College Teachers Assistant

**Lesson Plan: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology - "Memory and its Types"** **Objective**: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify the different types of memory, recognize key figures and studies related to memory in cognitive psychology, and apply their understanding of memory types to real-life scenarios. --- **Duration**: 60 minutes --- **I. Introduction (10 minutes)** 1. **Warm-up activity**: Quick Poll (2 minutes) - Ask students to recall what they had for breakfast. Then ask them about a childhood memory. Use this as a segue to discuss the varying nature of memories. 2. **Brief Overview of Memory**: (3 minutes) - Define Memory: The mental system for receiving, encoding, storing, organizing, altering, and retrieving information. - Importance in everyday functioning. 3. **Objective sharing**: (1 minute) - Share the objectives of the lesson with the students. 4. **Discussion**: (4 minutes) - Ask students to share their preconceived notions or questions about memory. --- **II. Types of Memory (25 minutes)** 1. **Sensory Memory** (5 minutes) - Definition and function. - Brief activity: Flash an image for a short period and ask students to recall details to demonstrate iconic memory. 2. **Short-term Memory (STM)** (7 minutes) - Definition, function, and duration. - Discuss Miller's idea about "chunking". - Activity: Give students a list of random numbers/letters. Allow them 30 seconds to memorize. Test recall. Demonstrate chunking to enhance recall. 3. **Long-term Memory (LTM)** (10 minutes) - Definition, function, and duration. - Differentiate between explicit (declarative) and implicit (procedural) memories. - Brief mention of episodic, semantic, and procedural memories with examples. - Activity: Play snippets of popular old songs. Ask students to recall lyrics or any associated memories. Discuss how music can trigger long-term memories. 4. **Discussion** (3 minutes) - Ask students how understanding these types can be useful in a learning environment. --- **III. Key Figures and Studies (10 minutes)** 1. Hermann Ebbinghaus and the forgetting curve. 2. Elizabeth Loftus and false memories. 3. Endel Tulving's work on episodic and semantic memory. **Activity**: Case Study Review (7 minutes) - Present a brief case of Clive Wearing and discuss the implications for our understanding of memory. --- **IV. Application to Real-life Scenarios (10 minutes)** 1. **Discussion**: (5 minutes) - Ask students to come up with instances where they used their short-term memory or long-term memory effectively, or times when it failed. 2. **Group Activity**: (5 minutes) - Students divide into groups of 4. Each group is given a scenario where a person is facing memory issues (e.g., a student unable to retain studied material, an elderly person forgetting recent events). Groups have to identify the type of memory in play and suggest strategies for improvement. --- **V. Quiz (3 minutes)** 1. A short 5-question multiple-choice quiz: - Differentiating between STM and LTM. - Naming key figures related to memory. - Identifying types of memories based on given scenarios. **VI. Feedback Collection (2 minutes)** 1. Hand out a short feedback form: - Did you find the lesson engaging? - What was your key takeaway from today's lesson? - Which activity did you find most helpful? - Any suggestions for improvement? --- **Materials Required**: 1. Projector or smart board for displaying visuals. 2. Handouts of number/letter sequences. 3. Audio system for playing song snippets. 4. Feedback forms. 5. Quiz sheets or online quiz platform. --- **Follow-Up**: Based on feedback, address any areas of confusion in the next lesson. Use quiz results to identify and review areas of weakness. Plan lessons that incorporate suggested improvements.