mnemonics

Anne Catey
University of Illinois
CTER Master's Program

Ed Psy 399 OL
Instructor: Tom Anderson

Mnemonics
Lesson 7; Question 2

Introduction

I have been a believer in mnemonics for a very long time. I feel they help students remember basic facts about different things. They are an important part of instruction for many professionals.

Personal Learning Experience My personal experiences with mnemonics date back to my childhood. My Saturday mornings where filled with catchy tunes, written by very creative people, simply to help me to remember some basic academic information.

Seriously, is there anyone out there who does not remember School House Rock? Remember - "Conjunction Junction, what's your function? Hookin' up phrases and words and clauses." How about this one: "Zero, my hero, how wonderful you are!" OR - "I'm just a bill, and I'm only a bill; and I'm sittin' here on Capitol Hill . . . . " I know that the only way I remembered (and still remember) the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States is because of the catchy way the School House Rock character sang it.

School House Rock contributed greatly to the education of countless children. The producers of this program used music and rhymes to help kids remember important language, math, and social studies rules and information. Without these programs, I may have had more trouble remembering some of the basic concepts of certain academic areas.

Another big influence on my education as a child was my Catholic school experience. Let's just say that it was in our "best interests" if we learned the multiplication table. I, however, was not very good with numbers (I am an English teacher; I do words, not numbers!). Anyway, I discovered a way to remember the table. Take, for instance, multiplying by 9. I realized that if the numbers 1 through 9 were each multiplied by 9, the numbers of each answer would add up to 9. For example, 2 x 9 = 18. Looking at the numbers that make up 18, 1 and 8, one will notice they add up to 9. It works that way all the way to 9 x 9 = 81 (8 + 1 = 9). That trick helps me out even now.

Professional Teaching Experience Looking at mnemonics from the other side of the desk now, I still believe in its power to help students remember certain things. Interestingly, there are several different types available. Some I have found useful; some seem ridiculous to me. While I am strongly in favor of using mnemonic devices, I feel the peg method, the method of loci, and the link method (Bruning, et al, 1999) are more trouble than they are worth. It seems as though in each of these methods, one must memorize an extensive method in order to use it to memorize the needed information. That seems like more work than is necessary.

On the contrary, I have used some other mnemonic techniques with positive results. For example, my English IIIA students learn successful listening strategies for the workplace by memorizing the acronym HEAR, which stands for Helpfulness, Empathy, Attentiveness, and Responsiveness (Albert, 1996). This is an example of the first-letter method (Bruning, et al, 1999).

I also use rhymes (Bruning, et al, 1999) to help my softball players remember different things. For special games, the junior high players like to wear two different colors of socks. So there will not be any confusion, we say, "White on right." This helps the players remember to put the white sock on the right foot and the black sock on the left foot. Another rhyme I use is the same as the one most teachers use: "i before e except after c..." (Bruning, et al, 1999). This helps students with spelling.

Speaking of spelling, there are numerous sayings that help people remember how to spell certain words. For now, two such sayings come to mind. The first one helps students spell the word arithmetic: "A Rat In Tommy's House Might Eat Tommy's Ice Cream." The other one helps with the word together: "to get her". These are a variation of the story types of mnemonic devices.

Thoughts from Colleagues Convinced that these devices work, I turned to my colleagues to get their thoughts on this subject. Diann Bomer, a counselor who is a former English teacher and first grade teacher, sang the praises of mnemonics. She said, "As a counselor, I feel they (mnemonic devices) are an excellent way to remember information. Anything that can help kids remember is worth the trouble of teaching or developing" (Bomer interview, 2001).

Mrs. Bomer then related several "tricks" she used when teaching. She said that her first grade students had trouble spelling the word policy correctly; they always wanted to put an e in the word: polecy. So, she told them, "The POLE is ICY so the E slipped off." She also showed me a "trick" she taught to her students to help them remember how many days each month contains. Obviously, we have all heard, "Thirty days has September ... " (Bruning, et al, 1999). However, Mrs. Bomer taught it a different way. Here is the procedure:

Starting with the pointer finger's knuckle, touch each knuckle and each space between the knuckles while saying the names of the months in order. If done correctly, each knuckle represents a month that has 31 days in it, and each space represents a month that has 30 or less days in it. (Bomer interview, 2001).

Continuing, Roger Anderson, a social studies teacher, said he feels mnemonic devices are valuable to the students. He tries to develop different ones to help his students remember the long list of American presidents. He said, "Some students like to sing the presidents' names to the tune of Yankee Doodle" (Anderson interview, 2001). A second "trick" he tells the students is to say a president's name every time they take a step. Mr. Anderson believes, "It gives them sort of a rhythm that helps them remember" (Anderson interview, 20001).

Thoughts from Students Finally, I turned to the students themselves. Upon asking them about this subject, many eyes lit up and several students smiled as they remembered the sayings that have helped them remember things in the past. Seriously, they shot out so many that I could not keep up with them. Some of their sayings are in the chart below:

Subject	Mnemonic	Concept
Social Studies	Never Eat Shredded Wheat OR Never Eat Sour Watermelon	Reading directions on a map (clockwise): North, East, South, West.
Social Studies	HOMES	The Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
Science	Roy G. Biv	The colors of the rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
Science	Kings Play Chess On Fine Grain Sand OR King Paul Came Over From Greece Suddenly	Classifications of Living Organisms: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
Science	My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. OR Mary's Violet eyes made John Stay Up Nights Proposing.	The order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
Industrial Arts	Lefty Loosy, Righty Tighty.	The direction to turn something. Turn to the left to loosen it; turn to the right to tighten it.

Research With all these testimonies to the usefulness of mnemonic devices, it is hard to understand why anyone would not use them. However, research shows that mnemonics are only successful for those students who have used them on their own before. It states also that those students who have never used them on their own do not find them helpful or useful (Bruning, et al, 1999). I did not agree with this finding until I approached my students, asking them if mnemonics helped them. Most students resoundingly agreed that these devices helped them remember things. However, there actually were a few who felt mnemonics did not help them at all.

Conclusion With all this in mind, it is important for teachers to be aware of the positive aspects of mnemonics. However, they must see mnemonics as supplemental to normal instruction of surface material. Educators should be mindful, though, of using them with more difficult or complex concepts (Bruning, et al, 1999). Considering all information, I feel that most mnemonic devices are very effective when trying to improve one's memory.

REFERENCES

Albert, Margaret C. Communication 2000. Module 6. Cincinnati: South-Western, 1996.

Anderson, Roger. Personal Interview. October 17, 2001.

Bomer, Diann. Personal Interview. October 17, 2001.

Bruning, Roger H., Gregory J. Schraw, and Royce R. Ronning. (1999). Cognitive Psychology
and Instruction. Third Edition. Columbus: Prentice-Hall.

Students at Cumberland High School. Class Discussion. October 17, 2001.