Eight year old, Georgina Gräfin Kerssenbrock from Burgess Hill School for Girls took part in the Junior Memory Challenge final at Imperial College London last weekend. Pupils in Year Four had been taking part in a pilot scheme to improve their memories. It has been shown that children who train their memories develop better concentration, greater imagination, superior revision strategies and more self confidence. There is good evidence that linking words in a story makes the words more memorable and creating your own stories leads to even better recall.

The girls were taught how to make and link their stories to given words. Four times they were given ten minutes to memorize fifty random words in the correct sequence and ten minutes to write them down. Georgina’s scores were impressive. On one occasion she remembered all the words in the correct order. Children from all over the country came to the final where they were given two sets of seventy-five words, which they had to learn in ten minutes. The children were all given certificates and their results are going to be analysed.

08/04/08