Our Fleeting Memories, Group A

   Clive Thompson brings up a lot of interesting facts in this week’s reading from Smarter Than You Think. I found that the topic of our memories was the most interesting due to the fact that he brought up points that I had never thought of before. He discusses why we remember certain things and why we don’t. Thompson states, “Evidence suggests that when it comes to knowledge we’re interested in - anything that truly excites us and has meaning - we don’t turn off our memory” (Thompson 133).
    The idea of obsession is what really grabbed my attention in this section. He says that when we like something or are truly obsessed with it, we remember it better. As an example, Thompson writes, “When asked to later recall what they’d read, the baseball fans had ‘significantly greater’ recall than the non-fans. Because the former cared deeply about baseball, they fit the details into their schema of how the game works” (Thompson 133). I have found this to be true of myself. It is no problem for me to remember the things I’m interested in: I can easily remember the lyrics to a Lady Gaga song or what happened in a recent episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills because I enjoy those things (and yes I would say I’m also obsessed as embarrassing as that may be). However, I barely ever remember something I learned in school after that class has ended for the semester because most often, I am not interested in it.
    This section of Thompson’s book made me think of the education system immediately. I know that I am usually bored in school (more so in high school and middle school than college) because I am truly not engaged with the subjects being taught. Grant Wiggins discusses this in his article for The Huffington Post titled, “Attention, Teachers! Why Students Are Bored.” He asked teachers across the country how their students would describe school. He cites a woman named Olivia who says, “If I ever asked a large amount of students to give one word to describe school, I think that about 90 percent of them would simply say: boring” (Wiggins). He also explains how teachers can keep their classes engaging: “Use relatable examples. Show funny (not too lengthy) videos that somehow correlate with the subject material, and make the information more memorable for your students” (Wiggins).
    My boyfriend is actually doing something similar to this right now. For one of his education classes at his school, he has to create a website for his students to use so they can become more engaged with math and literacy outside of the classroom. He attends Millersville University, and since the school he will be placed in will be near Hershey’s Chocolate World, he has been using math problems that relate to Hershey’s Chocolate since he knows that most kids love candy. He has even planned a trip to Hershey’s Chocolate World to motivate the students to do well on their assignments so they can attend the trip. His idea engages the students since they are working on their math problems with things they like instead of being bored by the same old math lessons. He hopes that when they eat one of these candies, they will immediately remember the math lessons.
    What does everyone think about Thompson’s and Wiggins’s claims? Have you ever had trouble remembering things that don’t engage you? Do you think Wiggins has the right idea about school?