Newsletter 003: Working Memory and Schema in the “Model for Learning”
In the previous newsletter, I discussed the “Sensing and Focusing” part of the Model for Learning. Sensing and focusing brings information into your brain— then you use the information with previously-stored information. This mixing of old and new information is the focus of this newsletter!
Here is Belcher’s Model for Learning (yes, I’m continuing to send this image in every email — returning to the same image with more information is how we create strong memories!)
Ideas
Your brain has two memory systems:
- Working memory (used to be known as short-term memory)
- Long-term memory
Most people have roughly the same amount of physical ability for working memory and long-term memory. There are factors — food, water, and sleep, to name a few — that affect your working memory and long-term memory in the moment-to-moment level of using your brain; for now, I will say that people who are novices and experts have the same amount of physical ability.
Working memory is your brain’s mental scratchpad.
Working memory mixes information from two pathways — sometimes only one and sometimes both together:
- Externally, through the…
