R9

Question: How do we, as learners, push our abilities to become increasingly better at some task (e.g., attention, memory, writing, typing)?

Quotation: “To improve, we have to be constantly pushing ourselves beyond where we think our limits lie and then pay attention to how and why we fail” (Foer, 2011).

Connection: The readings for this week discussed concepts concerning the potential training of the brain to perform certain tasks and to remember large amounts of information.  Initially, Foer’s attempts to improve his memory and compete in a memory competition seemed nearly impossible, as we often think of memory as something set in stone, unchangeable, and something we are born with a finite amount of.  Foer’s experiences in a marathon-like training of his memory provided evidence against this idea through his use of various training techniques, and are in direct contrast to James’ idea that we are born with a specific amount of abilities such as memory or attention.  However, James also states "There can be no improvement of the general or elementary faculty of memory; there can only be improvement of our memory for special systems of associated things” (p. 61).  This “systems of associated things” captures the idea that our memory can be improved through the use of extensive, elaborate, associations a technique Foer used extensively in his memory training.   

Outside Connection: Similarly, the article by King-Friedrichs outlined five techniques that can help improve students’ retention of information.  These techniques can be argued to be similar to the techniques utilized by Foer to train for the memory competition.  Where he created palaces of memory, he was also creating personal relevance and elaborating on the designs of the palace by designating certain events to occur in specific rooms of the palace.  These techniques helped to improve his ability to remember large amounts of information at a time, yet how valuable was that new information?  In my opinion, the more important lesson from his story is the idea presented in the quotation provided above, the idea that we must continually push ourselves to be better than what we are.  We should not accept mediocrity of ourselves and should always strive to improve our skills.  Whether we are seeking to improve our memory, our writing skills, or our ability to attend to new information, we can apply certain techniques (e.g., elaborate associations) to help make improvements in these areas.  For example, if I wanted to improve my writing style, Foer would argue that I should continually practice that skill, daily, and be constantly challenging myself with new material, new ideas, and ever increasingly stringent criteria.  By stretching our abilities to their furthest extent possible, we can push past the “plateau” he speaks of and reach our personal best.  This is a lesson that has important implications for students in the classroom as well, as it highlights the importance of challenging students and pushing them to do better every day.  We should teach with an awareness that students can learn more and seek to instill this awareness in them as well so that they continue to pursue more difficult tasks that will push them to be proverbial the best they can be.