The effective teacher can control the presentation strategies of material while many environmental and external conditions are beyond the control of the teacher. In addition, mastering even a small amount of material fosters future accomplishments by the student, encourages others to reach for similar goals, and helps the student truly learn instead of simply memorizing. Helping students learn how to think, one student at a time, should be the underlying goal of education. Sensory memory is fleeting and momentary lasting for less than one second. The second phase, short- term memory, is working and active but is maintained primarily by rehearsal.
Rehearsal means to repeat.
This explains why students can review notes before a test, do quite well on the exam, and three days later remember nothing from the material. Short-term memory is limited to approximately seven items in adolescents and higher grade students. However, the younger children will remember far less. Teachers should consider age and maturity levels of students to set reasonable goals for the class. Long-term memory is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for both the teacher and student.