An Investigation of Applied Strategies to Support Children’s Working Memory in the Classroom

Working memory underpins virtually every classroom activity, from following multi step instructions to integrating new material with prior knowledge. Yet most empirical insights into working memory come from highly controlled laboratory tasks that bear little resemblance to everyday learning. This thesis re-examines working memory through a deliberately applied lens, charting a pathway from awareness to assessment to support in real world primary schools settings.

A questionnaire survey revealed that whilst parents had some understanding of working memory in children (aged 4-16 years) there exist significant gaps in parental knowledge. In particular, parents significantly overestimated its duration, which may result in excessive demands being placed upon children’s working memory. Parents also showed a limited understanding of both the signs and behaviors associated with working memory difficulties as well as the strategies that can be employed to support children’s working memory. These findings reveal clear knowledge gaps in parental understanding of children’s working memory and highlight areas where additional support, resources and information may help provide parents with the tools needed to best support their child.

A working memory classroom screener was then piloted to help identify those children (aged 6-10 years) who may be experiencing a working memory difficulty. This was in response to the barriers associated with existing means of identification such as the need for training, the time taken to administer and the associated cost. The screener was shown to significantly correlate with direct working memory assessments, with good evidence to suggest that it can be used as an effective means of identifying children with a working memory difficulty in both a time and cost-efficient manner.

Finally, the effectives of an on-desk learning aid in supporting children’s (aged 8-9 years) working memory was assessed. This was based on the idea that through a process of cognitive offloading the demands placed upon children’s working memory would be reduced, allowing them to access a greater number of learning opportunities, resulting in improved academic outcomes. However, the learning aid did not produce any statistically significant differences in learning outcomes between the intervention and control group. As a result, a review process was conducted using classroom observations and pupil lead focus groups to identify how the learning aid may be improved and adapted. A second study was then conducted with a newly developed learning aid to establish whether these changes were enough to incite a significant difference in learning outcomes. Despite this review process there was still no significant difference between those students who did and did not have access to the learning aid. This suggests that in this incidence a single working memory support is not sufficient in isolation to produce statistically significant differences in learning outcomes.

Together, the three strands yield a practical framework for translating working memory theory into classroom practice, raising awareness, streamlining identification, and deploying targeted support. While these studies make important contributions, they also highlight critical gaps that future research must address to optimise support for pupils with working memory difficulties and, ultimately, enhance their learning experiences.