Relating Information

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Relating Information

It is important that students are able to relate new information to things they already know.

The medial temportal lobe and memory

The medial temportal lobe stores episodic memories.
Conceptual knowledge is the knowledge we are most often teaching students
- In order to store conceptual knowledge we are required to use a process called memory consolidation.
- This process involves relevant prior knowledge being activated before it is then related to the information being received.

Finding meaning

This gives students meaning to what they are learning.
Efrat Furst stated ‘Meaning is generated when the new concept is associated with other concepts that the learner is already familiar with, in a way that makes sense to the learner. The learner can now understand the meaning of the new concept.'

Three Key Takeaways

There are three key takeaways from the MARGE Model that deal with relating new information to preexisting knowledge.

The first key takeaway

The delivery of new concepts needs to allow our medial temporal lobe to relate new information to existing information.

Long-term memory consolidation

Imaging of the brain has shown that the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe are activated when we have to self-generate content.
Repeating this process repeats memory consolidation, leading to stronger links in long-term memory.
This also allows learners to make new links between areas of knowledge.

Maze analogy

The analogy of the maze is useful to consider here
- Self-generation is analogous to the process of going through a maze time and time again, finding new ways through, new paths, and linking to other landmarks that may exist within it.

The second key takeaway

Build-in opportunities for students to generate connections in the cerebral cortex, through repeated usage and reactivation of learned information.

The third key takeaway

Without the prefrontal cortex focussing on the right stimulus and evaluating the knowledge we have gained, the process of learning becomes obsolete.

1MARGE Model

1.1The Brain

1.1.1Introduction

1.1.2Parts of the Brain & MARGE Conclusions

1.1.3Motivation

1.1.4Focus

1.1.5Relating Information

1.2The MARGE Model

1.2.1MARGE

1.2.2Applying MARGE

1.3A Whole-Brain Model of Learning

1.3.1Introduction to the Whole-Brain Concept

1.3.2Questions for MARGE

1.3.3MARGE & Knowledge Organisers

1.3.4MARGE & SQ3R

1.3.5MARGE & Cornell Note-Taking

1.3.6MARGE & the Feynman Technique

1.3.7Conclusions

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