When content really doesn't have a story, we should teach the students to use mnemonics to help them remember content, such as lists, definitions, odd spellings (Wednesday), and the like.
Mnemonics work because they give us cues. They also impose some sort of order on the material we're trying to learn. Below are various mnemonic strategies.
From Chapter 3:
Peg Word
- How it works: "Memorize a series of peg words by using a rhyme - for example, one is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree, and so on. Then memorize new material by associating it via visual imagery with the pegs.
- Example: "To learn the list radio, shell, nurse you might imagine a radio sandwiched in a bun, a shoe on a beach with a conch in it, and a tree growing nurses' hats like fruit.
Method of Loci
- How is works: "Memorize a series of locations on a familiar walk - for example, the back porch of your house, a dying pear tree, your gravel driveway, and so on. Then visualize new material at each "station" of the walk.
- Example: "To learn the list radio, shell, nurse you might visualize a radio hanging on its cord on the banister by the back porch, someone grinding shells to use as fertilizer to revitalize the dying tree, and a nurse shoveling fresh gravel onto your driveway."
Link Method
- How is works: "Visualize each of the items connected to one another in some way."
- Example: "To learn the list radio, shell, nurse you might imagine a nurse listening intently to a radio while wearing large conch shells on her feet instead of shoes."
Acronym Method
- How it works: "Create an acronym for the to-be -remembered words, then remember the acronym."
- Example: "To learn the list radio, shell, nurse you might memorize the word RAiSin using the capitalized letters as cues for the first letter of each word you are to remember."
- How it works: "Similar to the acronym method, this method has you think of a phrase, the first letter of which corresponds to the first letter of the to-be-remembered material."
- Example: "To learn the list radio, shell, nurse you could memorize the phrase "Roses smell nasty," then use the first letter of each word as a cue for the words on the list."
- How it works: "Think of a familiar tune to which you can sing the words."
- Example: To learn the list radio, shell, nurse you could sing the words to the tune of "Happy Birthday to You."
Also it's not enough to tell the students about these methods, you'll will need to model their use for your students and encourage them to develop and share their own mnemonic strategies.
Do you have any other mnemonics you have found helpful for your students?
Here are some things I use with my students in Latin class.
ReplyDeleteFirst, chunking (grouping things to be memorized into smaller units, as we do with telephone and Social Security numbers). For example, when the students have to learn the names of the seven Kings of Rome, I have them chunk the list into the first three (beginning with Romulus, whose name they already know), the middle one (the only name which begins with a vowel), and the last three (the first and last of whom are Tarquinius Somebody). This works much better that just telling them to memorize the list of names.
Next, when I teach declensions, I also teach the students motions, one for each case. We start learning the names of the cases and their uses with these motions; then when we begin learning actual endings we use the same motions. This works very well. It is very easy to spot the kinesthetic learners; last year some of my students asked if they could draw the motions on their test paper (since I told them they could not do the motions as they took their test).
I also find it helpful, when we are going over new vocabulary, to elicit from the class as many derivatives as the students can come up with; this links the new material they are learning to words they already know, and speeds up the assimilation of the new words considerably. I also have power points of the vocabulary list for every chapter we cover in the 6th grade. Whenever possible I have included in the slide something visual that links to the word being taught. I have found this to be very effective...and you only have to come up with the presentations once!
Finally, I have an exercise on memory strategies I have all my students do. In this exercise they experience their success using two different methods of memorizing pairs of words. I encourage them to use what they learn about how their minds work when they are studying.
A couple of years ago, I had a class that wanted to act out photosynthesis. Each student had a sign for who they represented, like water, carbon dioxide, etc. It was a blast. I don't have any hard data on how well it worked, but we sure had a lot of fun doing it. We didn't do it last year because of Ike, but I definitely plan to do it again. Biology would be impossible to learn without mnemonics - we use them and review them constantly.
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