years . According to Daniel Willingham , the author of the article , the participants didn ’ t retain all of the information . But “ the study found that even after 16 years , participants had retained some knowledge from the college course , particularly facts ( versus the application of mental skills ).” The results of this study , and others like it , showed that students retained more information than they thought they would . So , what was it that made more information stick longer ?
The key is something that won ’ t surprise most educators – it is quite simply repetition . In other words , the more you inundate the students in pertinent subject matters , the more likely they are to remember the details of that subject . One study of MIT students gives an obvious confirmation of this truth .
In the study , the researchers “ found that physics majors remembered material from a freshman course better than students who majored in subjects unrelated to physics .”
Take the results of another study as evidence . In this study , says Willingham , “ researchers administered an algebra test among adults who had taken algebra anywhere from months to decades previously . Most of the adults struggled to remember how to do the equations , but those who ’ d studied math beyond calculus ( subjects whose mastery requires an understanding of algebra ) could still work basic algebra problems — even if they had not done so for decades . In other words , several years of practicing algebra in more advanced math courses made the former stick permanently .”
10