Chapter 2, page 48

As an illustration of why meaningful encoding with multiple connections is an effective encoding
strategy, consider two alternative ways of learning the fact that oranges are grown in California. One
student remembers it by imagining the O in “California” as a large orange.

C A L I F o R N I A

Essentially, this student has attempted to create a long-term memory structure with the connections shown
in Figure 2.8a. This provides two different paths along which the crucial information (California grows
oranges) can be retrieved. The learner can either directly recall that California grows oranges or can recall
that the O in California provides a clue that oranges are one important crop.

Figure 2.8a An associative network in which the O in California is envisioned as an orange

Contrast this with a student who uses meaningful explanations with many connections to encode the
information (Figure 2.8b). This student thinks to herself that oranges are grown in California because
oranges require a warm, sunny climate. Oranges are grown in Florida for the same reason; the two states
are similar in climate and in crops. In both states, freezes are rare, and this is important because oranges
are damaged by freezing. Other crops that require a warm sunny climate, such as peanuts and peaches, are
also grown in these states. By making all these connections, this student has a generated a much more
interconnected explanatory network of ideas, as shown in this diagram.
The student who constructs this highly interconnected associative network has many more
interconnections to help her recall that California grows oranges. If this student can recall any of the other
ideas that are connected within this memory structure (for instance, the climate in Florida is like
California, oranges are grown in both because of similar warm, sunny climates, and so on), the student
will probably be able to retrieve the information that California grows oranges. Multiple interlocking
connections created during encoding provide more memory paths to help the learner retrieve target
information (see Mishra & Brewer, 2003; Radvansky, 2005).

California

O

oranges

grows

contains the

letter

starts with

the letter