Memory in Educational Settings
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0230
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0230
Introduction
One of the goals of education is for learners to not only take in new knowledge, but also be able to unleash it in new and creative ways. Learning (the acquisition of skill or knowledge) is a process, and memory is the expression of that process. The expression may be as simple as being able to repeat information that was taught (regurgitation, recall), or as complex as being able to apply that new knowledge to new situations (application and transfer), and to combine elements in innovative ways (creating). Learning and memory are therefore central to education, and yet it is surprising how little teachers learn about and discuss how individuals learn and recall information. Cognitive and educational psychology researchers start at the basics—memory dynamics and the underlying processes that are engaged in learning—and leverage this knowledge in designing instruction. We begin this bibliography with a couple of historical overviews that highlight how the dominant approaches to learning and instruction have changed over the past century, and then focus in particular on the cognitive, information-processing approach. Two prominent cognitive frameworks will be discussed that approach strategies for enhancing learning and memory in different ways: cognitive load theory and desirable difficulties. The cognitive load theory framework starts with the fact that cognitive processing capacity (e.g., working memory) is highly limited. In this framework, the focus for improving learning is to reduce cognitive load to better direct learners’ attention to critical features of to-be-learned materials, hence improving encoding. In the desirable difficulties framework, in contrast, the focus for improving learning is to increase active and elaborative processing of information. In many ways, the side effect of this is not to reduce difficulty for the learner, but to increase the experience of difficulty and challenge. The focus of the desirable difficulties framework is not just on improving the initial encoding of information, but also on its maintenance and retrieval. Many learning strategies and instructional design techniques come out of these frameworks, with substantial effects on learning. We not only list the literature on each learning strategy, but also consider how these strategies interact with individual differences, and with learners’ metacognitive judgments and beliefs. What is apparent from the literature is that more popular strategies are often relatively ineffective, while effective strategies are often underappreciated. Learning and memory can be enhanced in educational settings, but strategies and techniques must be learner-centered and based on empirical evidence.
Foundational Perspectives
The references in this section are intended to provide a context to understand the references in the other sections. The first subsection contains Historical Overviews, which detail the ways in which psychologists have approached memory and education in the past, to understand how we approach memory and education in the present. The following two sections discuss two different frameworks for understanding how to improve learning—one in which learning is made easier (cognitive load theory), and one in which learning is made more challenging (desirable difficulties and productive failure). These two frameworks may at first glance appear to be incompatible, but they both ultimately emphasize the importance of underlying cognitive processes, and together they illustrate the care and complexity that is required to understand how to improve learning and instruction. Finally, the Literature Overviews section directs the reader to a few resources that summarize the different areas of research to provide specific recommendations for learners and instructors.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abnormal Psychology
- Academic Assessment
- Acculturation and Health
- Action Regulation Theory
- Action Research
- Addictive Behavior
- Adolescence
- Adoption, Social, Psychological, and Evolutionary Perspect...
- Adulthood
- Affective Forecasting
- Ageism
- Ageism at Work
- Aggression
- Allport, Gordon
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA)
- Anger
- Animal Behavior
- Animal Learning
- Anxiety Disorders
- Art and Aesthetics, Psychology of
- Assessment and Clinical Applications of Individual Differe...
- Attachment in Social and Emotional Development across the ...
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Adults
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Childre...
- Attitudes
- Attitudinal Ambivalence
- Attraction in Close Relationships
- Attribution Theory
- Authoritarian Personality
- Autism
- Bayesian Statistical Methods in Psychology
- Behavior Therapy, Rational Emotive
- Behavioral Economics
- Behavioral Genetics
- Belief Perseverance
- Bereavement and Grief
- Biological Psychology
- Birth Order
- Body Image in Men and Women
- Burnout
- Bystander Effect
- Childhood and Adolescence, Peer Victimization and Bullying...
- Clinical Neuropsychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Consistency Theories
- Cognitive Dissonance Theory
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Communication, Nonverbal Cues and
- Comparative Psychology
- Competency to Stand Trial
- Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience
- Consciousness
- Coping Processes
- Counseling Psychology
- Courage
- Creativity
- Creativity at Work
- Critical Thinking
- Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Cultural Psychology
- Daily Life, Research Methods for Studying
- Data Science Methods for Psychology
- Data Sharing in Psychology
- Death and Dying
- Deceiving and Detecting Deceit
- Defensive Processes
- Depression
- Depressive Disorders
- Development, Prenatal
- Developmental Psychology (Cognitive)
- Developmental Psychology (Social)
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM...
- Discrimination
- Disgust
- Dissociative Disorders
- Drugs and Behavior
- Eating Disorders
- Ecological Psychology
- Educational Settings, Assessment of Thinking in
- Effect Size
- Embodiment and Embodied Cognition
- Emerging Adulthood
- Emotion
- Emotional Intelligence
- Empathy and Altruism
- Environmental Neuroscience and Environmental Psychology
- Ethics in Psychological Practice
- Event Perception
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Expansive Posture
- Experimental Existential Psychology
- Exploratory Data Analysis
- Eyewitness Testimony
- Eysenck, Hans
- Factor Analysis
- Festinger, Leon
- Five-Factor Model of Personality
- Flynn Effect, The
- Forensic Psychology
- Forgiveness
- Friendships, Children's
- Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias
- Gambler's Fallacy
- Game Theory and Psychology
- Geropsychology, Clinical
- Habit Formation and Behavior Change
- Happiness
- Health Psychology
- Health Psychology Research and Practice, Measurement in
- Heider, Fritz
- Heuristics and Biases
- History of Psychology
- Human Factors
- Humanistic Psychology
- Humor
- Hypnosis
- Implicit Association Test (IAT)
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- Inferential Statistics in Psychology
- Intelligence
- Intelligence, Crystallized and Fluid
- Intercultural Psychology
- Intergroup Conflict
- International Classification of Diseases and Related Healt...
- International Psychology
- Interviewing in Forensic Settings
- Intimate Partner Violence, Psychological Perspectives on
- Item Response Theory
- Kurtosis
- Language
- Laughter
- Law, Psychology and
- Leadership
- Learned Helplessness
- Learning Theory
- Learning versus Performance
- LGBTQ+ Romantic Relationships
- Lie Detection in a Forensic Context
- Life-Span Development
- Lineups
- Locus of Control
- Loneliness and Health
- Mathematical Psychology
- Meaning in Life
- Mechanisms and Processes of Peer Contagion
- Media Violence, Psychological Perspectives on
- Mediation Analysis
- Meditation
- Memories, Autobiographical
- Memories, Flashbulb
- Memories, Repressed and Recovered
- Memory, False
- Memory, Human
- Memory, Implicit versus Explicit
- Memory in Educational Settings
- Memory, Semantic
- Meta-Analysis
- Metacognition
- Metamemory
- Metaphor, Psychological Perspectives on
- Mindfulness
- Mindfulness and Education
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Money, Psychology of
- Moral Conviction
- Moral Development
- Moral Psychology
- Moral Reasoning
- Motivation
- Music
- Narcissism
- Narrative
- Neuroscience of Associative Learning
- Nonparametric Statistical Analysis in Psychology
- Obsessive-Complusive Disorder (OCD)
- Occupational Health Psychology
- Operant Conditioning
- Optimism and Pessimism
- Organizational Justice
- Parenting Stress
- Path Models
- Peace Psychology
- Perception
- Perception, Person
- Performance Appraisal
- Personality and Health
- Personality Disorders
- Personality Psychology
- Phenomenological Psychology
- Placebo Effects in Psychology
- Play Behavior
- Positive Psychological Capital (PsyCap)
- Positive Psychology
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Problem Solving and Decision Making
- Procrastination
- Prosocial Behavior
- Prosocial Spending and Well-Being
- Protocol Analysis
- Psycholinguistics
- Psychology, Political
- Psychophysics, Visual
- Psychotherapy
- Psychotic Disorders
- Race
- Reasoning, Counterfactual
- Rehabilitation Psychology
- Relationships
- Religion, Psychology and
- Replication Initiatives in Psychology
- Research Methods
- Resilience
- Risk Taking
- Rumination
- Savoring
- Schizophrenic Disorders
- School Psychology
- School Psychology, Counseling Services in
- Self, Gender and
- Self, Psychology of the
- Self-Construal
- Self-Control
- Self-Deception
- Self-Determination Theory
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Regulation in Educational Settings
- Sensation Seeking
- Sex and Gender
- Sexual Minority Parenting
- Sexual Orientation
- Signal Detection Theory and its Applications
- Single People
- Single-Case Experimental Designs
- Skinner, B.F.
- Sleep and Dreaming
- Small Groups
- Social Class and Social Status
- Social Cognition
- Social Neuroscience
- Social Support
- Social Touch and Massage Therapy Research
- Somatoform Disorders
- Spatial Attention
- Sports Psychology
- Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE): Icon and Controversy
- Stereotype Threat
- Stereotypes
- Stress and Coping, Psychology of
- Student Success in College
- Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis
- Suicide
- Taste, Psychological Perspectives on
- Teaching of Psychology
- Terror Management Theory
- Testing and Assessment
- The Reasoned Action Approach and the Theories of Reasoned ...
- Theory of Mind
- Therapies, Person-Centered
- Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral
- Thinking Skills in Educational Settings
- Time Perception
- Trait Perspective
- Trauma Psychology
- Twin Studies
- Type A Behavior Pattern (Coronary Prone Personality)
- Unconscious Processes
- Virtues and Character Strengths
- Wisdom
- Women and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM...
- Women, Psychology of
- Work Well-Being
- Wundt, Wilhelm