Encode, store, retrieve: what learning is

Step 1 Warm-up recall

Write down three facts you learned last month. Next to each, write whether you could still recall it today without looking.

Your answer

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Step 2 Learning goal

By the end of this lesson you can:

• name the three stages of memory (Foundation);
• explain how each stage can fail (Core);
• define learning as a lasting change in long-term memory (Core).

Step 3 A familiar example

You read a name at a party and forget it a minute later. Did you fail to take it in, to keep it, or to bring it back? The answer changes what you should do about it.

Step 4 Clear explanation

Memory can be described in three stages. Encoding is taking information in and giving it a form the brain can keep, usually by attending to it and linking it to what you already know. Storage is keeping it over time. Retrieval is bringing it back when needed.

Each stage can fail. If you never attended to a fact, it was not encoded. If it was encoded but faded, storage failed. If it is stored but you cannot find it, retrieval failed, which is the familiar “it is on the tip of my tongue”.

Educators define learning as a lasting change in long-term memory. A lesson that felt clear but left no lasting change has not produced learning. This definition is useful because it gives a test: can you retrieve and use it later, after a delay, without help? The rest of the course asks which methods most improve that later performance.

Step 5 Worked example (4 marks)

You study a chapter, then cannot answer a question about it a week later. Which stage failed?

1. Check encoding: did you attend while reading? If your mind wandered, encoding was weak. (1 mark)
2. Check storage: material may have faded over the week without use. (1 mark)
3. Check retrieval: you may have stored it but never practised bringing it back. (1 mark)
4. Likely remedy: practise retrieving it at spaced intervals. (1 mark)

Step 6 Learner practice (instant-marked)

Step 7 Recap

• Three stages: encode, store, retrieve.
• Each stage can fail for different reasons.
• Learning is a lasting change in long-term memory.

Step 8 Exit ticket (ungraded)

Think of something you forgot and say which stage most likely failed.

Your answer

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Step 9 Go further (Extension)

Read the encyclopedia entry on working memory and note how it relates to encoding.