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Reaching Higher Newsletter from |
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The Power of a Story
Rescue in the Pacific
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Please enable images to display in this newsletter so that you don't miss important information.
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By Shirley Erwee
To recap briefly:
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| “Most of the time, when you are presented with new information, you will remember it much better if you can integrate it into your pre-existing scaffold – your knowledge of the world and how it works. Doing that is going to be more effective than just rote learning.” ~ Dr David Bilkey, neuroscientist at New Zealand’s University of Otago
It’s because of a lack of connections that most of us don’t remember information if we are just given facts to memorise. The information doesn’t stir emotions or memories and connect with what we already know. And so we easily forget it.
Read the full article here...
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| Shortly, after writing that newsletter, the following incident happened, which illustrates this truth so well. Listen to my story…
During some chit-chat about the weather, I got into a debate about whether it is high pressure or low pressure that brings bad weather.
I was trying to recall the facts I memorised years ago in a classroom Geography lesson but Todd had read the book, Rescue in the Pacific, and he knew for sure that it was low pressure.
A third person, hearing this discussion, quickly searched online and confirmed that Todd was correct.
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| Afterwards Todd explained that in the (true) story, the sailors were on high alert when they saw their barometer needle dropping, even though the skies were clear, and the ocean was flat. It signaled an imminent storm.
That piece of information and its critical importance was embedded in his memory and could be retrieved in the context of our debate.
Now, all three of us have learned that lesson and none of us will ever forget that fact.
• I will remember it because I was wrong. My brain is now wired to never make that mistake again.
• Tina will remember it too, because she did something - she searched for the answer to solve the disagreement. That’s learning by doing!
• And Todd, well, he knows that fact and many more about sailing and sea rescue because he has lived it through the context of the story.
And now you know it too.
You too can use your own anecdotes, incidents and life experiences to share stories that will help your children learn valuable life-lessons…and you can use books and other people's stories to feed their minds, stimulate their imaginations and help them to build those vital connections in their brains.
This is why our Footprints curricula are so popular and so effective – they harness the power of stories!
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