As a parent, I can also attest to the fact that educators lack knowledge on the working memory processes, but as well there is few if any classroom practices that improves the working memory processes of children. In the transcript of the Ted video, Peter DooLittle states, “Now we also need to repeat it. We need to practice. So we need to think about it here. In between, we want to talk to people about it. We’re going to write it down, and when you get home, pull out those notes and think about them and end up practicing over time. Practice for some reason became a very negative thing. It’s very positive.” https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_doolittle_how_your_working_memory_makes_sense_of_the_world/transcript

Par for he course when it comes to the K to 12. Another practice that has been banned in the 21st century schools is practice and drill. Both improves the working memories of all children, and not just the children with dodgy working memories. The K to 12 education establishment thought that working memory was fixed, just like intelligence. http://www.ncld.org/types-learning-disabilities/executive-function-disorders/how-to-help-child-with-weak-working-memory

And here - http://dyslexia.yale.edu/Edu_memorychallenges.html

The bulk of research is taking place by the researchers of learning disabilities and dyslexia. It is a damning indictment of the K to 12 establishment, that forces students to learn 20 different methods other than standard algorithms in math, that in the end impacts negatively on the working memories of all students. Of course the K to 12 education establishment continues to ignore the researchers in the LD and dyslexia fields…....at the expense of the children’s education.

Excellent post Malkin !

The dots are slowly and systematically being connected.  Failure to build working memory based upon small repetitive chunks of info; means failure to move to an auto-didactic learning style with a strong root of more complex combinations of chunks(I am tempted to refer to them as macros).

Thus, those who need significant repetitive chunking to get there, are very unlikely to ever get there with the current prejudices which seem imbedded in our system. Those, who don’t so much or have somewhat more effective working memories; can survive the current pedagogical nonsense to a degree. The absence of broad math credentials amongst a large number of current teachers speaks to a similar phenomenon which the system enabled to be sidestepped.

It strikes me that if the science on working memory is solid; there might be a strong basis for a class action lawsuit against any system which persists in clinging to the nonsensical approaches broadly employed today. 

One might suggest that current pedagogical practice could be interpreted as child abuse not withstanding societal abuse when the net present value of today’s education is considerably less than it should be. Think of the native schools catastrophe.  Replace religious/cultural prejudice with pedagogical, ideological prejudice.

Yes, it is very poor that almost eVery teacher and theirinstructional programs don’t recognize this, but there are other folks outside of public education that have known this for a long time.
1. Siegfried Engelmann (who didn’t figure this out because he was in education, but instead as a philosophy-trained ad man!) covers this in his ‘Theory of Instruction’ and absolutely negotiates and considers these limitations of cognitive load in DI.  It is the best.
2. Leonard Peikoff following Ayn Rand also covered this in his lecture on education delivered in the 80s.  Rand termed this phenomena ‘the crow epistomology’ way back in the 50s. 
3. Dan Willingham also has spoken of the limitations of cognitive load in several of his articles, going back to the 90s at least.

Amen!

What kind of working memory would anyone have if you have to stuff the entire dictionary into it?

All your comments are great.