Working Memory
Saturday's Dose
In Tuesday’s Dose, I gave an example of a student of mine not reading the room. tl;dr, they gave me the wrong definition of volume on a science quiz.
After submitting that blatantly wrong definition of volume for the quiz, my student went on to give the correct formula to calculate volume and then correctly calculate the volume of an object.
At first, I wanted to laugh.
Then I considered working memory.
ADHDers are more likely than neurotypicals to have trouble with working memory.1
Working Memory
Essential for getting through this world, working memory is “the retention of a small amount of information in a readily accessible form.”2 Like when you Google a business’s number on your phone and then have to remember it as you switch to the phone app to dial it.
I’m betting that my student realized, at some point in the process of solving questions 2 and 3, that they had given the wrong definition of volume in question 1. But their working memory betrayed them.
By the time they’d finished the other two volume problems, they’d likely forgotten what answer they’d given for the first problem, and simply moved on with the quiz.
Solutions
This is why we tell our students to check their work. Checking over things can be one way to supplement working memory deficits.
Other strategies include:
Breaking tasks into steps
Graphical reminders
Reminders app on iPhone (my favorite)
Narrating the action out loud3
“After I take the laundry out of the dryer I’m going to get my wife a seltzer.”
So far, research does not support that training apps help improve working memory.4
Martinussen, R., & Major, A. (2011). Working Memory Weaknesses in Students With ADHD: Implications for Instruction. Theory into Practice, 50(1), 68–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23020739
Cowan, N. (2014). Working Memory Underpins Cognitive Development, Learning, and Education. Educational Psychology Review, 26(2), 197–223. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43549792
Martinussen, R., & Major, A. (2011). Working Memory Weaknesses in Students With ADHD: Implications for Instruction. Theory into Practice, 50(1), 68–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23020739
Redick, T. S., Shipstead, Z., Wiemers, E. A., Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2015). What’s Working in Working Memory Training? An Educational Perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 27(4), 617–633. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24761211