What is Working Memory?
Working memory…
This is a word you might see in a neuropsych evaluation or when you’re reading about different types of neurodiversity. Sometimes students are referred to as having “low” working memory or working memory challenges. But what does that mean?
Working memory is one of many executive functions of the brain. The way I explain it to my students is to think of their brain as having slots to hold information. That information could be numbers, names, details, characteristics, or really anything. Our brains have to be able to hold information in those slots while we’re thinking about something. Some of us have more slots; some of us have fewer slots.
The good news is:
1) we can learn how to work with our brains when it comes to working memory and
2) we can improve our working memory!
Tiger Example
One really great non-math example about the role working memory plays: Picture a tiger in your mind…
If you’re trying to learn what a tiger is, you have to hold several ideas in your head at the same time…
Big + cat + stripes + orange and black
If you drop or miss one or more of those ideas, you might think that a zebra is a tiger (missed cat and orange) or a small house cat is a tiger (missed big).
Strategy: Chunking
Some strategies may help us hold more information in our working memory. One strategy is chunking.
For example, using the structure of a US phone number as ### - ### - #### might help someone think of it as 3 separate chunks. Additionally, the first three digits being the area code might be familiar to a person. Here in Massachusetts, we have 617 and 857 for Boston, 781 and 339 for immediately surrounding Boston, 508 and 774 for southeastern Massachusetts, 978 and 351 for northeastern Massachusetts, and 413 for western Massachusetts.
If you know these area codes, you may be able to remember them as a chunk rather than their individual digits. You know that the phone number has to be one of those combos if you’re calling someone with a Massachusetts phone number.
Fun fact: Different countries chunk their phone numbers in different ways!
Strategy: Remove It from Working Memory!
Another strategy I use with my students ALL the time is taking information OUT of our working memory. One way to do that is by putting it on paper! In an angle measure problem involving parallel lines, we might use color coding to understand how the angles are related BEFORE trying to calculate anything.
Two parallel lines cut by a transversal with 8 different angles numbered and color coded.
In this example, we know that all of the purple angles are equal and all of the blue angles are equal. We also know that the blue and the purple together add to 180 degrees. Now we can start to answer a question like, “If the measure of angle 4 is 38 degrees, what is the measure of angle 6?” This separates out thinking from calculating.
Strategy: Use a Resource
Another favorite strategy to reduce the burden on working memory that I use with my students is a resource like a multiplication list. If students are working on a skill like adding fractions with unlike denominators, they do not need to burden their working memory by thinking about multiplication facts! There is so much going on in a fraction addition or subtraction problem. (The meaning of a fraction, the meaning of a denominator versus a numerator, the spatial reasoning to understand what a numerator versus a denominator is, what is a common denominator and why do you need one… and the list goes on!) Give their working memory a little break by having reference material available to support them with the prerequisite skills for whatever skill they’re working on at the time!
As you can see, working memory is essential for following instructions, understanding complex tasks, and retaining new information. It plays a role in cognitive development, learning, and ultimately education more broadly. These are challenges often faced by children with dyscalculia and those with other related neurodiversities, such as ADHD!
