1. Learning Strategies For Recalling Specific Facts For Organizing
Material into a
Coherent Structure
For Integrating
Material with Prior
Knowledge

2. Techniques that help students memorize material like facts
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
Techniques that help students memorize material like facts
How do you remember that “negative charges fall to the bottom of a cloud and positive charges rise to the top?”
Imagine the cloud as a wrestling ring in which a big, muscular figure with a plus sign on his chest is stepping on a defeated wrestler with a minus sign on his chest.
How do you remember the sign (+/-) of a multiplication product that involves different combinations of positive and negative numbers?
(+/+) a good thing to a good person is good (+)
(+/-) a good thing to a bad person is bad (-)
(-/+) a bad thing to a good person is bad (-)
(-/-) a bad thing to a bad person is good (+)

3. Case Study: Helping a 3rd Grader Do Well on Spelling Tests
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
Case Study: Helping a 3rd Grader Do Well on Spelling Tests
1. If one letter is a problem (especially if the pronunciation suggests the wrong letter), a little graphic elaboration can help. For example, to avoid KINGDUM draw little spikes on the “O”. And say “The king has to have a crown.”
Or to avoid VULCANO draw some lava coming out of the first “O” and say “There has to be a place for the lava to come out.”
Or to avoid PRESEDENT, point to the “i” and say “There is a man (president) in the middle.
2. Some spellings just don’t make much sense. To remember that RAIN has an “I” and is not RANE, point to the “i” and say “There has to be a drop (the dot on the “i”) of rain in the word

4. Case Study: Helping a 3rd Grader Do Well on Spelling Tests
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
Case Study: Helping a 3rd Grader Do Well on Spelling Tests
3. Many homonyms can be identified by relating the meaning to a visual characteristic of a single letter. To keep SUM and SOME separate, say “SUM means “add things together”. “If you want to add things together you put into the pot (i.e., the letter U).”
4. Words with double letters are easy to leave one out. So, try to think of some visually or semantically related word that begins with the doubled letter and just say it twice. For example, PRINCESS: “Remember there are 2 S’s. The princess is Sleeping Sleeping.
Or for TURRET: Say “A turret is a tower on a castle; if you are on top of the tower and the bad guys are after you, you can’t run away, you can only run ROUND and ROUND. Two R’s

5. Case Study: Helping a 3rd Grader Do Well on Spelling Tests
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
Case Study: Helping a 3rd Grader Do Well on Spelling Tests
5. Sometimes the syllables are words that suggest an elaboration. MAGICAL gives Magic Al.
6. Some spellings, such as EIGHT, seem completely arbitrary and don’t have just one or two sticking points. These can only be remembered by a phrase that cues each letter.
Every Indian Gets Home Tonight.
Or JAGUAR - Give Up And Run.

6. MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
The Keyword Method
For learning foreign language vocabulary, capitals of the states, places and products, any type of list learning.
Acoustic link - take the first word and associate it with a pronounceable English word (needs to be concrete object)
Imagery link - form an interactive image combining the keyword and the associated word (English definition for foreign vocabulary learning)

7. The Keyword Method - Some Examples
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
The Keyword Method - Some Examples
Remembering that “carta” means letter.
Acoustic link - cart
Imagery link - image a shopping cart with a large letter in
the cart
Remembering that “gusano” means worm.
Acoustic link - goose
Imagery link - image a goose trying to pull a worm out of
the ground

8. The Keyword Method - Some Examples
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
The Keyword Method - Some Examples
Remembering that arteries are “thick” and “elastic” whereas veins are thin and less elastic.
Acoustic link - Art(ery)
Imagery link - Art was “thick” in the middle so he wore pants with an “elastic” waistband.
Remembering that Belleville is known for its quarry.
Acoustic link - Belleville
Imagery link - imagine a bell being hit by a stone (from the quarry)

9. The Keyword Method - A Developmental Study
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
The Keyword Method - A Developmental Study
Students are trained to use the Keyword Method for city-produce pairs (6th grade & college).
Some get practice with different materials (country-food pairs, men-profession pairs)
Some get a rule: “You can use the keyword method whenever you have two items to remember
Everyone does well on the city-products list after they are trained on the keyword method. They are told to use it on that list. Key findings (next slide) involve their continued use of the strategy on a new (and very different) list.

10. The Keyword Method - A Developmental Study
MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
The Keyword Method - A Developmental Study
Generalization Test: Students asked to study Latin words and their English definitions (one word). Students not explicitly told to use the Keyword Method.
% Recall on Latin-English Pairs
6th Grade College
Practice % %
Rule Given % %
Please Note: 6th graders do not spontaneously abstract the basic point about the keyword method, that it can help with any type of list learning. You need to state the rule for them.

11. IMPLICATIONS OF MNEMONIC STRATEGIES
Some students will need assistance in using mnemonic strategies. Younger students cannot generate effective imagery on their own. They may need teacher-provided images.
Some students need assistance in recognizing situations in which particular strategies would be useful. Younger students are less likely to abstract key rules about the effectiveness of a strategy and as a consequence do not actively seek out other opportunities to use the strategy.