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MEMORY MNEMONICS

Teacher Implementation Kit

© 2015 Elevate Education

Overview

Elevate Education is an international provider of study skills workshops to senior school students, and works withover 1250 schools and 250,000 studentsevery year across the UK, USA, South Africa& Australia.

Founded in 2001, Elevate has spent more than 13 years benchmarking the habits of the country’s top students. This research has identified 17 areas where the habits and study processes of the top students differ from middle and lower performing students. Elevate workshops introduce students to these 17 skills and show them how to adopt them.

What makes us different

Young presenters students can relate to Elevate uses young presenters that have recently faced and aced the final years of school themselves. By using presenters that students can relate to, schools have found the impact of the study skills message is increased. Young presenters are perceived as being credible as they have only just gone through the experience themselves.

Practical study skills students can use Most study skills programs fail because they are dense on theory but lack the kind of practical skills that students can use straight away. All of Elevate’s material focuses on practical study skills modelled from the top students.

Short, high impact sessions

Research shows that as the length of a study skills program increases, student implementation tends to decrease. Students are left with an overwhelming list of ‘52 skills’ which is so long that students don’t know where to begin. These short, sharp sessions maximise student retention rates and isolate a handful of skills to implement immediately, encouraging student skill adoption.

Follow-up resources Most study skills programs are ultimately flawed in that teachers are not provided with materials to follow-up and reinforce the skills covered in the program. Study skills, like any skill, are developed through repetition, practice and review. This teacher implementation kit is designed to be used in conjunction with the Memory Mnemonics seminar to reinforce the skills covered in the session.

How to use this document

This teacher implementation kit contains a

range of modular follow-up activities for

staff to run in class. The focus of this

implementation kit is on getting students to

use the skills while studying in a classroom

subject. However, if this kit is being used in

pastoral care time, the activities can still be

run using work the students have done while

in another class (e.g. English).

www.elevateeducation.comCopyright © Elevate Education 2015. Not for external distribution or posting on extranets.

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Activity 1 – Mnemonic Rhyming

Initial class time required:

Follow-up time:

Suitable subjects:

Resources required:

30-35 minutes

Nil

Humanities subjects

Mnemonics - Activity 1 from Student Activity Pack (page 2)

Research Background

One of the major causes of stress and anxiety

before tests is a poor ability to recall content. As

you can see in the sample cohort below (year 11),

most students typically use rote-learning as their

primary means of memorising notes during term.

This not only brings about diminishing returns very

quickly (rote-learned notes are usually forgotten a

few days later), but poor performance results

when students forget critical information trying to

answer a test question. The top-performing

students know this, and typically use more

advanced memory skills that have a much higher

recall rate in tests. These skills also significantly

reduce the time needed to memorise large

volumes of information. By using these skills on a

daily basis, students free up countless hours for

the application of knowledge (rather than

repeatedly needing to rote-learn it), while also

reducing stress before exams and tests. The need

to cram is also eliminated when students are safe

in the knowledge that their memories are unlikely

to fail them when needed most.

Student Context

In the Memory & Mnemonics seminar, students were shown a range of skills to boost their ability to memorise information. These included strategies to minimise distractions at home, the mnemonic peg-word method, as well as the mental journey method. Research has shown that these techniques are proven to enhance the

encoding of memories and are presented to the students in a fun, engaging way. However, we have found that

while most students who see mnemonic skills we cover in the seminar are likely to recognise their effectiveness,

there is often a sizeable majority of students who will attribute these sorts of skills to the ‘gifted’ students. In

other words, these students do not believe these techniques will work for themselves. The only way to get

these students using the memory skills from the seminar is to expose them to the skills on a daily basis. This is

where classroom activities such as this come into play.


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https://vimeo.com/117993545

Step 1 – Making a Mnemonic List

In the Memory Mnemonics seminar, students

were shown how to use rhyming words to help

them remember another random list of words. In

the seminar students formed a list of 10 ‘rhyme’

words, which rhyme with the numbers 1-10. The

rhyme words are easy to remember, and can be

recalled instantly by thinking of the number to

which they are attached. Once students have

their list of rhyme words, they can link rhyme

words to words they will struggle to remember,

by creating a vivid mental image. Students

should be fairly familiar with this process, but

this activity should make sure they are 100%

up-to-speed before we start to work with actual

classroom content.

Step 1 – Students to read Mnemonics Activity 1 from the Memory Workbook

Have students form groups of 4-5, and ensure they all have a copy of the Student Activity Pack. Have students

spend a few minutes reading through the introduction and instructions for Activity 1. Once they have finished,

go around the room and make sure all students understand how the mnemonic process works.

Copyright © Elevate Education 2015. Not for external distribution or posting on extranets.

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Copyright © Elevate Education 2015. Not for external distribution or posting on extranets.

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Step 2 – Students to complete Mnemonics Activity 1 table

Once students have read the instructions, have groups complete the mnemonics table seen above (the first line

is done for them). As mentioned previously, they will link the ‘rhyme’ word to the random word in the ‘memory’

word column by creating a vivid mental image. These mental images will then be jotted down in the ‘memory

image’ column. If students get stuck, a few more ideas are shown on the next page which you may want to

recommend.

Step 2 – Consolidate and test

Once groups have finished jotting down their memory images, ask groups to go down their list of mental images

and get them to double check how the rhyme word and memory word fit into the image.

Once students have firmed up the mental images they made in their groups, it’s time to test their recall. Start this

section by having students close their workbooks, and asking students what the second rhyme-word was. This

should come very easily to the students (two – shoe). Next, ask a group what the mental image it created for the

rhyme word was. For example, since the memory word was “path”, a group might have come up with a mental

image like this:


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Each time a group recalls their mental image for the rhyme word, prompt them to isolate the memory word in

the image. In this case, the rhyme word was shoe and the memory word is path. Keep going from group to group

until all 10 memory words have been recalled using this method.

Alternatively, get students to re-write the list of words that they have memorized and get them to check how

accurate their answer is. Even better, get students to re-write the list of words from last to first, and then again

have them check their accuracy. The ability to recall words out of order, or in reverse order, is extremely

difficult to do with rote-learned ideas or concepts, but as students will quickly see, almost effortless when using

mnemonics.

Outcomes

This module is designed to re-expose students to the mnemonic techniques covered in the seminar. In the next

module, which can be run in the same lesson if there is time, students use this mnemonic process to memorise a

page of notes they have written in class. Ultimately, this process will become ingrained for students once they

have had a chance to realise its effectiveness in their next assessment.


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Activity 2 – Memorising Notes

Initial class time required: 30-35 minutes

Follow-up time: 15 minutes each week

Suitable subjects: Humanities subjects

Resources required: Mnemonics - Activity 2 from the Student Activity Pack (page 4)

Research Background

Mnemonics are a powerful memory tool, and can increase students’ long-term retention of key knowledge.

However, mnemonics in isolation are nothing more than a party trick. If students are to benefit from mnemonic

exercises, they need to use them in an academic context and see the results. In our research, students who learn

mnemonics and are not supported in using them for study tend to revert back to rote-learning strategies for all

forms of content memorisation. The trick is to make sure students are clearly shown how to use mnemonics for memorising classroom content. This exercise shows students how to memorise a page of notes using the mnemonic rhyming method.

Step 1 – Interpreting notes

Have students form groups of 4-5 and read through the first page of Mnemonics – Activity 2 on page 4 of their

activity packs. This activity provides students with a page of notes from a Business Studies subject which they

will memorise using a mnemonics list. The page of notes they will be memorising is shown on this next page.

Step 2 – Create Mnemonic images

Groups will then use these notes to complete the mnemonic activity worksheet which is found on the next page

in their activity pack. The worksheet will be completed in a similar way to the previous module, with students

creating a mental image combining the points from the notes (in the ‘memory words’ column) with the rhyming

words. For students not familiar with the terms found in the notes, some ideas for mental images are included

in their packs.

Step 3 – Consolidate and test

Once students have firmed up the mental images they made in

their groups, it’s time to test their recall. With their workbooks

closed, go around the room and have each group go through a

number/rhyme word/memory point in order. It is very likely

students will have a high success rate if they have made

compelling mental images for each word. At the end of the

exercise, students will have proven to themselves that they can

apply these powerful memory strategies to a broad range of

notes.


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Activity 3 – Boosting Attention

Initial class time required:

Follow-up time:

25 minutes

None required

Suitable subjects: All

Resources required: Activity 3 – Boosting Attention from the Memory Activity Pack (page 7)

Research Background

One of the major reasons students fail to memorise notes properly is a poor study environment. By working in an environment with poor lighting, distracting background sounds and other visual distractions, students can halve their ability to focus and encode memories. In the graph to the right, you can see afairly standard year 11 cohort response to a question regarding concentration and attention. In this example, a majority of students find concentration to be an issue when trying to memorise information at home. This student-focused activity walks students through a series of questions to determine what areas they can work on to boost their attention levels when studying at home, principally by eliminating sources of distraction.

Step 1 – Complete the questionnaire

Have students turn to Activity 2 – Boosting Attention on page 7 of their memory workbooks. Instruct students

to work through the questionnaire and score themselves for each of the three sections. The three sections of

the questionnaire ask students about different aspects of their study routines, which were covered in the

Memory Mnemonics seminar. These include:

The room

Students are asked to assess the room they study in, taking note of noise levels, lighting and work surface.

Surroundings

Questions are then asked to see whether students are surrounded by the ‘agents of distraction’ – phones, TV,

music, and Facebook.

Physical state

Finally, students are quizzed on their physical state while studying, which has a strong link to mental

performance. Questions are asked on study duration, hydration, caffeine intake and exercise prior to study.


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Step 2 – Discuss solutions

Once students have completed the questionnaire, they are directed in their workbooks to write down 5 changes

they are going to make to improve their focus when studying independently. Suggestions are provided after

each section in the questionnaire to prompt students to consider which changes will work for them. Go around

the room asking students to identify their major problem areas, and the top 3 changes they are going to make

straight away to enhance their concentration.


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Activity 4 – The Visual Journey

Initial class time required: 50-60 minutes

Follow-up time: None required

Suitable subjects: All

Resources required: Activity 4 – The Visual Journey from the Memory Activity Pack (page 11)

Research Background

Besides Mnemonic rhyming techniques, students were also shown another memory technique in the Memory Mnemonics workshop that has a similarly high success rate. This technique, known as the visual journey method, has students link lists of things they need to remember to outlandish mental images which occur in a familiar environment, such as the family home. As students are usually very familiar with rooms in their houses, creating a mental event that takes place in the room helps students piece together long lists of content through this process:

For example, if a student needs to remember the element Helium, she might imagine a bizarre scenario in the

Hallway where there lots of balloons bobbing on the ceiling. In an exam, when she thinks of her hallway, she

then remembers the helium balloons in the hallway. This mnemonic process works well with lists and processes

needing to be memorised.

Think of the room

Recall the weird scenario in the room

Isolate the word in the scenario


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Step 1 – Introducing the concept

Have students open their memory packs to page 11 and start on Activity 4. Have them read the introduction and

complete the exercise below (up until the practice activity). This will re-introduce them to the visual journey

method by getting them to create a visual journey for a list of random words. If they get stuck for mental images,

on page 15 and 16 of their packs are examples they can draw inspiration from. Below you’ll see how the process

works:

Step 2 – Application to notes

Once students have completed the introductory

exercise, it’s time to practice with an actual set of

notes. Have them complete the practice activity on

page 12. This activity requires students to take key

points from a page of notes and build a visual journey

around them. The activity pack provides a sample set

of notes taken from an English course. If students get

stuck for ideas they can look on page 15 for some

suggestions. Over the next page you can see how

students will transfer the notes to a visual journey.


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Step 3 – Application with own notes

Now that students are able to create a visual journey with a set of notes, have them produce another visual

journey with a page of notes they have written earlier in class. You may want to break the class into small groups

so students can bounce ideas off one another.

Follow-up

After this module, students should be very familiar with the process behind the visual journey method. However,

it isn’t until students have used this skill in an exam that they truly appreciate its value. To really embed this

process into their study toolkit, it is recommended that you spend 10 or 15 minutes each week having students

build a visual journey for content that has been covered in class. If this is opened up to the class, with different

students helping to create outlandish, vivid mental images, it can be a very fun and inclusive activity. Moreover

when students see a broad spectrum of their peers getting involved, the process is normalised and appears

more accessible.


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