What Movie Soundtracks Can Teach Us About Bible Memory
Soundtracks are less common than they used to be but they still hold a powerful place for certain types of movies. You can hear a certain song and immediately think of the Titanic. Other songs trigger one of the Batman movies or a Disney flick.
If you watched the movie first, you might have slightly missed the song. Or maybe you heard it, registered it, but you couldn’t really name it or recall it afterwards.
Until… you had to listen to it a thousand times as stations repeated the song over and over again.
While this was partially for financial gain, it served another purpose. This repetition spaced out over time and space kept the film relevant. It triggered memories for you. In fact, you might still experience those feelings mixed with nostalgia when you come across the song today.
This wasn’t accidental.
This is science.
Marketing companies and large corporations use the science every day. It’s why you see the billboard, hear the ad, scroll past the video, and eventually consider the company when you need their production. They are reinforcing their products place in your life.
It’s not manipulation. It’s someone working smarter. It’s someone working WITH the brain rather than trying to row upstream.
We know that it works because we can still hear the song and think of the movie, we buy the product without shopping around, and we do the thing because it “feels like a good idea.”
But if we know that it works, why don’t we utilize it more often in our Bible classes? And what exactly are we talking about anyway?
Is it magic?
It’s not magic. It’s just Spaced Repetition and it is what it says it is. It’s repetition that happens at spaced intervals.
Spaced Repetition diminishes forgetting and solidifies the learned information. This spaced review helps the brain to properly sort and store the information. It works against the Forgetting Curve and gives the information a clear path to move into long-term memory.
The Forgetting Curve?
First discussed in 1885 by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, the Forgetting Curve shows the rapid decline of memory retention over time. Research shows some fluctuation in the exact percentages so we'll keep it conservative.
Numerous studies in the area have shown that humans forget about 50% of what they learn within an hour! Eek! That means that if you teach Sunday School before regular service, your students have forgotten about HALF of what you taught them before they even leave the building. If you teach a small group, your students have forgotten about HALF between the chat time and their commute home. (Some studies show that 50% within 20 minutes!)
The decline doesn’t stop there. Within 24 hours, people forget about 75% of new information. After a week, 90% of the new information is gone. That means that of all the words you spoke during your last class, your students really only remember a sentence or two.
Do they remember the right sentences?
What does Spaced Repetition look like?
Ideally, Spaced Repetition takes place over a week or so but it all begins immediately after learning.
Review immediately. This review might look like summarizing the information in your own words, creating flashcards, or writing out the information.
Review tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be a big process and can take less than 10 minutes. It can include reviewing the information mentally before checking your notes or it can mean testing yourself using your flashcards. It's a brief but powerful retrieval moment.
Review in 3 days. Again, it doesn’t have to be a time-suck. Test yourself three days after learning. Review flashcards or write out everything you can remember without looking at your notes.
Review in 7 days. Keep it simple and review again. Flashcards, talk about the information with a friend, or write the information out.
Is it Biblical?
Psalm 119: 11 says “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
When we store up information, it reduces sin. It keeps us in line with God.
But we have to know how to store information. Sure, we could just toss things in and hope they properly organize. But if packing has taught me anything, just tossing things in and hoping it all fit doesn’t work.
And God, the Creator of our brains, understood that we needed to be reminded again and again.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6: 6-9
There’s not just one teaching but it’s spaced out and repeated again and again.
Spaced Repetition for Bible Study?
Bible classes all look a little different so there is no perfect method for practicing spaced repetition after Bible study. But here’s a good formula to get you started.
Review immediately. After you finish teaching, ask a few questions, encourage students to write out a summary of the teaching, or have them talk with a partner about the information.
Review tomorrow. Your students are only with you for a brief time and you probably aren’t with them the next day but that doesn’t mean that you can’t help them think about the information after class ends. Send them home with a few questions to think about. If possible, send a brief text reminding them of the lesson or asking a question that will make them recall the Big Idea. Remind them to review the summary they wrote the day before.
Review in 3 days. This is the most difficult because you’re busy too. A simple text sharing how you’re applying what was discussed or a Bible verse reminder can go a long way. However, the best long-term solution is to teach students how to review on their own.
Review in 7 days. It’s Bible study day again! So, before you begin any new information, review your previous class. Ask questions or have a few people share with the class.
It might not be perfect and you might need to experiment a bit to find what works best for you and your students but it’s worth it. Every time you review you’re diminishing the Forgetting Curve.
Why even bother teaching?
It can feel really discouraging to know how much your students forget. But there is hope!
Spaced Repetition happens at the intervals when the new information is becoming foggy but it’s not yet forgotten. It brings the information back to the forefront of the mind. It makes the learning 100% again and again and again. By the 7th day of review, you’re not facing a class that’s forgotten 90% of the information, you’re facing a class that’s only forgotten 50%. That’s a much smaller gap to close. And every time you close that gap, your students are putting more and more information into long-term memory.
Spaced Repetition isn’t a quick fix method to make your students into excellent disciples. It’s a tool that you're training them to use so they can learn the Bible for themselves.
It will take time and deliberate effort but the reward is a Bible literate Church. So, ask the questions, encourage the between-class thinking, and review again. It might feel repetitive to you but it’s a life-line for your students’ brains.
Build the soundtrack that takes your students back to the Bible time and again.
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