Mnemonics

9 Key excerpts on "Mnemonics"

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  eBook - ePub

  What Teachers Need to Know About Memory

  • Jonathan Firth, Nasima Riazat(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Corwin UK

    (Publisher)

  Overall, Mnemonics help to artificially boost the retrieval strength of a memory by providing an indirect mental route to that target memory. In the long run, it will be best to use the more direct route and, over time, learners will start to do exactly this because doing so is easier and more efficient. In this sense, a mnemonic is like a crutch or scaffold. It is a temporary support and ceases to be needed over time as knowledge becomes more flexible and automatic.

  Mnemonics also illustrate certain features about memory that are often not always obvious. Some of these may only be relevant in some circumstances, but overall, understanding and using these principles can help to make you more effective as an educator. Alongside independent study, such techniques can be applied to classroom learning in order to make tricky bits of content more vivid and memorable, and to learners’ note-taking and broader organisational skills, too.

  Key Points

  • Mnemonics are techniques used to support memory. They aren’t the end goal, but rather act as scaffolding for tricky and detailed sets of information.
  • Verbal Mnemonics include acrostic phrases, keywords, rhymes and the narrative technique. These can be teacher-provided, but at times it is best if the student generates their own examples.
  • Visual Mnemonics such as the method of loci and the journey method draw on our very powerful visual long-term memory. Such Mnemonics are especially effective if visual images are distinctive and emotive, and it can be worth taking time to ‘prepare’ a mental space or journey ready for use with a mnemonic.
  • Mnemonics can be made more powerful by personalising them – for example, by linking them to a student’s own interests, emotions, life experiences and known locations.
  • Mnemonics will also benefit from the application of the LTM principles discussed elsewhere in the book, such as actively retrieving them and practising them on a spaced schedule.
  • While they are primarily used for exam revision, Mnemonics can also be used in the classroom or for everyday reminders.
  • Mnemonics and other evidence-informed approaches are much preferable to the ‘magical thinking’ reflected in some popular approaches to studying.

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  Purposeful Co-Teaching

  Real Cases and Effective Strategies

  • Greg Conderman, Val Bresnahan, EdD, Special Education Teacher, Theresa Pedersen(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Corwin

    (Publisher)

  A jingle, a rhyme, a phrase, a song, or a visual—all of these can be Mnemonics. A mnemonic is any devise that aids memorization. Mnemonics are artificial aids imposed on the curriculum to help students recall factual information, such as names, dates, figures, or lists. Recall some of your favorite TV commercials—you probably remember words to the jingle, melody, or rhyme. You might even be able to visualize the commercial, as well as your surroundings when you first saw and heard it. Mnemonics can be powerful learning tools.

  This chapter focuses on using Mnemonics in co-taught classrooms. You will learn the importance of Mnemonics and effective strategies for teaching them. After reading this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

   

  • Define Mnemonics and provide examples of Mnemonics.
  • Provide a rationale for using Mnemonics in your classroom.
  • Describe several specific mnemonic strategies.
  • Explain ways to incorporate Mnemonics in co-taught classrooms.
  • Describe one way to confront your co-teacher effectively, even when you dislike confrontation.

  A RATIONALE FOR USING Mnemonics   

  Why should teachers infuse mnemonic instruction into their classrooms? First, Mnemonics have a great track record. This is especially important considering the mandate for using research-based practices. In their meta-analysis of the most popular instructional methods used in special education, researchers Lloyd, Forness, and Kavale (1998) discovered that Mnemonics produced the most significant academic gains for students with disabilities. Mnemonics were more powerful than direct instruction, reading comprehension strategies, behavior modification, early intervention, or even reducing class size. However, Mnemonics—like other learning tools—need to be taught explicitly to some students. Although many students can develop their own Mnemonics for remembering items for an upcoming test or quiz, other students in diverse classrooms typically need considerable support—at least initially—in developing their own Mnemonics.

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  Strategy Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities

  • Robert Reid, Torri Ortiz Lienemann, Jessica L. Hagaman(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • The Guilford Press

    (Publisher)

  There’s a good reason why mnemonic strategies have been used for so long. Research clearly demonstrates that mnemonic techniques are superior to traditional methods of instruction when teaching the acquisition and recall of highly factual infor- mation (e.g., science and social studies information). For example, Mastropieri, Sweda, and Scruggs (2000) reported that using mnemonic strategies for social studies in an inclusive classroom raised the average test scores of students with LD from 36 to 75%, and that students responded very positively to the use of Mnemonics. Similarly, Mas- tropieri, Scruggs, Bakken, and Brigham (1992) found that Mnemonics were effective in teaching U.S. states and capitals. Finally, Scruggs, Mastropieri, Levin, and Gaffney (1985) found that Mnemonics could be used to teach multiple attributes of minerals (e.g., hardness scale, color, and their uses), and that mnemonic instruction was more effective than direct instruction or free study. On the whole, Mnemonics have proven to be highly effective in improving retention of information in specific content areas— most notably, science—for students with LD (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1998; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1990, 1992; Therrien, Taylor, Hosp, Kaldenberg, & Gorsh, 2011). Reviews of research (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 2000; Scruggs et al., 2010) have found that instruction that utilized Mnemonics led to significant improvement in learning over traditional approaches. Moreover, the majority of the studies reviewed were done with students with LD. There are many different types of mnemonic strategies, each of which can be used for multiple purposes. In this chapter we present examples of the five main types of mnemonic strategies based on the classification developed by Mastropieri and Scruggs: (1) acronyms and acrostics, (2) mimetics, (3) symbolics, (4) key words, and (5) pegwords.

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  Passing Exams For Dummies

  • Patrick Sherratt(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • For Dummies

    (Publisher)

  This is called rote learning and in some cases it can be effective. For example, you were probably taught to memorize Part IV: Remembering with Pictures and Patterns 156 your times tables by rote, practicing them over and over. You can now recall them effortlessly from memory. Rote learning takes a lot of time. When you’re juggling a number of exam subjects or activities apart from reviewing for an exam, you need ways to speed up the retention process. Memorizing with Mnemonics Basic Mnemonics are memory aids that provide a quick and easy way to build retention and recall your information. They work by the association of easily remembered constructs that you can relate back to the information requiring retention. Some of the more common Mnemonics include using acronyms and acrostics, maps, music, voice recordings, flashcards, acting, and spreadsheets. Grouping first letters: Acronyms Acronyms are one of the most common mnemonic techniques people use to help remember information. An acronym takes the first letter from a group of keywords to form another word. For example, the first letters of the North American great lakes — Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior — spell the word HOMES. If you need to recall a stack of information on each lake name, you can literally condense all the information into the acronym HOMES so that it becomes easier to remember. To do so, you simply extend the mnemonic with pictures, movement, or emotion (refer to Chapter 11), so that HOMES becomes more meaningful. For example, if you create a picture in your mind, you can visualize your own house floating over five puddles (symbolically representing the five lakes), and as the house dips into each puddle you recall the names: H for Huron, O for Ontario, M for Michigan, and so on. You can create acronyms in different ways. For example, if you have a number of keywords with the same first letter, you can group them together with a number.

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  Innovating Teaching and Learning

  Reports from University Lecturers

  • Ľudmila Adamová, PhD., Petra Muráriková, Ľudmila Adamová, Petra Muráriková(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Budrich UniPress

    (Publisher)

  Mnemosyne was the Greek goddess of memory, and her namesake, Mnemonics, simply means ‘memory aid’. Mnemonics are patterns or any clever learning technique that aids information retention. Most often, this pattern consists of letters or words. For example, the phrase “She Likes To Play Try To Catch Her” can be used to help students remember the order of the wrist bones: Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform, Trapezium, Trapezoid, Capitate, Hamate bones. Mnemonics aim to translate information into an easier form to remember; thus the human brain can better retain and aid the transfer of information to long-term memory. Imagination was increased during practical classes using the activity called ‘make something.’ This strategy required students to draw simple pictures or schemas of organs and their relationships with colored chalks on the blackboard; draw bones of the hand by using highlighters through dressed surgical gloves, or draw bones of the skull through dressed swimming cap; or to model the structures or organs of human body with plasticine. All these methods helped students to remember the difficult terms and to make anatomy more fun at the same time, despite the seriousness of this subject. These methods facilitated anatomy learning and the retention of important knowledge in the memory for as long as possible. 7.3 Research Design Two methods were used to facilitate learning in this course: Mnemonics and stimulation of imagination using ‘make something’ activity. The effect of the innovation on students’ learning was measured by comparing the results of students who underwent the innovative method (I-group) with the results of students who did not receive the innovate intervention (N-group). In this course students were assigned two theoretical written and two practical compulsory control tests. Each test covered the anatomical regions in a detailed and coherent manner.

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  Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Teaching Vocabulary and Phraseology

  • Frank Boers, Seth Lindstromberg, Frank Boers, Seth Lindstromberg(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  One researcher however, Corbett (1977), found use of Mnemonics to be associated with relatively slow (L1) retrieval speeds. – There is some evidence that simply showing learners how a mnemonic works is not enough to bring them to use it. They may need to use a number of Mnemonics themselves and be given feedback about their performance with each before they will commit to any one of them. In addition to the procedures mentioned above, there are a number of more readily generalisable strategies, of which those which follow are especially prominent in the literature (e.g. Thompson 1997; see also Schmitt 1997 for a detailed survey and more nuanced classification than that attempted here). Strategies – Grouping target lexis, a process which encourages depth of processing, is well-known to promote retention. – Self-testing is known to be effective. – It is widely accepted that it is mnemonically helpful for learners to incorporate target lexis into meaningful sentences. – The strategy of guessing meaning from context, once highly touted (e.g. Nation and Coady 1988; Sternberg 1987) has lost some its gloss in light of evidence that there are significant difficulties and pitfalls (Laufer 1997a; 1997b; S ő kmen 1997: 237–39). Still, there can be no doubt that valuable learning can occur through employment of this strategy. – Guessing on the basis of what is known about word parts is often recommended (e.g. Nation 1990) and is apparently a strategy that learners spontaneously adopt (Sandra 1997). – Many learners keep note books (although not always willingly), and this too is often recommended (Schmitt 1997). – The strategy of making and using vocabulary cards typically involves learning paired associates. The commonest first step is to write an L2 expression on one side of the card and an L1 translation on the other, although there are many possible refinements even at this stage. The benefit of using vocabulary cards is well-evidenced (Nation 2001: 302–10, 315–16).

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  Ars memoriae and scriptura interna

  A metaphorological account on the De umbris idearum

  • Sara Taglialatela(Author)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • V&R Unipress

    (Publisher)

  © 2022 V&R unipress | Brill Deutschland GmbH ISBN Print: 9783847113966 – ISBN E-Book: 9783847013969 Chapter 1: Mnemonics and theories of the memory (…) this circumstance suggested to him the discovery of the truth that the best aid to clearness of memory consists in orderly arrangement. He inferred that persons desiring to train this faculty must select localities and form mental images of the facts they wish to remember and store those images in the localities, with the result that the arrangement of the localities will preserve the order of the facts, and the images of the facts will designate the facts themselves, and we shall employ the localities and images respectively as a wax writing tablet and the letters written on it. – Cicero, De or. , II, lxxxvi, 353–354 1. Definition of the field of research (1): Mnemonics and memory theories The history of Mnemonics as an artificial aid to memory, which was widespread prior to the advent of the printing press, began in Greek Antiquity and continued until the seventeenth century. As this is a long, complex, multifaceted history involving long-lasting rules and features, which interacted with several other disciplines and raised issues of a theoretical nature, it would be best to start by distinguishing between Mnemonics and memory theories. Since Antiquity philosophers have sought to define and explain the various functions of the soul, namely the different ways that the soul interacts with reality. The function that enables the soul to retain in some form what has been experienced once and enables it to be available for other functions later and without the physical stimulus that originally produced that which has been re- tained is called memory. Memory theories were the philosophical interpretations that investigated the role and functioning of memory within a theory of the soul.

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  Memory

  • Elizabeth Ligon Bjork, Robert A. Bjork(Authors)
  • 1996(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Organization- al Mnemonics organize these symbols in memory. When these symbols are recalled, they act as mental cues for the information to be remembered. Sometimes a number of mental symbols must be assembled and associated to remember one item. For example, the image of a locus retrieves a mental image of Sara in a toga that, in turn, reminds the mnemonist of the Battle of Saratoga. Another example is using the mnemonic described above to recall that Juneau is the capital of Alaska. Just as some of the psychological theory involving associative networks and the process of elaboration helps explain the mechanics of encoding Mnemonics, research on the manner in which information is organized in memory helps us understand organizational Mnemonics. I have suggested elsewhere (Bellezza, 1987) that organizational Mnemonics are knowledge structures in memory that mediate learning much as some kinds of schemas do. I make this point because schema-based learning is often considered to be a natural form of learning (Anderson, Spiro, & Anderson, 1978; Schank & Abelson, 1977), whereas learning using mnemonic devices has been considered to be unnatural. Yet, the two are similar in their manner of operation (Bellezza & Reddy, 1978). Both mne- monic devices and memory schemas enhance learning by a process of pro- active facilitation; that is, making use of the strength of old associations and relations whenever possible. Context information enables the learner to keep distinct, to some extent, each instantiation of the schema or mnemonic device. Under certain conditions, usually involving the perception of a specific set of environmental stimuli, a schema will become active in memory.

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  Clinical Management of Memory Problems (2nd Edn) (PLE: Memory)

  • Barbara Wilson, Nick Moffat(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  For the patient with memory deficits, however, their most fundamental difficulties may be associated with retaining relatively stable information such as common routes, addresses, names of colleagues, or hospital staff, and various types of sequences. In such cases Mnemonics may well help.

  The second situation in which first-letter and rhyme Mnemonics are useful is when written reminders are not available. In examinations written reminders are normally forbidden, regarded as a form of cheating. Learned Mnemonics, on the other hand, are usually acceptable, and anyway the invigilator cannot see them! Certainly students do use Mnemonics, particularly the first letter and rhymes varieties (though according to my study, Harris 1980, even students use these Mnemonics much less often than they use external aids, such as diaries, memos, shopping lists and asking someone for a reminder).

  Patients with memory problems may find themselves in a similar situation if they do not wish to be seen using external aids, such as written reminders, which might mark them out as handicapped. If readers want to find out more about Mnemonics, I suggest they consult Higbee (1977), Lorayne and Lucas (1975), Morris (1977) and Yates (1966).

  REPETITIVE PRACTICE

  Repeated practice is a method we frequently use for a wide range of learning and memorizing, from children memorizing the alphabet and their multiplication tables and actors learning their lines, to the learning of motor skills, such as driving, riding a bike, or playing a game such as football. Indeed this is the normal way we acquire skills. Two important factors to consider are how to make practice efficient and whether practice is always applied in appropriate circumstances.

  A classical finding in psychology is that practice distributed widely over time is more effective than the same amount of practice fitted into a short period. This has been found on many types of learning and with comparisons over different ranges of time.

  When we are learning by practice, it is usually helpful to know how we are doing, and many sorts of practice involve feedback of results. If learning involves a series of recall attempts or trials, it is better to arrange them so that attempts tend to be correct and lead to positive reinforcement and encouragement than to make them so difficult that many are incorrect.

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