Why Students Struggle to Learn: Assessing Memory and...

Assessing Memory and Learning

Gloria Maccow, Ph.D., Assessment Training Consultant

Copyright © 2013. Pearson, Inc., and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 1

Why Students Struggle to Learn:


Gloria Maccow, Ph.D.

Assessment Training Consultant

Agenda

• The process of learning and remembering.

• Theories of memory and learning.

• Commonly used assessments of memory and

learning.

2 | Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.




Do you know a student who . . .

• frequently asks for repetition of directions?

• takes a long time to answer orally presented

math questions?

• forgets what she is doing in the middle of the

task?

• frequently forgets to turn in homework?


Process of Learning and

Remembering Brief Review




The Process of Learning

• Learning is the process of acquiring

information.

• What are the cognitive factors that

enable students to show what they know

and can do?

– How do they collect, sort, store, and

retrieve information? (Miller, 2007)

– How do they receive, perceive, process,

and remember information? (Elliott, 2007)


Sensory-Motor Functions Attentional Processes

Executive Functions

Memory and Learning Processes

Language Processes Visual-Spatial Processes

Speed and Efficiency of Cognitive Processing

Overall Cognitive Functioning and Academic Achievement

Social-Emotional, Cultural, Environmental, and Situational Factors

Learning – A Multi-Factorial Process (Miller, 2007)





Memory and Learning


Learning Process of acquiring information.

Memory

“Persistence of learning in a state

that can be revealed at a later

time.” (Squire, 1987).

Stages of Memory and Learning

Stage 1 Encoding

External information is

transformed into mental

representations or memories

and stored in STM.

Stage 2 Consolidation/

Storage

Information from immediate

memory is solidified into

long-term memory stores.

Stage 3 Retrieval Information is brought into

conscious awareness.





Theories of

Memory and Learning

Capacity

Coding

Duration

Modal Model of Memory

Sensory memory

Short-term memory

Long-term memory


Three Modes of Memory

Based on

(Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)




Modes of Memory: Features


Type of Memory

Capacity Coding Duration

Sensory High

• Five Senses • Sense Specific • Visual (Iconic) • Verbal (Echoic)

At most several seconds

Short-term

• Limited • Number

Seven Theory

Mainly auditory (recoding visual info to sounds)

• < 1 minute • Indefinitely if

continually rehearsed

Long-term

Unlimited • Mainly Semantic • Can be visual and

auditory

Minutes to lifetime (days, months, years)

Types of Long-term Memory


Long-term Memory

Declarative

(Explicit) Memory

Nondeclarative

(Implicit) Memory

Episodic

Memory

Semantic

Memory

Conditioned

Reflexes

Procedural

Memory




Evidence Against the Modal Model

– Factors other than rehearsal influence LTM.

– STM and LTM not unitary store (Baddeley &

Hitch, 1974).

– Craik & Lockhart (1972); Gazzaniga (2002).

The Modal Model: Evidence


Evidence for the Modal Model

– Serial Order Position Effect

– Primacy Effect

– Recency Effect

Alternative Model of STM:

Working Memory


(Baddeley & Hitch, 1974; Baddeley, 2000)




Neuroanatomical

Evidence for WM

Model of Memory


http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_07/i_07_

cr/i_07_cr_tra/i_07_cr_tra.html

Commonly Used Assessments

of Memory and Learning




Examples of Stand-Alone Tests of Memory and Learning


Area of Memory Assessed

CVLT–C (Ages 5-16 yrs)

CMS (Ages 5-16 yrs)

TOMAL-2 (Ages 5-

59:11 yrs)

WRAML2 (Ages 5-90

yrs)

WMS-IV (Ages 16-

90 yrs)

Verbal Immediate

Visual Immediate

Verbal LTM

Visual LTM

Verbal-Visual Associative

(5-8 yrs)

Working Memory

(16-69 yrs)

Semantic Memory

Examples of Embedded Tests of Memory and Learning


Area of Memory Assessed

KABC-2 (Ages 3-18 yrs)

NEPSY-II (Ages 3-16 yrs)

WISC-IV (Ages 6-

16:11 yrs)

WPPSI-IV (Ages 2:6-

7:7 yrs)

DAS-II (Ages 2:6-17:11 yrs)

Verbal Immediate

Visual Immediate

Verbal LTM

Visual LTM

Verbal-Visual Associative

Working Memory

Semantic Memory




Examples from Different Tests

(Not included in handout)

What do the Data tell us about

Memory and Learning?




Verbal Memory

Test/Subtest Standard

Score Percentile

Rank

Verbal Short-term Memory

DAS-II Recall of Digits Forward 112 79

Verbal Long-Term Memory

NEPSY-II List Memory Delayed 95 37

Verbal Working Memory

DAS-II Recall of Digits Backward 104 61

NEPSY-II Word List Interference Repetition Score 110 75

NEPSY-II Word List Interference Recall Score 100 50


Visual Memory


Score Percentile

Rank

Visual and Visual-Spatial Short-term Memory

NEPSY-II: Memory for Designs-Immediate Total Score 85 16

NEPSY-II: Memory for Designs-Immediate Content Score 105 63

NEPSY-II: Memory for Designs-Immediate Spatial Score 85 16

Visual and Visual-Spatial Long-Term Memory

NEPSY-II: Memory for Designs Delayed Total Score 85 16

NEPSY-II: Memory for Designs Delayed Content Score 95 37

NEPSY-II: Memory for Designs Delayed Spatial Score 80 9

Visual and Visual-Spatial Working Memory

NEPSY-II: Recall of Sequential Order 102 54





Verbal-Visual Associative Learning


Score Percentile

Rank

Verbal-Visual Associative Learning

KABC-II: Atlantis Immediate 80 9

KABC-II: Atlantis Delayed 75 5

KABC-II: Rebus Immediate 100 50

KABC-II: Rebus Delayed 95 37


Summary of Results

• Student was able to learn new information when the

information was presented verbally with repetition

and when he had time to rehearse.

• He can learn visually presented information as well

as others his age if demands to recall visual spatial

details are limited, and if he has time to recode the

information verbally, and use verbal rehearsal—his

primary learning strategy.

• When overwhelmed by a large amount of visual and

verbal information that must be learned

simultaneously, Student became impulsive and made

errors.





Summary of Results

• If the verbal information was more abstract or he had

trouble linking it to something he already knew, he

had difficulty encoding the paired information into

short-term memory, resulting in less information

available for learning.

• He also lost or forgot new information over time

when interrupted or asked to perform an intervening

task. As a result, he may learn partial or incorrect

information.


Recommendations

• Student depends heavily on his verbal learning

strategies. Allow and encourage him to talk his way

quietly through problem solving, to use verbal

rehearsal to support memory, and to discuss with

others information he is in the process of learning.

• Provide instruction and practice in the use of visual

imagery to enhance the encoding, storage, and

retrieval of information to help Student compensate

for memory deficits.





Recommendations

• He would also benefit from expanding his limited

learning strategies beyond verbal rehearsal and

mediation to include visual strategies such as color

coding, semantic mapping, and the use of graphic

organizers and visual mnemonics.

• Strategy instruction must be explicit and should

include continuous opportunities to practice

selecting the most appropriate strategy to use in a

given learning situation.


Strategies to Improve Encoding

• Focus attention.

• Ignore competing stimuli.

• Use different sensory modalities.

• Preview information to be encoded.

(Pearson Longman)





Strategies to Improve Storage

• Use immediate review.

• Use numerous sensory channels to store

information.

• Organize or recode information.

• Use elaboration, chunking, mnemonics.

• Connect new learning with previous

learning.


(Pearson Longman)

Strategies to Improve Retrieval

• Use visualization.

• Develop retrieval cues.

• Anticipate and simulate retrieval tasks.

• Learn beyond mastery (over-learning).


(Pearson Longman)




Summary

• To learn and remember, students must

– Encode information in STM

– Consolidate information in LTM, and

– Retrieve information from LTM.

• If a student’s classroom achievement is consistently

below expected levels, it may be necessary to assess

cognitive abilities, including memory.

• The assessment of memory should include tests that

provide information on encoding, storage, and

retrieval of different types of information.


References

Atkinson, R. C. & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human

memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In

K. W. Spence & J. T. Spence (Eds.). The psychology of

learning and motivation, Vol. 2, (pp. 89-195). New York:

Academic Press.

Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working

memory. In G. H Bower (Ed.), The psychology of

learning and motivation, Vol 8. London: Academic

Press.

Baddeley, A. D. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new

component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive

Science, 4, 417-423.





References

Baddeley, A. D. (2003). Working memory: Looking

back and looking forward. Neuroscience, 4, 829-839.

Baddeley, A. D. (2012). Working memory: Theories,

models, and controversies. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 63:1–

29.

Craik, F. I. M. Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of

processing: a framework for memory research. Journal

of Learning and Verbal Behaviors, 11, 671-684.

Elliott, C. (2007). Differential Ability Scales-Second

Edition: Introductory and technical handbook.

Bloomington, MN: Pearson.


References

Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry, R. B., & Mangun, G. R.

Cognitive neuroscience: The biology of the mind (2nd

ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Miller, D. C. (2007). Essentials of school

neuropsychological assessment. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Squire, L. R. (1987). Memory and brain. New York:

Oxford University Press.





Next Webinar in the Series

Identifying Subtypes of

Mathematics Disabilities

Sally Kemp, Ph.D. & Gloria Maccow, Ph.D.

December 11, 2013

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