Forget! • Best exchange of Oxygen occurs in the bottom one third of your lungs. • Slowly • Breath in through the nose to count of 4 • Breath Out through the mouth to count of 4

29. Practice Going to Your PersonalFantasy Spot Several times a day Take three deep, cleansing breaths Close your eyes Imagine a peaceful place Notice every detail - sounds, sights, smells etc. Tune out the rest of the world Let the calmness engulf you

30. THEORIES OF FORGETTING • Use it or Lose It • It’s Gotta Be There Somewhere • Fighting for a Spot • Caught in the Crossfire • Negative Attitude

31. Memory Strategies • Activate Previous Knowledge • Kinesthetics • Meaningful Organization • Dialog with the Author • Mnemonics • One Hour Rule • Lesson From the Packers

32. 1. Activate Previous Knowledge • Columbus • Think about the topic • Write yourself questions • Four minute Freewrite

33. 2. Kinesthetics • The sense (formerly known as touch) that detects body position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints. • Muscle Reading • Highlight and Mark your text • Keyboard your notes • Act out information in role play

34. Take Advantage of All the Pathways Most students use primarily sight and hearing Memory is enhanced when we maximize the use of other pathways such as our sense of kinesthesia

35. Kinesthetic Learners transfer information into the brain via the sense of touch Sense of Touch

36. 2. Organize in a Meaningful Way -- Chunking • Causes of the Civil War • No financial backing from wealthy • No investment from industry • Social causes • No tolerance for Lincoln • Desire to keep plantation economy • Economic causes • Moral concern about slavery • Lack of capital to buy ammunition • Political causes • Desire of South to keep power • Desire to maintain “Southern Way of Life”

37. Organize in a Meaningful Way Causes of the Civil War Social Causes Moral Concern over Slavery Desire to Maintain “Southern Way of Life Economic Causes No Financial Backing from wealthy No investment from industry Desire to Keep Plantation Economy Lake of Capital to buy ammunition Political Causes No tolerance for Lincoln Desire of South to keep power

38. Dialogue with the Author • Put a face and a voice behind the pages • Learn about the Author • Preface • Title Page • Cover • Make Reading an interactive two way process • Not a one way passive activity

39. 3. Mnemonics Make an Immediate Connection • Hippocampus – Important to Memory • Hippopotami are large. I want my memory to be large. • Synapse sounds like “gap” in the middle • HDL- Good cholesterol should be high • LDL- Bad cholesterol should be low • Foil – First Outer; Inner last

40. 4. One Hour Rule • Within ONE HOUR you should review in one or all of the ways listed • Think about the topic • Reread notes • Rewrite notes • Recite/Talk • Teach the topic

41. Retention Curve • One Hour Rule • The Bad News: • Within only one hour, you will forget half of any new information you learn • The Good News • You can intervene by various forms of immediate review

42. Immediate Review • Within ONE HOUR you should review in one or all of the ways listed • Thinking about the topic is a good idea • However, teaching the topic to someone is one of the best ways to retain new information • Think about the topic • Reread notes • Rewrite notes • Recite/Talk • Teach the topic

43. Periodic Review • Review at intervals of about one day, two weeks and monthly to keep the information fresh • Use any or all of the techniques listed • Waiting until the last minute to cram is ineffective • Short, frequent study sessions are most beneficial

44. 5. A Lesson from the PackersWhy Last Minute Cramming Is not Effective • Before the Super Bowl, did the Packers stay up all night long playing football, getting only a couple hours of sleep, then get up and play the big game? • Of course not! They practiced several hours everyday. • They ate healthy and got a good night’s rest the night before the big game.

45. Avoid Cramming Before a Test • When you use your brain for long periods of extended cognitive functions (thinking/studying), the chemicals that help conduct the electrical firings across the synapses from neuron to neuron get used up. • These chemicals need time to recharge so that your brain can work more effectively.

46. Memory Strategies • Activate Previous Knowledge • Kinesthetics • Meaningful Organization • Dialog with the Author • Mnemonics • One Hour Rule • Lesson From the Packers