Why the story of Scott Hagwood could empower our schoolsJenson Hagen

I like the story of Scott Hagwood. He had been an average student who was living an average life until his 36th birthday. He got a call from the doctor telling him he had thyroid cancer. As part of his treatment, he was confined to a lead vault for a couple of days where he was infused with radioactive material that the doctor said would damage his memory. Out of fear of losing his memory, Scott brought books on memory into the vault, and thus began his quest to improve his memory that netted him the title of National Memory Champion four times.

The eight time world memory champion, Dominic O’Brien, had dyslexia as a kid. I like the story of Scott Hagwood because he was supposed to have memory problems for the rest of his life due to the cancer treatment. As both of these men would say, along with many others that have written books on memory or have competed in similar contests, they do not have incredible memories . . . they just have incredibly good memory systems.

How could teaching kids about memory systems early in their academic careers improve their ability to retain knowledge? Could these memory systems be so powerful as to allow students to acquire more knowledge in less time than what we expect? Many of us know that using a mnemonic can help to retain information, such as the FFOCN healthiest fats are in Fish, Flax, Olive Oil, Canola Oil and Nuts. But good memory systems develop the brain’s ability to recognize what matters. The brain has to manage a massive amount of information internally and externally every waking moment. It must decide what stays and what goes, where to place information, and the overall importance related to that information.

I like the story of Scott Hagwood because he has a lazy brain. He competed against a doctor underneath an MRI machine to see which brain displayed the most activity. I tell this story to people and they always believe that Scott Hagwood’s brain was just ablaze with commotion. Actually, the doctor’s brain looks to be on fire, while Scott’s brain is nearly sound asleep—yet Scott can remember 50x what the doctor can. It’s because Scott’s brain doesn’t have to scramble around to figure out what to do with the onslaught of information. He has a premade filing cabinet in which to calmly store bits and pieces of new memories here and there . . . la tee da . . . snooze.

The brain represents only about 2% of the body’s mass, yet it consumes nearly 20% of our glucose when at rest. The brain is a total energy hog. In fact, it’s the one body part that doesn’t need insulin to gather glucose. Anything we do that minimizes energy use also optimizes the brain’s ability to continue to function hour after hour after hour. A good memory system can allow a student to sit through lecture for much longer and absorb more information before the brain starts to run low on energy. And what better, memory systems are actually quite fun to learn. Quite! I’ve been introducing these concepts to my mom because she’s worried about her memory as she ages, and she can’t stop talking about how much she now remembers and how fun she’s having with the whole process.

Let’s teach kids how to create a mental filing cabinet so they have a quick and direct way to take in new information. Then, let’s teach kids how to solidify the information they’ve taken in and tell the brain that the information is important so don’t throw it out. The brain will throw out information it perceives as useless because it doesn’t want to be more of an energy hog than it already is. Within this same context, taking frequent breaks to get blood circulating and refueling energy stocks with fruits and vegetables can also help the brain sustain efforts throughout the day. Our scheduling format doesn’t seem to really be in tune with how the brain absorbs information. Instead, we try to rush kids through lecture after lecture and then out the door you go at 3:30pm. To the malls!

Carla Axtman just mentioned how Arjun Kandaswamy who lives out in Beaverton just placed second in the National Geographic Bee. When you read the story of Scott Hagwood or Dominic O’Brien or some of these other memory champions, you realize that they have simply adopted empowering habits. We should start to realize that we could all place well on the National Geographic Bee. If we could put to use our knowledge of the brain, we would realize that we are all capable of becoming national or world memory champions—even those among us that have dyslexia or memory damage! I like the story of Scott Hagwood because he has thrown all of our preconceived notions right out the window like a big bucket of water that splashes on people's heads and washes away their old thoughts.

el cambio es lo más difícil

May 28, 2009 | Jenson Hagen | Comments (5 so far) Permalink: Why the story of Scott Hagwood could empower our schools

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