Active learning ideas
This topic shifts the focus from memory as a static storage unit to memory as an active, reconstructive process. Students explore Sir Frederic Bartlett's 'War of the Ghosts' study and the concept of schemas, mental shortcuts based on past experiences. This is a crucial area of the AQA specification because it explains why human memory is often unreliable and prone to distortion, particularly in high-stakes situations like eyewitness testimony.
Activity 01
Based on Bartlett's method, the first student reads a culturally unfamiliar story and whispers it to the next. By the time it reaches the last student, the class compares the final version to the original to identify 'levelling', 'sharpening', and 'rationalisation'.
What is a schema?
Activity 02
One student acts as a witness to a staged 'crime' (a short video), while another acts as a police officer using leading questions. The class observes how the 'officer's' questions can plant false information or alter the witness's schema-driven recall.
How does reconstructive memory affect recall?
Activity 03
Students are shown a picture of a typical office that includes some 'out of place' items (e.g., a picnic basket). In groups, they predict what people will remember and then test other students to see if schemas caused them to 'recall' items that weren't there.
How reliable is eyewitness testimony?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Schemas are always bad because they cause memory errors.
Schemas are actually essential for processing the vast amount of information we encounter daily. Through group discussion, students can identify how schemas help us navigate new situations quickly, even if they occasionally lead to mistakes.
Reconstructive memory means we just make things up randomly.
Memory reconstruction is logical and based on existing knowledge. By analysing their own errors in serial reproduction tasks, students see that their 'mistakes' actually make the story more sensible within their own cultural context.
Methods used in this brief
Processes of Memory
Students explore how information is encoded, stored, and retrieved in the human brain. They will differentiate between visual, acoustic, and semantic encoding.
8 methodologies
Structures of Memory
An examination of the Multi-store model of memory, focusing on sensory, short-term, and long-term memory stores. Students will evaluate the capacity and duration of each store.
8 methodologies