Do you want your child to learn their academic work more efficiently ? Do they show good comprehension but less scoring on written papers ? Do they have problems in remembering vocabulary? Keep on reading to find out new methods of improving memory of a child through a psychological perspective.

    According to Shiffrin -Atkinson Multi Store model of memory, our memory is formed and retained in 3 stages: sensory memory, short term memory and long-term memory. The information we receive through our senses in the body is transferred to create a memory trace and into the short-term memory. When you interact with this memory often, it gets transferred in to long term memory. Memory loss can happen at any stage of this sequential path. We see that when a class of children learn the same lesson, only some will be able to remember the exact details after some time and the others forget but will only have a portion of memory left. A German psychologist, Ebbinghaus stated, through careful research, that we forget 75% of what we learn in just about 1-2 days. That is hardly enough time to reproduce information which is essential for a school aged child. What is causing this? How can we improve children's memory with these concepts and theories?


    Although there could be personal factors (biological, psychological and social) and environmental factors that affect memory, there are different methods to stop forgetting. Allowing a child to form a rich sensory experience with the learning material can greatly expand the possibility of retaining that memory. For example, if you want your child to learn the Water Cycle, let the child read material, make a model of the water cycle through clay or dough, color a picture of the concept and allow them to listen to a video tutorial. For an older child, reading, writing down in short notes, using charts and visual aids, tutorials of the lesson, hands on experiments inside a laboratory and sharing information with friends can activate a strong sensory memory. Activating different sensory systems together for the same required memory decrease our tendency to forget it by transferring it to long term memory. 
     Memory could be lost due to "decay" for not using that memory repeatedly. An effective way to stop this would be to interact with your material on a continuous time schedule. In example, if you study a difficult mathematical concept today, you have to refresh your memory by doing some sums in the intervals of 1 day-3 days-6 days-10days-20 days and so on. Don't stress the child to remember a vast array of information within a single day. They are not capable of doing it. The material you are trying to teach a child should be broken down to chunks of information and repeatedly interacted to form a long-term memory. 
    A child will more likely remember information on what is meaningful to them. Explain to them why you are teaching additions or subtractions to engage in day-to-day activities, negative numbers to learn how temperatures regulate, body parts to understand the mystery of our body and history to be proud of our past ancestors. A lesson taught with only reading the material by a teacher will make a poor memory but if you present it through a story or an easy-to-follow plot, it is likely to stick into memory. 
    Mnemonic techniques are a great method to remember lists of information. It is easier to remember the treble clef scale of music with "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" instead of E G B D F or the days of each month with the knuckles in your hand.


     Attention plays a key role in retaining memory. You don't remember everything you saw on your way to school or work right? That is because you were not paying attention to all those details. When a child is studying, he/she needs to have close attention without distractions to form a memory and to retrieve it on a later day.  A quiet place to study, less environmental disturbances and not multi-tasking during study hours will contribute positively. 
    Retaining a memory and being able to retrieve at the correct time is an essential life skill that needs continuous developing as children age and interact with more material to remember. Being familiarized with methods of how to improve this experience will surely be beneficial to all parents.