332. Long-term and Working Memory
Brave Writer
Julie Bogart and Melissa Wiley
4.8 • 927 Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why does a child understand something one day and forget it the next?
In this episode, we explore what neuroscience reveals about how learning actually works. Drawing from Uncommon Sense Teaching and Make It Stick, we unpack the difference between working memory and long-term memory—and why retrieval, repetition, and even mistakes play a vital role in lasting learning. We also share practical strategies like jotting notes, sketching ideas, and spaced repetition to help knowledge stick.
When we understand the brain’s learning process, we can guide our kids with more patience and confidence. Listen in and discover how to turn everyday lessons into lasting knowledge.
Resources:
- Listen to our episode “Make It Stick: How to Know If Your Kids Are Retaining What They Learn”
- Find Uncommon Sense Teaching and Make It Stick in the Brave Writer Book Shop
- Brave Writer class registration is open!
- Visit Julie’s Substack to find her special podcast for kids (and a lot more!)
- Purchase Julie’s new book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing
- Find community at the Brave Learner Home
- Learn more about the Brave Writer Literature & Mechanics programs
- Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention
- Subscribe to Julie’s Substack newsletters, Brave Learning with Julie Bogart and Julie Off Topic, and Melissa’s Catalog of Enthusiasms
- Interested in advertising with us? Reach out to media@bravewriter.com
- Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
- Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684
Connect with Julie:
- Instagram: @juliebravewriter
- Threads: @juliebravewriter
- Bluesky: @bravewriter.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
Connect with Melissa:
- Website: melissawiley.com
- Substack: melissawiley.substack.com
- Instagram: @melissawileybooks
- Bluesky: @melissawiley.bsky.social
Produced by NOVA
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Looking for a great math program? |
| 0:03.0 | CTC Math provides online video tutorials that make learning math easy and effective |
| 0:10.0 | by using creative graphics and animation that are sure to grab and keep your child's attention. |
| 0:16.0 | Here's a great testimonial from Lori. |
| 0:18.0 | She said one day my 10-year-old was in tears over math. |
| 0:23.6 | I tried my best to help, but I ended up in tears as well. That very night, I received an email offer for CTC Math. |
| 0:31.6 | The following Monday, we reviewed the curriculum together. She was willing to give it a shot, and we have never looked back. |
| 0:39.9 | Start your free trial today by visiting ctcmath.com. |
| 0:49.9 | Welcome back, everyone, to the Brave Writer podcast, where we offer professional development for parent educators. |
| 0:58.0 | Have you ever felt frustrated that you explained the steps or a concept clearly to a child and they failed to perform? |
| 1:07.1 | Or maybe yesterday they were able to follow your directions or grasp the concept only to act as though |
| 1:13.0 | they have no idea what you're talking about today? |
| 1:16.7 | Truly. |
| 1:17.8 | Maybe you have a child like this though. |
| 1:20.2 | They whizz through, let's say, dictation and they get every single punctuation mark correct. |
| 1:25.7 | But then Friday comes along, they go to free writing and |
| 1:28.8 | suddenly no punctuation. Or perhaps they've learned how to add double digits on Tuesday, |
| 1:35.5 | but on Thursday they have completely forgotten about carrying. Okay, why does this happen? How can you |
| 1:42.4 | teach your child to retain what they're learning and apply it to new |
| 1:46.5 | conditions or even the exercise of the instructions from a previous day? You know, Melissa, |
| 1:52.5 | our brains are complex creatures. But lucky us, we have a companion today through her book of one of my colleagues, Barbara Oakley, and she's here to help us learn more about how we learn in easy to understand language. |
| 2:10.1 | So let's start there. |
... |
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