Sheldon College
In 2019, Sheldon College has broken new ground in Australian teaching practices by creating a "Head of Memory and Cognition" position, to ensure that both its staff and students (from Prep through to Year 12) are taught nine key memorisation techniques. These skills enable all learners to encode and recall information using vibrant and imaginative imagery, developing not only the user’s short-and-long-term memory skills, but also their capacity for expanding their working memory. Delivering this innovative program is former National Memory Champion, Russell Bauer, who uses his 26 years of school teaching experience to infuse specific memory techniques into various curricula, depending on the required outcomes. Sheldon College teachers are upskilled in these advanced techniques at weekly Staff Meetings and are then able to employ a range of new cognitive approaches to help students revise and cement the information being learned. Because this is an Australian-first approach to cognition, all processes and outcomes are being recorded and analysed, so that quantifiable improvements over a two-year period can be determined.
