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I Remember (Updated!)

How much can you trust your memory?

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I Remember (Updated!)

How much can you trust your memory?

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Check it out! This lesson was just updated in September 2024, and we hope you love the new and improved version. If you've already prepped an earlier version, fear not, you can still find those here through Thursday December 5, 2024.

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I Remember - Student Handout.pdf
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I Remember - Teacher Guide.pdf
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2023-2024 Versions

In the fall of 2024, Citizen Math released updated versions of every lesson in our library, plus a few new ones! We know you may have already prepped an earlier version or planned a repeat of last year, so we're continuing to make these earlier versions available through Thursday December 5, 2024.

You can find the new lessons through the regular search, and we hope you love them as much as we do. You can read more about these updates in Our Community.

How much should you trust your memory? According to neuroscientists, every time you remember something, you alter the memory a bit. The more you remember an event, the less accurate the memory becomes.

In this lesson, students use exponential decay to model memory fidelity and debate whether a bad memory is a good thing.

REAL WORLD TAKEAWAYS

  • According to neuroscientists, memory works is an act of recreation; every time you remember an event, you create it from scratch. When you do this, you alter the memory a bit.
  • The more times you remember something, the less accurate the memory becomes.
  • Not everyone has a memory whose fidelity deteriorates. People with Superior Autobiographical Memory can remember the details of past events with perfect fidelity. Meanwhile, people with amnesia can’t remember events at all.
  • There are advantages and disadvantages to having an imperfect memory, a perfect memory, and no memory. Even though many people wish they had better memories, there are upsides to forgetting.

MATH OBJECTIVES

  • Write linear and exponential functions; explain which is a more appropriate model for a given real-world situation.
  • Graph exponential decay functions.
  • Solve equations that involve exponential decay using various methods, including logs.
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.
Algebra 1
Exponential Functions (Beg.)
Algebra 1
Exponential Functions (Beg.)
Content Standards F.BF.1 Write a function that describes a relationship between two quantities. (a) Determine an explicit expression, a recursive process, or steps for calculation from a context. (b) Combine standard function types using arithmetic operations. For example, build a function that models the temperature of a cooling body by adding a constant function to a decaying exponential, and relate these functions to the model. (c) (+) Compose functions. For example, if T(y) is the temperature in the atmosphere as a function of height, and h(t) is the height of a weather balloon as a function of time, then T(h(t)) is the temperature at the location of the weather balloon as a function of time. F.BF.5 (+) Understand the inverse relationship between exponents and logarithms and use this relationship to solve problems involving logarithms and exponents. F.LE.1 Distinguish between situations that can be modeled with linear functions and with exponential functions. (a) Prove that linear functions grow by equal differences over equal intervals, and that exponential functions grow by equal factors over equal intervals. (b) Recognize situations in which one quantity changes at a constant rate per unit interval relative to another. (c) Recognize situations in which a quantity grows or decays by a constant percent rate per unit interval relative to another. F.LE.2 Construct linear and exponential functions, including arithmetic and geometric sequences, given a graph, a description of a relationship, or two input-output pairs (include reading these from a table).
Mathematical Practices MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. MP.3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. MP.4 Model with mathematics. MP.7 Look for and make use of structure. MP.8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

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