Having a qualified tutor to support your child through their 11 + exams can help to support their specific learning requirements, as well as energise their thirst for learning. Memorising facts and figures can help when recalling key vocabulary in preparation for the exams. At Eden Tutors, we value our students for their unique academic strengths. This is equally essential when devising lessons to suit your child’s learning style. Whether your child already has a terrific memory, or would benefit from strengthening their memory skills, below are a list of some of our recommended strategies for boosting your child’s memorisation techniques to achieve exam success!
1. Use Images
Did you know that 90% of the information that our brains process is visual? Our brains are more adept at processing images rather than categorising words. In fact, we are able to process visual information sixty thousand times faster than the written word. Throughout the learning process, our pupils have access to a variety of resources. Some children demonstrate a greater preference when learning with images and interactive technology. At Eden Tutors, we create exciting lessons to invigorate your child’s attitude towards learning. When beginning to learn a new concept or a particular terminology, one way to consolidate their knowledge involves the utilisation of images. This works particularly well when relating an image to a word so that your child can begin to recall revision facts with greater ease.
2. Use Acronyms and Mnemonics
Acronyms and mnemonics are a fantastic way to recall lengthy spelling rules or mathematical equations. Some of the initial acronyms that your child may learn at school involve spelling patterns for more complicated words e.g. because (Big Elephants Cause Accidents Under Small Elephants). Your child might also have remembered the planets within our solar system by using acronyms e.g. My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Noodles (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune). Encouraging children to invent their own acronyms and mnemonics is also a fantastic way to begin recalling key facts and/or equations for the 11 + exams.
3. Create a Story
Does your child like to create stories? Another effective strategy for memorising information involves story-telling. Using randomly ordered words as an example e.g. Christmas, baby, wigwam, key and cardboard, we would encourage finding a way to link those words together to form a story. For example, you could imagine entering your house using a ‘key’, then discovering a ‘baby’under the ‘Christmas’tree. Next to the Christmas tree, you would see presents inside a ‘cardboard’ box and discover that you have been bought a brand new ‘wig wam’.By linking the events or ‘key words’ into a story, it becomes easier to recall information and essential facts which can prove very useful!
4. Become a Mini-Teacher
According to educational research, we remember 10% of what we read,20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we discuss with others, 80% of what we personally experienceand 95% of what we teach others! Studies have found that children develop a deeper understanding about what they have learnt when they teach the subject matter to somebody else. At Eden Tutors, we encourage our pupils to answer a range of question types to challenge their overall understanding about a topic. Equally, it’s important to give children an opportunity to explain their knowledge as though they were the mini-teachers! This allows children to provide reasoning and consolidate their knowledge.
5. Go for a Walk Before Learning Something New
As primary educators, we value the importance of tailoring each lesson for the individual pupils needs. For primary aged children, this often means providing ‘movement breaks’ and incorporating kinaesthetic learning strategies. This is a great way to keep children focussed within lessons, but can also boost their memory skills. In an educational study, participants were asked to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes before learning a list of words. James T. Haynes IV found that the participants who took part in the activity were more able to remember two lists of 15 words than the participants who learned their words without movement. Next time your child is about to learn new vocabulary, or a mathematical formula for the 11 + exams, why not go on a walk and see how their memory improves?
