Have you ever thought about your thinking? Do you even realize you're doing it, or is it more like breathing - you just do it without "thinking" about it. Can you improve it? Can you improve your memory? How can you help your brain remember information?

Most of the time, you aren't even aware that you're thinking. It's more of a natural process, since our brain is designed for thinking. After all, no one has to teach a baby how to think. But many people believe it is a process that can be improved. This page will give you ideas on how to be a better thinker.

Today there is so much information for kids to know that it's mind boggling. About 95% of new learning comes into our brain through our senses of sight, hearing, and touch. That could be pretty overwhelming! So what our brain does is filter through all the incoming information and decide what's most important. For example, things that are threatening are given top priority. Also things containing strong emotions have a better chance of being remembered. So when you're trying to remember something you might try relating it to a strong emotion in order to help you remember it better.

So how does our memory decide what to remember and what to forget? There is a lot involved, but according to research, our memory asks two questions:

If the information makes sense, then we can understand it. If the information has meaning, then it fits into what we know and is relevant. What's tricky is that something that has meaning for one person may have a different meaning or no meaning for another person. Of these two questions, meaning has more importance than sense in placing new learning into our memory. For example, have you ever watched a T.V. show that made sense, but didn't have meaning? How many T.V. shows have you watched that you totally forget? Think of all the T.V. shows that are not stored in your brain. Have you ever asked a teacher why you needed to learn something only to be told, "Because you're going to have a test on it." That's not a good answer, since it doesn't help you make meaning of the information. In fact, you may forget the information after the test! Always try to give yourself enough time to think through new learning and try to relate it to what you already understand.

Another bit of information that is interesting has to do with memory and location. If you can't remember something, try to go back to where you learned it. That will be a strong memory aid and will help trigger your memory. It's also a good idea to change locations when you study. Try studying math in one place and science in another. Then when you're taking a test on the information, picture yourself back in the place you learned it. That should help you remember.

Good luck trying out these memory aids. I hope you don't forget them!

Mnemonic (ni mon' ik) devices are fun ways to help you remember things. There are different kinds of devices like putting ideas to music or using peg systems and acronyms. Here is a rhyming peg word system to help you remember things. First you need to memorize this list:

Next make a list of things you want to remember. For example, pretend you need to bring pencils, glue, and markers to school. Use the peg words to help you remember your list. Take the first word "sun" and create a picture in your mind of something like a sun with pencil rays coming out of it. Next take the second word, "shoe" and picture a pair of shoes with glue oozing out of them. Lastly, picture the third word, "tree" as a tree with a marker trunk. If you had more things on your list you keep on going. You will easily remember your list the next day just by thinking of each peg word and the image you created in your mind. Use this technique to remember vocabulary words, terms, and lists.

Have you ever used acronyms to help you remember something? Acronyms are the initials of things you want to remember.

If you can remember the name Roy G. Biv than you can remember the colors of the rainbow which are R-for red, O-for orange, Y-for yellow, G-for green, B-for blue, I-for Indigo, and V-for violet. And if you can remember the word H.O.M.E.S. than you can remember the Great Lakes, which are Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. Can you make up other acronyms to help your memory? Share your ideas with friends.

Visit The Idea Place to share your learning tricks with other kids.