Professional Documents
Culture Documents
March 2015
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Contents
Wh s w k m m y dh wd s d ff f m h f ms f
memory?
Further reading
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What is working memory
and how does it differ from
other forms of memory?
Definition
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Procedural Memory is formed of learned skills
involving co-ordination of physical movements
such as writing your name or driving a car. Once
established these memories last a lifetime.
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It is estimated that 1 in 10 pupils have a significant difficulty with Working
Memory that impairs their learning; this equates to 3 pupils in an
average classroom
F ll w d s s h s Wh y h y m hs
b ks my d sk f d y d b ks ds h
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It is often said that the average adult cannot hold more than six or seven
units of information in working memory. A unit of memory depends on
whether or not the material to be remembered is organised in a
meaningful way or not.
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How does working memory work?
There are four main parts to the currently recognised working memory
model. These are Verbal Shortterm Memory ( Phonological Loop) ,
Visuo-spatial Short-term Memory (Visuo-spatial sketchpad), what is
commonly known as the Central Executive, and finally the Episodic
Buffer.
Instead of all the received sensory information going into one single
store, these are the different systems for dealing with the different types
of information.
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The Phonological Loop (PL) is the part of working memory that deals
with spoken and written material. It can be used to remember a phone
number. It consists of two parts
The labels given to the components of the working memory reflect their
function and the type of information they process and manipulate. The
phonological loop is assumed to be responsible for the manipulation of
speech based information, whereas the visuo-spatial sketchpad is
assumed to be responsible for manipulating visual images. The model
proposes that every component of working memory has a limited
capacity and also that the components are relatively independent of
each other.
Central Executive: Drives the whole system (e.g. the boss of working
memory) and allocates data to the subsystems (VSS & PL) which
controls attention and higherlevel mental processes involving co-
ordinating storage and mental processing. It also deals with cognitive
tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem solving.
The Episodic Buffer is the most recent addition to the working memory
m d l d s h h b m l -m d l s . Th s m s h sd s
not just store information in one form such as visual or auditory. This
means it is unlike the VSS or PL the episodic buffer is thought to bind
together information and therefore give us a sense of consciousness
integrating information into a coherent episode.
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There is no corresponding path between visuo-spatial and verbal
short-term memories
POINTS TO REMEMBER
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What might I observe in the
classroom?
The boys, as a group, are making less academic More boys than girls
progress than the girls. have working memory
problems.
Booster and catch up groups have more boys than
girls.
I s s lly b ys m s h h h lls
h y
Th y sw q s s l h
they have previously answered in a smaller group.
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Th y h sh h sw b f h y Having to store
forget it. If made to wait before they are asked, they information and
may open their mouths to answer and then forget process new
what to say. information at the
same time is difficult.
They may start a task off well but when the teacher
s s h l ss d -stop l y, h y
cannot remember where to start again afterwards.
They can read the words but not be able to tell you
wh h y d. B wh s d h m, h
comprehension improves.
A lesson or activity may start off well but not be Working memory is
finished to the same standard. easily overloaded
Af ds y m y h m z
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Common high working memory loads activities often seen in
schools:
Remembering sequences
Coursework.
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Copying from the board.
Writing the date, title and learning objective before attempting the
task.
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What happens when working
memory is overloaded?
The learning difficulties that pupils with poor working memory face arise
because they are unable to meet the memory demands of a learning
situation. This leads to memory overload and information such as the
sentence they were going to write is lost. This loss can be described
s s h s b d. Th s m s h h h ld
cannot continue with the activity and complete it successfully unless he
or she is able to access again the critical task information that is needed.
If this information is not available then either the child will need to guess
(which can lead to errors) or give up.
They are often described as failing to check work for mistakes and
l ss s, d w k h s sl y d ly s d. In
order to check whether work is correct needs a comparison with the
original instruction, which is probably out of the question for a pupil with
poor working memory
This failure of working memory slows the rate at which pupils can
accumulate key knowledge and skills, especially vocabulary.
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POINTS TO REMEMBER
When demands are too high, the pupil may appear to be distractible and
lack concentration. Their behaviour may deteriorate or they may become
heavily reliant on their peers for support. There may be discrepancies in
their work depending on the setting, the time of day and the type of
support given.
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What is the impact of a
poor working memory in
the classroom?
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Poor working memory provides a relatively general constraint on
progress. Pupils with low working memory capacities become
overloaded by structured learning activities causing them to forget
crucial information.
Poor working memory performance does not appear to be linked to more
general factors such as low IQ or language difficulties.
If a pupil is already behind its peers in their primary years they are likely
to fall further behind in their secondary years. Poor working memory
affects all areas of learning from getting from A to B around school to the
ability to copy notes from the board or do simple calculations.
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How can I identify difficulties and
assess working memory?
Checklists
Digit memory assessment
Non word repetition assessment
Specific assessments that exist purely to test for working memory
difficulties.
Checklists
More formal checklists exist, such as The Working Memory Rating Scale
available through Pearson. This is an assessment completed by a
member of staff who knows the pupil and makes judgements against a
series of statements relating to working memory based on observations.
The total score is then linked to a scale indicating the likelihood of
difficulties and the extent to which a difficulty could be severe in nature.
It is useful as an initial investigation and it adds to evidence gained from
other sources.
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Working Memory Checklist (Cogmed)
5.
This Is inconsistent
is a in remembering
simple assessment mathaged
for primary facts.
Pupils. It requires the child
to repeat strings of number of and increasing length. This measures
6. Struggles with completing tasks, especially multiple step tasks.
short term memory. The child is then required to repeat a given string of
7.
digitsHas difficultyThis
in reverse. remembering
measures long instruction
working memory. given in several
Results are steps, for
example so
standardised following
that it isrecipes,
possibledirections
to see if or
theschool/work assignments.
child is performing at
average levels. The Backward Digit Span (from the Dyslexia
8. Struggles to understand the context in a story or a conversation.
Screening Test Secondary) performs the same test of working
memory
9. Hasfor secondary
difficulties whenaged pupils.and organising something that needs
planning
to be done in separate steps.
Phonological Working Memory Test (from the PhAB2)
10. Has difficulty staying focused during cognitive-demanding tasks, but
Again, for primary aged pupils, this test requires the child to repeat (not
attends well when cognitive demands are minimal.
read) a list of non-words of increasing length and complexity. It is also
standardised.
11. Has difficulty integrating new information with prior knowledge.
12. When called on, forgets what he/she was planning to say.
Lengthy
13. Has specialist assessments
difficulty taking notes and listening at the same time.
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AWMA (Automated Working Memory Assessment)
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What can I do to help?
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Is there anything we can do to help
older students?
Help the student to identify what helps them best to recall, retain
and process information.
- repeating information to themselves silently or out loud
- breaking down numbers or letters into chunks
- linking to known information
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Develop the students own strategies such as asking for help,
rehearsal, place keeping and note taking
Adults or a peer buddy need to check that the task has been
understood and recorded correctly
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Glossary
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Memory Guide - A child nominated to assist a fellow pupil with memory-
related difficulties
Procedural memory - Long term memory for skills such as cycling that
have been acquired through repeated practice and that can be executed
m lly, w h m l ff
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Where else can I look for
information?
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