3 Tips to Help Your Students Retain the Bible

How can I help my students retain the Bible stories they are learning? What are things that help kids remember the characters and events of the Bible.

A method we have been using at Grapevine for over 20 years and with thousands of students has shown incredible results! STICK FIGURES! You might be asking, “Does using colored pencils and stick figuring the Bible really make a difference in the digital age?”

I think you might be surprised by what the research is showing!

3 Things that Help Students Retain the Bible

When we teach children we not only want to do something that is fun and engaging but also something that helps them to retain, recall, and act upon the information they have learned. Science give us some interesting facts about what IS working with children that we can easily implement at we teach.

1. Written Notes: When children take notes or create written charts it helps them to process the information they are given and better retain it.

Handwritten notes involve more thought, re-framing, and re-organization, all of which promote better understanding and retention.Handwritten Notes Lead to Better Learning

Have students:

• • • Write short notes that encapsulate the information
    • Create charts to reformat the information
    • Note key points and key facts

2. Stick Figures: Drawing an image to reflect information one is taking in helps the brain to translate the information into a form that is easily remembered.

People who doodle remember 29% more information than their counterparts who did not doodle. Doodling Cast Study

Have students:

• • • Create drawings to summarize information
    • Draw images to represent key people or words
    • Develop a code to mark words or phrases that helps to connect and memorize information

3. Color: Our world is full of color and color has a great affect on how we view and remember the things presented to us.

Color helps us in memorizing certain information by increasing our attention level. The role played by color in enhancing our attention level is indisputable

 The Influence of Colour on Memory Performance: A Review

Have students:

• • • Develop color codes to link facts and topics
    • Use color and symbols to mark words in a book or paper to highlight important things
    • Apply color to the handouts or have students add

Where do you find all of these elements in one Bible study? We all want our children to be active in the learning processes especially when we are teaching the Bible. At Grapevine, students draw characters, write words, and create timelines for each story, helping them recognize different elements of the biblical story. Through our studies, students also discover how the characters and events relate to one another.

Kids will often take their lesson pages and be able to retain the Bible stories and retell them to their parents or a friend simply from looking at their drawings! Not only that, but we have also seen teens win trivia contest by reciting the information they had learned years before!

If you haven’t yet tried a Grapevine Bible study, now is the time! I recommend beginning with one of our Topical Bible Studies. If you need a personal recommendation, drop me a line and I will send you direct links to the products for your family, church or school.

Today is the day to help your students not just hear the Bible but retain it!