This is our weekly food planning whiteboard and I accidently rubbed out what we needed to add to the weekly shop. Often, revision and remembering can be like this.
You think you have all the key points secured in your memory then for some reason sections can fade away and the frustration of knowing some elements and not other pieces can be really annoying.
So what can you do if you can remember only some parts of the jigsaw? Or maybe would like to understand how it fits into the bigger picture?
Here are some of my top tips if this is the case for you:
1. Try to graph out your thoughts from school. By isolating a subject and breaking it down into what you’ve learnt and when, makes it super visual – think of your learning like a timeline of events just like the graph below:
2. Use all your senses! Throughout our learning journeys I’ve realised over time a child can become less aware of the five key senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing, when learning a new skill/process/content. By livening up different parts of the brain when learning a scientific topic it can add another layer to your memory – very similar to the concept of mindfulness.
3. Finally, good quality sleep! We all know good sleep is important and the number of optimum hours is always banded about. But why is this the case? I really enjoyed watching this live TEDx talk by Penny Lewis a neuroscientist at the University of Manchester, where she runs the Neuroscience and psychology of sleep (NaPS) lab.
This graphic in her talk really stood out and is a good reminder of how all the stages of sleep are needed – which applies to all of us really but particularly if you are learning something new.
If you or your child are having sleep problems though, this NHS page may be a good place to start.
So, if you are finding it tricky to recall key information and learning, experiment with these techniques and see what works best. Get in touch and let me know how you got on, especially if you had a go at the learning graph, I would love to see them – rsadiscovery@outlook.com.
Want some more free ideas? Just click here.
Rupa Ahluwalia is the founder of RSA Discovery and passionate about getting young people into science. She is a fully qualified science teacher, with a Science PGCE from Oxford University, and has been working in schools and educational businesses for over 10 years. She has been offering science tutoring, consultancy and primary science workshops since opening her business in 2019. Rupa is currently a Lightyear Labs Lead for the Lightyear Foundation and has received training for introductory Makaton and ways to engage young SEN people into science.
To connect with Rupa to explore these key services, just email rsadiscovery@outlook.com.