Doing the work; Retention of knowledge self-generated in the classroom predicts academic performance

• In Event: Children's active learning of science

Abstract

Education aims to help children develop a knowledge base. To succeed, children must integrate separate learning episodes to produce new knowledge not directly taught. These productive processes permit the derivation of new knowledge through integrating lessons and experiences distributed over time. For example, a child may learn that liquid expands when heated. Later, that thermometers contain liquid. However, they must integrate these separate lessons to understand that thermometers work because the liquid inside expands when heated. Articulating how a thermometer works is evidence for memory integration and a product of the integration.

Study of memory integration has revealed it as a significant predictor of academic performance, predicting reading and math performance over and above parent education and other cognitive component abilities (Esposito & Bauer, 2022). Research has also shown that the products of memory integration are retained over time by children as young as 4 years old through adulthood (Varga & Bauer, 2013; Varga & Bauer, 2017). Importantly, research with adults indicates that retention of the integration products after a delay is a stronger predictor of academic outcomes than initial memory integration performance (Varga et al., 2019). However, the relation between memory integration, retention, and academic performance has not been examined in children. In the proposed talk, we will present the results of three studies examining the relation between memory integration, retention of the products of memory integration after a one-week delay, and academic performance (math and reading scores) as documented by the children's school.

The studies were all conducted with children age 6-11 years in collaboration with a diverse (approximately 30% representation of Black, non-White Hispanic, and White) school system. All studies were conducted within children's classrooms. We used different measures of memory integration for each of the studies to examine the boundaries of the relation. Study 1 used an illustrated story passage paradigm with four trials. There was no loss across the one-week delay (comparing initial performance to retention measure). Although both memory integration and retention predicted academic performance, memory integration was the more robust predictor. In Study 2, we examined performance with a single-sentence paradigm that lacked illustrations and the story context. It had 16 trials. Under these more challenging conditions, children had significantly lower performance on the retention measure than initial memory integration, indicating loss over the delay. In addition, retention became the more robust predictor of academic performance. In Study 3, we examined memory integration across single-sentence pairs (as in Study 2) and single-sentences paired with graphics (mixed media design). Again, retention was the most robust predictor of academic performance.

Across all three studies, we see evidence of retention's importance as a predictor of academic performance. The results support continued examination of the contexts and cognitive skills that support memory integration (e.g., Esposito & Bauer, 2017; Esposito et al., 2021). The results also indicate the need to expand this area of research to include retention of the integration products. We will discuss the implications of understanding memory integration and knowledge retention to support academic performance.

Author

• Alena G Esposito, Clark University
  Presenting Author