Instruction that sticks

Statistics show studies revealed students lose 50-80 percent of information they receive within 24 hours

KARACHI: Talking about how much the human mind can remember, Dr Ghazala Rehman shared statistics showing that studies revealed that students lose 50-80 per cent of the information they receive within 24 hours, while 97 per cent of the data is lost within 30 days.

"Students easily get distracted and it is a teacher's duty to make them interacted with the class and subject," she told the teachers.

She explained that the AGES model examines the neuro-science of learning and how to make learning stick with the student. Attention, generation, emotions and spacing are the factors that help students remember things.

Dr Rehman said that if a student is multi-tasking he cannot be good at everything. "Undivided attention always gives good results," she said. Moving towards the second point, she said generation plays a vital role, as it involves students associating educational material with fun things like songs or rhymes.

"Emotions are also helpful in learning, as they grab attention and students activate their brains to memorise," she said. The fourth point of the model emphasises on the spacing of information. "If a student is getting a lot of information, then it is likely that he cannot remember all of it," Dr Rehman explained. She also added that a lot of information decreases the attention span and students cannot concentrate properly.

SZABIST professor Dr Fatima Dar explained how behavioural development helps in learning. She pointed out that a teacher's behaviour in the classroom affects the students. "If the teachers are interactive and social with the students then they will learn early and will also show interest in learning," she said.