We Met a Real-life Owl as Part of Our Memory Recall Learning

An exciting visitor came to see us at CASE this week – complete with a fluffy mantel, heart-shaped facial disk, and strokable crown. Yes – it was a barn owl! We learned about owls the previous week, so as part of our memory recall learning (discovering how memories are stored and retrieved), the bubble leaders arranged for a real-life owl to join our trainees in a `hold and see` task. The session was led by fully-qualified birds of prey handler who owns a sanctuary, so she could tell us how to safely handle and pet JJ the owl, what he liked (his sister, Fuzz) and disliked – and much more! Our trainees were delighted to see the owl up close and personal and it really enhanced the work they completed afterward. Read on to find out what our memory recall learning involved and most importantly… to see photos of JJ the owl.

Our memory recall session

Along with meeting JJ the owl, our memory recall learning involved quick maths and English sessions – working independently and as part of a team.

Task 1: Independent warm-up activity – number recognition and number addition using cards and dice;
Task 2: Match the sentence with the picture and find the picture. A group activity to aid memory recall;
Task 3: What do we know and remember about last week’s work on owls? A group discussion;
Task 4: Trainees recalled their memories in sentence structure and storyboard form;
Task 5: Question comprehension about barn owls;
Task 6: Caption writing – with a focus on what we know about owl babies (too cute);
Task 7: Owl in class – `hold and see` – the moment we all waited for!
Task 8: Label an owl drawing, which was MUCH easier after meeting JJ the owl.

What is memory recall?

Memory recall is remembering information or an event that has happened previously and is now stored in the brain. This is how memory recall works (1):

Firstly, the brain encodes the memory;
Secondly the brain stores the memory;
Lastly, the brain recalls the memory.

Memory recall is a really important part of being human – not only do we need our memories to complete basic tasks and live everyday life, but we need them to remember all of our favourite days and celebrations, and the lessons we’ve learned over the weeks/months/years, too!

Suggested reading for you

Memory Recall/Retrieval | Types, Processes, Improvement & Problems (human-memory.net).