Memory Strategies / Mnemonics

A brief explanation of mnemonics will help.  The word mnemonic (pronounced "ne MON ik") is derived from Mnemosyne, the name of the ancient Greek goddess of memory. One mnemonic system, the Loci system dates back to about 500 BC. Greek orators used the Loci system to remember long speeches. Using the Loci system, the orator would use landmarks as mental places to store ideas, then mentally walk down a street, look at the next landmark, and remember the next part of the speech. A mnemonic technique is any technique that aids in the memory. Mnemonic strategies have the ability to impose meaning or structure on material that is otherwise not very meaningful or organized. Mnemonics often involve adding something to the material being learned to make it more memorable. These elaborations create meaningful associations between what is to be learned and what is already known.

The difference between using a mnemonic to remember something and not using a mnemonic is best understood with an analogy. Let’s say you have lots of information to remember (like a student does). 3x5 cards with information written on them represent the information. Every time you hear or read something, it gets placed on a card and dropped into a large cardboard box. When you need the information, you know where it is. In the box…. "somewhere". That’s better than not having the information at all but, there is a better way. If every time you place information on a card, you also add an index of some sort (say, alphabetical for illustrative purposes). Now you take the extra time and effort to store it in alphabetical order in a file box. It takes a little longer, and more effort to store it, but, when the time comes to retrieve the information, you know exactly where it is, and can retrieve it in less time, and with greater accuracy and confidence.

Learning the alphabet itself is a great example of a mnemonic. Try saying each letter of the alphabet in random order. (Go ahead try it for real.) It’s difficult to know if you missed a letter, duplicated a letter, or when you have completed the task. Most of us memorized the alphabet in order and with a rhythm or song (a mnemonic technique). When reciting the alphabet in order, it is easy to know if you miss a letter and to identify when you have completed the task. Mnemonics help us record the information in such a way as to pre-plan for its retrieval. That way we know how and where to retrieve the information when needed.

Mnemonic strategies cover the entire range of learning styles including visual, auditory, tactile, and language based learners.

We believe students can learn faster and better than they currently do, and we believe in using mnemonic systems to accelerate learning. The following quotations support our position.

"Memorizing simplifies the process of recalling information and allows its use to become automatic. Understanding and critical thought can then build on this base of knowledge and fact. Indeed, the more sophisticated mental operations of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are impossible without rapid and accurate recall of bodies of specific knowledge."…. "Mnemonics help students remember more information, and retain it longer." : U.S. Department of Education: What Works: Research About Teaching and Learning (Washington D.C. , 1986) 37.

"some educators give the impression that they regard memory proficiency as antithetical to academic excellence, feeling that memorization interferes with the operation of more laudable, higher mental processes. Such misconceptions must be dispelled…"

Memory Development and Educational Process by W.D. Rohwer, Jr., and F.N. Dempster.

"Whenever memory for academic content is an important component of classroom activities, we enthusiastically endorse the use of mnemonic strategies."

Mastropieri, M.A., Sweda, J., & Scruggs, T.E. (2000). Putting Mnemonic Strategies to Work in an Inclusive Classroom. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 15(2), 69-74.

"Research on mental elaboration in instruction indicates that the images learners generate often increase both understanding and their memory. P.124. "One student used the Link system to help him complete a self-paced physics course. The course employed a 24-chapter textbook, a 6-unit study guide, a series of films on the major units, and optional filmed lectures. The student linked the information under each unit to acquire a chain of information relating to each unit, and then associated each chain to the appropriate film. Thus he could use the films to cue himself as to which chain of information he needed, and the chain to get the information. Using this filing system, he completed the one-semester course in two weeks – and obtained A’s on all four exams! He wrote, "The class was a first of it’s kind for me, so I was a little leery of how I would perform," and he reported (rather surprised) that "the results were quite amazing." P.142. "One student took an exam on logarithms in a pre-calculus math class and reported that he "emerged dazed confused", and with a score of 73%. The exam consisted of 11 types of problems and each could be solved easily if the key manipulation could be remembered. The student used the peg-words to memorize these key theorems and retook the exam. He reported, "I emerged this time with a 92%". P.170. "A great amount of research published since the late 1970s has shown that mnemonics can help in the kinds of memory tasks required in school." "Examples of specific subjects that mnemonics have been found to help are; spelling, foreign language vocabulary, English vocabulary words and definitions, states and capitals, people’s names and their accomplishments, medical terms, reading, properties of minerals, and the hardness scale of minerals, cities and their products, and U.S. presidents." P. 212 "Extensive mnemonic programs based on stories, rhymes, and songs have been developed and used by a Japanese educator, Masachika Nakane, for learning mathematics (arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus), science (chemistry, physics, and biology), spelling and grammar, and the English language. Japanese children as young as kindergarten have used these mnemonics to perform mathematical operations with fractions, to solve algebraic problems (including the use of the quadratic formula), to do elementary calculus, to generate formulas for chemical compounds and diagram their molecular structure, and to learn English." P.213. "It is strange that we expect students to learn, solve problems, and remember a lot of material, but we seldom teach them how to learn, solve problems, and remember." P.214. "The fact is that the loftier educational goals are in addition to, not instead of, memorization…. It is hard to think of any educational goal for which the ability to retain information is unimportant." P.216 Your Memory How It Works and How to Improve It. By Kenneth L. Higbee, Ph.D.