mnemonics

MNEMONICS

Sheri A. WilkinsProgram Manager

Desert/Mountain SELPA

Why would we want to use Mnemonics?

• What does the research say?

Special Class PlacementPerceptual training

Feingold DietModality-based Instruction

Social Skills TrainingPsychotropic Drugs

Class SizePsycholinguistic Training

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80-0.20

Effect Size





0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80-0.20

Effect Size





0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80-0.20

Effect Size

Not very effective





CAIPeer Tutoring

Stimulant Drugs

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80-0.20

Effect Size

Not very effective





CAIPeer Tutoring

Stimulant Drugs

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80-0.20

Effect Size

Not very effective

May be effective





CAIPeer Tutoring

Stimulant DrugsEarly Intervention

Formative EvaluationDirect Instruction

Behavior ModificationReading Comp. Instruction

Mnemonic Training

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80-0.20

Effect Size

Not very effective

May be effective

Research Proven StrategiesResearch Proven Strategies

Lloyd, J., Forness, S. & Kavale, K. (1998); Forness, S. & Kavale, K. (1999); Vaughn, S., Gersten, R., & Chard, D. (2000)





CAIPeer Tutoring

Stimulant DrugsEarly Intervention

Formative EvaluationDirect Instruction

Behavior ModificationReading Comp. Instruction

Mnemonic Training

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80-0.20

Effect Size

Not very effective

May be effective

Use 'em!

Recommendations for Effective Practices

• Intervene Early• Monitor student’s progress and provide

positive consequences for improvement• Teach cognitive-behavioral self-

management

Recommendations for Effective Practices

• Teach academic and cognitive skills directly and systematically

• Use behavioral techniques to promote acquisition of academic and social behaviors

• Teach mnemonic strategies for understanding and remembering what one learns

What are Mnemonics?

• A technique or device for improving or strengthening memory.

• Validated in over 20 years of research.

What we know about Brain Research

• How our memory works– Sensory Memory– Working Memory– Long-Term Memory

Memory: What Makes Some Stuff Stick

SIGHT

SOUND

TASTE

SMELL

TOUCH

SENSORY MEMORY

1-2 seconds

The trash

WORKING MEMORYabout 18 seconds

(unless you rehearse)

Rehearsal

The trash

Retrieved from LTM

Stored in LTM

LONG TERM MEMORY(no trash can here - recall based on strength of connection)PROCEDURAL

MEMORY(unconscious)

DECLARATIVE MEMORY(conscious)

SEMANTIC EPISODIC

Procedural Memory (How)

• Does not require conscious thought.• These processes have been practiced or

repeated until automaticity.• Examples are: driving a car, writing, typing,

decoding, walking, etc.• We access these skills by DOING them – it

is very difficult to access them in any other way.

Declarative Memory (what)

• Involves conscious thought.• Semantic memory is our general knowledge

(facts, people, places, language, etc.).• Episodic memory is our life experiences –

the specific events and emotions connected to them.

Acronyms and Acrostics

• “First Letter” Strategies• Used when information is relatively familiar

to learners so that all they need is a minimal prompt.

Acronyms

• Uses the first letters of words in a list to make a word that the student can use to reconstruct the list.

• Examples are: HOMES (for the Great Lakes), STAB (for the names of the four voices in a quartet), and ROY G. BIV (the colors of the spectrum).

Acrostics

• A sentence is used to retrieve letters.• Once again, the content needs to be familiar

to students for this to work.• Examples are: “Every Good Boy Deserves

Fudge” to remember the notes on the lines of the treble clef, or “George’s Elderly Old Grandfather Rode A Pig Home Yesterday” to spell “geography”

The Keyword Method

• Used for vocabulary instruction• Used to increase initial learning AND

increase retention of unfamiliar vocabulary words

• Works by making unfamiliar vocabulary words more familiar AND integrating them with the definition

The Keyword Method –Steps in Teaching

1. Reconstructing1. Reconstruct the unfamiliar vocabulary word

to a similar-sounding keyword.

2. Relating1. Combine the keyword and the response in a

sentence, visual image or picture. 2. The keyword needs to be interacting with the

definition.

The Keyword Method –Steps in Teaching

3. Retrieving1. Tell students to think of the keyword when

asked the definition.2. Tell students to think back to the picture.3. Tell students to retrieve the definition from

the information in the picture.

The Keyword Method –“I Do”

• Ranidae is a scientific word for typical members of the frog family.

• What keyword could I use? (Think Aloud)• How could I relate the keyword to the

definition? (Think Aloud)

The Keyword Method - Example

http://www.vocabularycartoons.com/

And now for a demonstration…

The Pegword Method

• A pegword is a rhyming system for remembering numbers.

• The simplest use of the pegword method is for remembering a list of familiar things.

• Examples: Causes of dinosaur extinction, causes of the civil war, list of exports from a country, etc.

The Pegword for ONE is BUN

The Pegword for TWO is SHOE

The Pegword for THREE is TREE

The Pegword for FOUR is DOOR (or FLOOR)

The Pegword for FIVE is HIVE

The Pegword for SIX is STICKS

The Pegword for SEVEN is HEAVEN

The Pegword for EIGHT is GATE

The Pegword for NINE is LINE (or VINE)

The Pegword for TEN is HEN

Ten Pegwords

1. One - Bun2. Two - Shoe3. Three - Tree4. Four – Door or Floor5. Five - Hive

6. Six - Sticks7. Seven - Heaven8. Eight - Gate9. Nine - Line or Vine10. Ten - Hen

The Pegword Method: Example

• In Science: List of minerals and their hardness levels.

• This example pairs keywords with pegwords to help students remember the names of the minerals and their hardness levels.

Talc: hardness level 1

Crocoite: hardness level 2

Antimony: hardness level 2

Wolframite: hardness level 4

Hornblende: hardness level 5

Garnet: hardness level 6

Quartz: hardness level 7

Topaz: hardness level 8

Corundum: hardness level 9

Diamond: hardness level 10

Reconstructive Elaborations

A picture can express a thousand words…

Reconstructive Elaborations

• Reconstructive Elaborations are pictures that make:– Unfamiliar content more familiar– Non-meaningful information more meaningful– Abstract information more concrete.

• They also link chunks of information together so that they are easier to remember.

Reconstructive ElaborationsThree Types

1. Mimetic (pictures of actual information [Arnold Schwarzenegger/Peter Camejo])

2. Symbolic (concrete symbols for abstract information [donkey/elephant])

3. Acoustic (sounds-like something else that is familiar [Bunker Hill/Bumper Hill])

Reconstructive Elaborations: Mimetic

• Pictorial representations of the information to be learned.

• Mimetic reconstructions can be used with content that is already meaningful and familiar to students.

• For the picture to be effective the teacher needs to know what is familiar to the students.

Reconstructive Elaborations: Symbolic

• Symbolic reconstructions can be used to represent abstract pieces of information, making it more concrete and meaningful for students.

Reconstructive Elaborations: Acoustic

• Acoustic reconstructions can be used when information is totally unfamiliar to students.

• The reconstruction uses keywords that are acoustically similar to illustrate the idea (rain – ranid).

The Elaboration Component

• This is the linking component of the model.• A good elaboration will provide a link

between the pieces of information that need to be recalled together.

• This provides a direct connection between the question and the response, facilitating recall.

Resources:• http://www.frii.com/~geomanda

/mnemonics.html• http://www.memory-

key.com/mnemonics/list-learning.htm

• http://www.psychwww.com/mtsite/memory.html

Or...

• Teaching Students Ways to Remember by Mastropieri and Scruggs

• Demonic Mnemonics by Murray Suid and Jim M’Guinness

Documents

mnemonics