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Being exposed to information does not necessarily mean that students will remember that information. Looking at what cognitive research has to say about how the memory works can help you learn how to help students develop more effective memory strategies.
According to the information processing approach, a cognitive theory, information is processed through different levels of memory.
When we first see, hear, feel, smell, or touch something, it enters the sensory store, where it stays just momentarily. Sometimes the memory fades and that information is lost but other times the input proceeds to the working, or short-term, memory where it may stay briefly (e.g., for 15-30 seconds) or as long as the person is actively thinking about it. An example of when you use your working memory is looking up a telephone number and remembering it just long enough to dial the number before forgetting it. The working memory has a limited capacity and can hold only a small number of items briefly. Adults are usually able to hold about seven plus or minus two bits of information (in other words, five to nine bits) in their working memory at one time. So, when students are barraged with more information than that, they are unable to keep it all in mind. They need time to process it so they can move it into long-term memory before it is lost.
The goal of most instruction is to move information from the working memory into the long-term memory. Long-term memory is a permanent storehouse of information. Once something is stored in long-term memory, it is there forever. Sometimes, it may be difficult to retrieve that information, but it remains in long-term memory storage indefinitely.
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