MARGE-model (Arthur Shimamura)

Definitie

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The MARGE model

Motivate
We need to be motivated to use energy to keep focused on the learning process.

Attend
Academic learning is a ‘top-down’ activity whereby we consciously attend to the information needed to build our schema from all the stimuli we’re exposed to.

Relate
Shimamura offers numerous biological insights about how we store and connect information through memory consolidation.

Generate
Shimamura suggests: “Think it, say it, teach it! These are the simplest things to do to improve your memory”.

Evaluate
This is the territory of metacognition with a nice metaphor of the prefrontal cortex acting as the conductor of the orchestra of brain functions.

Bron: Shimamura’s MARGE model in six PowerPoint slides

MOTIVATE
We need to be motivated to use energy to keep focused on the learning process. Designed well, motivation can be intrinsic to learning, for example, by generating curiosity, framing new material as a quest to answer big questions, organis-ing ideas within a wider schema, story-telling and asking the 'aesthetic question': "What do you think? How does it make you feel? Why is it good?" "The aesthetic question engages emotional brain circuits and forces us to attend to and organize our knowledge."

ATTEND
Academic learning is a `top-down' activity whereby we consciously attend to the information needed to build our schema from all the stimuli we're exposed to. This is hard so 'mind wandering' is common and teachers need to expect it. Ideally students will conscious-ly attend to the learning goals and consciously make connec-tions - but sometimes an instructor needs grab attention, acting as their students' prefrontal cortex to direct their top-down processing.

RELATE
Shimamura offers numerous biological insights about how we store and connect informa-tion through memory consoli-dation. The practical strategies include deploying elabora-tive-interrogative questioning -asking how and why - using mental images, analogies, constructing concept maps as schematic representations of sets of connected ideas and training students to make notes organised in hierarchical structures.

GENERATE
Shimamura suggests: "Think it, say it, teach it! These are the simplest things to do to improve your memory". He details multiple ways in which our memories are strengthened when we generate information from our memory, not simply restating it but using our own words. If we tell someone what we've learned we can improve our memory by 30-50%. Explained in terms of brain functions, Generate reinforces the widely known retrieval practice concept.

EVALUATE
This is the territory of metacog-nition with a nice metaphor of the prefrontal cortex acting as the conductor of the orchestra of brain functions. There's a problem with the illusion of knowing when we are familiar with information even when we cannot fully recollect it. We stop trying to learn more if we kid ourselves into thinking we already know it. Students should, therefore, be taught to check their understanding using spaced retrieval practice, generating information by explaining their learning to others as a form of self-test.

Bron: https://headguruteacher.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/marge.pdf

MARGE is an acronym for five principles of efficient learning—MOTIVATE, ATTEND, RELATE, GENERATE, and EVALUATE. Each principle embodies it own neural circuitry and psychological properties.

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MARGEis your mnemonic to help you remember the five principles of efficient learning: MOTIVATE, ATTEND, RELATE, GENERATE, and EVALUATE

M is for MOTIVATE

Evolutionarily speaking, we are learning machines—geared to sense our environment, register new experiences, and adapt accordingly. In modern times we have co-opted this survival mechanism to enjoy the pleasures of conversa-tion, television, movies, and other forms of entertainment. Unfortunately, our modern pleasures have become much too passive, as we fail to engage ourselves actively with new learning experiences. Howwemotivateourselves and others is the first principle of MARGE and perhaps the most difficult one to implement. There are times when personal interests make it easy for us to seek new information, such as learning about a favorite topic, activity, or hobby. The trick to moti-vation is to expand the spectrum of pleasure-seeking experiences and push ourselves into new learning situations. Indeed, just enveloping ourselves in a new setting and breaking away from regular habits—particularly those passive ones in front of a television or computer screen—will fully engage our learning machine. Take a walk around unfamiliar terrain and you will motivate yourself to attend, relate, generate, and evaluate.

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A is for ATTEND

We spend our waking moments bombarded by a ca-cophony of sensory signals—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches—so much so that it is amazing that we can make any sense of the world around us. Add internal gyrations—feelings and random thoughts—and it becomes evident that our brains require some way of focusing and guiding mental activities.Information overloadis a major obstacle toward efficient learning, and thus our ability toattendto specific thoughts and sensory inputs isessential.

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Memory theorists suggest that our vast storehouse of knowledgeis distributed widely in broad regions of the cerebral cortex as a network of interconnected information. So how does conceptual knowledge get stored in this manner? It is argued that facts and concepts through repeated activationsbecomeintegrated,related,and established as cortical networks through a process called memory consolidation.

By this view, conceptual learning requires (1) PFC activation of pertinent information in working memory, (2) MTL binding of that information, and (3) memory consolidation—that is, reactivating and relating new information into existing knowledge networks stored in the cerebral cortex.This biological framework reinforces the third princi-ple of MARGE—the need to RELATE new information to what we already know. Throughout the learning process it is critical to establish meaningfulchunksofnew infor-mation and relate them to existing knowledge. Yet some-times we need to learn seemingly arbitrary associations that have no inherent meaningfulness, such as remembering a group of terms or names of places. In such cases, it is
23often useful to create your own verbal or visual mnemonic.

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Verbal and visual mediators are effective for arbitrary associations that don't have intrinsic meaning. More important is the need to develop techniques that integratemeaningful facts and concepts into existing knowledge frameworks. An effective way to do this is to apply what I call the 3  C's — categorize, compare, and contrast. While learning new material, say a new term or fact, bring to mind related information that will help you categorize (i.e., catalog) the new information into your existing knowledge base. Learning is facilitated by finding similarities (comparing) and differences (contrasting) between new material and what you already know. While reading this chapter, you might ask, Who is Henry Molaison and why is he important for memory research? Contrast the roles of the PFC and MTL in learning and memory? When you apply the 3 C's, you actively attend to relevant features, reactivate the information, and relate it to your existing knowledge base.

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One  technique  that  draws  on  the  3  C's  is the elaborative-interrogation-mnemonic, in  which  new learning is accompanied by asking "why" or "how" ques-tions and generating reasonable answers. For example, here are some facts about blue whales abstracted from Wikipedia: Blue whales, the largest animal known to have ever existed, gorge on krill (small shrimp-like creatures) in the rich waters of the Antarctic Ocean before migrating to their breeding grounds in the warmer, less-rich waters nearer the equator.To elaborate on this information consider such questions as,Why do blue whales spend time in the Antarctic Ocean? Why do they migrate to warmer waters near the equator?

The simple act of generating questions and providing answers helps to integrate new facts into your knowledge database. The elaborative-interrogation mnemonic forces you to categorize, compare, and contrast. Another way to reactivate and integrate facts is to de-velop a mental image or better yet a mental movie, such as imagining a huge blue whale feeding on krill amongst glaciers then swimming toward the equator to breed.

You can narrate your movie and create your own documentary of the information. By actively working on your visual production you are mentally organizing conceptsas a meaningful cluster that can be integrated into what you already know. A useful way to introduce new conceptsis to consider metaphors and analogies that connect new schemas to familiar ones. For  example,  by relating conceptual knowledge to the web-based Wikipedia application, one gains a sense of how human memory can be viewed as a network of organizedfacts and how new information can be added by linking new informationto existing knowledge. Metaphors and analogies work because a new conceptual framework is described with respect to a familiar concept.

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New information must be appropriately organized into existing knowledge for it to be well establishedand easily retrieved in the future. In a classic memory study,6individuals were given two ways to learn a list of 18 min-erals. One group was simply shown the words in a random display and asked to remember them.Another group was shown the words diagrammedas a conceptual hierarchyin which themineralswere grouped into meaningful sub-categories, such as METALS and STONES (see figure).

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We are familiar with the standard method of formatting hierarchical outlines, with Roman numerals indicating the main topic, then capital  letters,  numbers,  and lower case letters referring to subsequent sublevel cate-gories. A  partial  outline format of the stimulus set of minerals is  shown  in  the figure. Outlines provide an essential means of organizing conceptual knowledge—not unlike how conceptual knowledge should be stored as mental schemas. Keep in mind the hierarchical organiza-tionsof your own knowledge and how new information fits into these frameworks.

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Concept maps9are schematic representations, that can be usefulas study material.They provide a visual schema in which terms are represented as boxed items (nodes), which are linked by arrows (propositions) that define relationships. ... Concept maps can be used to reformulate lectures or textbook chapters into student-generated representations. When constructing concept maps (and hierarchical outline formats) it is best to limit the numbers of outgoing links (arrowsor subcategories) to not more than five (three or four outgoing links per item is optimal). When we use relational memory techniques, such as forming verbal/visual mediators, applying the 3 C's, forming metaphors/analogies, and constructing schematic organizations (outlines, concept maps), we are facilitating memory consolidation and long-term retentionthrough elaboration and reactivation. These methods engage the learner by relating and integrating new information asmeaningful links to existing knowledge. Thus,relate itto make it stick!


Make it Stick: Relate New Information With Existing Knowledge
? Chunk it: Group information as meaningful units.
? Associative it: Consider using acronyms, verbal mediators, and visual imagery.
? Use it: Think about the 3 C's—categoriLe, compare, and contrast.
? Integrate it: Apply elaborate-interrogation mnemonic, and mental movies.
? Relate it: Use metaphors and analogies to link new concepts to prior knowledge.
? Organize it: Construct schematic representations (hierarchical outlines, concept maps).

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R is for RELATE

... From   studies of Molaison and other amnesic patients, we have come to appreciate the importance of the MTL in storing event (i.e., "episodic") memories. The pre-frontal cortex (PFC) activates information in the posterior cortex, and the MTL binds this information (lines) as a stored unit. Neuroimaging findings have corroborated the role of the MTL in establishing memory for many kinds of material, including verbal information, scenes, sounds, and faces.

Terms such as relational binding and relational memory have been used to characterize this process, which allows for the rapid linking of activations as a bound set of features—such as binding right now what you're thinking, seeing, hearing, and feeling. It is presumed that this binding process operates continually to provide a stored record of our daily experiences.

Although the MTL is critical for storing episodic memories, conceptual knowledge must be stored outside of the MTL, otherwise amnesic patients wouldn't be able to access their  existing knowledge or converse normally. Memory theorists suggest that our vast storehouse of knowledge is distributed widely in broad regions of the cerebral cortex as a network of interconnected information.

So how does conceptual knowledge get stored in this manner? It is argued that facts and concepts through repeated activations become integrated, related, and established as cortical networks through a process called memory consolidation. By this view, conceptual learning requires: (1) PFC activation of pertinent information in working memory, (2) MTL binding of that information, and (3) memory consolidation—that is, reactivating and relating new  information into existing knowledge networks stored in the cerebral cortex

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G is for GENERATE

Think it, say it, teach it! These are the simplest things to do to improve your memory. Have you read an interesting news item lately? Listened to a fascinating podcast? Tell someone what you've just learned. Not only will you be engaging in healthy social interchange, you'll remember the information better yourself! Do you want to remember the name of someone you just met? Say the name aloud—"It's a pleasure to meet you Jim"—and it will stick better in your  memory.  This  is  the GENERATE-principle  of MARGE, and it can improve your memory by 30-50%! When we generateinformation, learned material is re-activated, thus enabling memory consolidation, the brain process  that establishes long-lasting  conceptual memories.

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E is for EVALUATE

How do you know what you know? Psychologists use the term, metacognition,1to describe the ability to evaluate our own mental processes. If a student comes up after an exam and says, "I don't know why I did so poorly,I thought I really  knew  the  material"—it  clearly  suggests  poor metacognition. Such "illusions of knowing" can stall learning proficiency, because a student would not feel the need to study further if he/she felt that the material was already well learned. The need to evaluate what we know is the fifth principle of MARGE.

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Teachers can encourage the EVALUATE-principle by having  students  practice  retrieving information during class time. Rather than lecturing the whole time, question/answer "retrieval practice" periods should be sprinkled throughout the presentation. The best way to engage students is to offer open-ended questions and call on students to provide answers. Fact-based questions can also be useful to determine if students are paying attention (Can someone tell me the difference between recollection and familiarity?). For large classes, another method is to present multiple-choice questions and have students elicit answers with clickers. Research has shown that the use of clickers in class instills active learning and better memory for class material.

For best results, instructors should keep questions to 4-5 per session and allow 30 seconds for students to answer each question. Between initial learning and exam time, students must engage in multiple retrieval practice sessionsthat involve a combination of generating and evaluating course material. The easiest way to do this is to test yourself by writing down in your own words what you remember froma lecture or homework assignment.

Bron: Shimamura, Arthur, MARGE: A Whole-Brain Learning Approach for Students and Teachers