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Your Brain's Mental Sticky Note

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Lesson Plan

Your Brain's Mental Sticky Note

Students will be able to define working memory and identify one classroom situation where they use it.

Understanding working memory helps students recognize how they process information daily, enabling them to improve their learning strategies and tackle multi-step tasks more effectively.

Audience

8th Grade Students

Time

15 minutes

Approach

Through direct instruction, an interactive game, and reflection.

Materials

Prep

Teacher Preparation

10 minutes

Step 1

Connect to Prior Knowledge: What's on Your Mind?

2 minutes

  • Begin by asking students: "What's the last thing you tried to remember for a short time, like a phone number or a shopping list item?" (Think-Pair-Share)
  • Introduce the idea that our brains have a temporary 'sticky note' for this kind of information.

Step 2

Introduce New Concept: Working Memory Explained

5 minutes

  • Use the Your Brain's Sticky Note Slide Deck to define working memory as the mental workspace where we hold and manipulate information.
  • Discuss key concepts: information processing, cognitive load, and how multi-step directions rely on working memory.
  • Provide simple examples relevant to students' lives (e.g., following a recipe, solving a math problem in your head).

Step 3

Guided Practice: Working Memory Challenge Game

5 minutes

  • Introduce the Working Memory Challenge Game.
  • Explain the rules: students listen to a sequence of words/numbers and then recall them in order. Start with shorter sequences and gradually increase complexity.
  • Facilitate the game, providing encouragement and observing student engagement.
  • Emphasize that it's okay if it's challenging; the goal is to understand how working memory feels when it's being used.

Step 4

Independent Application & Reflection: Where Do You Use It?

3 minutes

  • Ask students to reflect: "Where do you use your working memory in the classroom every day?"
  • Have students write down at least one classroom situation where they use working memory (e.g., remembering assignment instructions, solving a multi-step problem, participating in a debate).
  • Briefly share a few examples as a class.
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Slide Deck

Your Brain's Mental Sticky Note

How do you remember things just for a moment?

Welcome students and get them thinking about how they remember things briefly.

What is Working Memory?

Working memory is like your brain's temporary workspace or a mental sticky note.

  • It helps you hold and use information right now.
  • Think of it as where your brain actively 'works' on tasks.

Introduce the formal definition of working memory and use the sticky note analogy. Explain that it's not long-term memory.

Using Your Mental Sticky Note

When do you use your working memory?

  • Remembering multi-step directions from your teacher.
  • Solving a math problem in your head.
  • Keeping track of characters and plot points while reading.
  • Holding onto information during a conversation.

Discuss how working memory is used in everyday school tasks. Give a few examples and ask students for their own.

Don't Overload Your Sticky Note!

Cognitive Load

  • This is how much information your working memory can handle at one time.
  • If there's too much, it becomes hard to process new information or remember what you just learned.
  • It's like trying to put too many things on one small sticky note!

Introduce the idea of 'cognitive load' simply - how much can our sticky note hold? Too much, and things fall off.

Challenge Time!

Let's test our mental sticky notes!

We're going to play the Working Memory Challenge Game.

Pay close attention, listen carefully, and try your best!

Transition to the game, explaining that it will help them experience working memory in action.

Reflect & Apply

Think about:

  • What strategies can you use to help your working memory?
  • How can understanding working memory help you in school?

Write down one classroom situation where you use your working memory.

Conclude the lesson by asking students to think about strategies for improving their working memory or managing cognitive load.

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Game

Working Memory Challenge Game

Objective: To experience and understand how working memory functions by recalling sequences of information.

Instructions:

  1. The teacher will read a sequence of items (words or numbers) aloud.
  2. Listen carefully to the sequence.
  3. After the teacher finishes, you will be asked to recall the items in the exact order they were presented.
  4. No writing things down during the challenge! This is all about your mental sticky note.

Round 1: Words (3 items)

Teacher reads: "Apple, Chair, Book"




Students recall the words in order.

Round 2: Numbers (4 items)

Teacher reads: "5, 9, 2, 7"




Students recall the numbers in order.

Round 3: Words (5 items)

Teacher reads: "Dog, Table, Pen, Sky, Tree"




Students recall the words in order.

Round 4: Numbers (6 items)

Teacher reads: "8, 1, 6, 3, 0, 4"




Students recall the numbers in order.

Round 5: Mixed (7 items)

Teacher reads: "Cat, 10, Window, 3, Happy, 8, Water"




Students recall the mixed items in order.

Reflection Questions (Teacher will lead a brief discussion):

  • What did you notice about trying to remember the sequences?
  • Was it harder as the sequences got longer?
  • What strategies did you try to use to remember the items?
  • How does this feel similar to trying to remember directions in class?
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Your Brain's Mental Sticky Note • Lenny Learning