CUIN 6371 Models of Teaching Fall, 2003 Mnemonics and Memory

CUIN 6371Models of Teaching

Fall, 2003

Mnemonics and Memory

Information ProcessingInformation Processing Inductive - Jerome Bruner/

Hilda Taba Deductive - David Ausubel Inquiry - J. J. Schwab/J. Richard Suchman

Jean Piaget/ L. Kohlberg

Memory - R. Atkinson/J. Levin/J. Lucas

Creativity - W. J. J. Gordon

A Wonderfully Effective Model…with

a limited set of outcomes…

names, labels, directions, your significant other’s birthday, recalling steps and procedures, recalling and saying dialogue, song lyrics, “’I’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’,” John Dewey’s birthday, and even the height of Mt. Fuji….

A Wonderfully Effective Model…

Effect Sizes at or above 1.00….

12 XX s.d.

Functions of Memory….

Temporary HoldingMediational UseLifetime

Stimulus

The amount of informationreadily available to the learnerdrops at each successive level

SensoryRegister

Short-TermMemory

Active Processing

Long-Term Memory

Includes both conscious and

nonconscious stimuli – literally millions of

bits per second

Usually 5-20 sec.Only a small amountIs stored here

To retain it must be processed actively

Explicit, processedMemories and implicit Learning -skills and conditioned responses

Memory….what do you recall?

Bed Quilt

Dark Silence

Fatigue Clock

Snoring Night

Toss Tired

Night Artichoke

Turn Night

Rest Dress

Memory is Active, not Passive

And it is forgiving….

Mnemosyne In Greek mythology, the goddess of memory. A Titaness,

she was the daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), and, according to Hesiod,

the mother (by Zeus) of the nine Muses.

Mnemonics Use

Attending

Linking

Practicing

“The true art of memory is the art of attention.”

Samuel Johnson

2

4

13

#*

5

7

6

8 9

0

ABC2

GHI4

1DEF

3

#*

JKL5

PRS7

MNO6

TUV8

WXY9

OPER0

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-

SULTS OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC SULTS OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC

STUDY COMBINED WITH THESTUDY COMBINED WITH THE

EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARSEXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS

FFINISHED INISHED FFILES ARE THE RE-ILES ARE THE RE-

SULTS OSULTS OFF YEARS O YEARS OFF SCIENTI SCIENTIFFIC IC

STUDY COMBINED WITH THESTUDY COMBINED WITH THE

EXPERIENCE OEXPERIENCE OFF MANY YEARS MANY YEARS

FIVE FILES OF FACTS WEREFIVE FILES OF FACTS WERE

FOUND AFTER THE CHIEF FOUND AFTER THE CHIEF

OF POLICE LEFTOF POLICE LEFT

FFIVE IVE FFILES OILES OFF FFACTS WEREACTS WERE

FFOUND AOUND AFFTER THE CHIETER THE CHIEFF

OOFF POLICE LE POLICE LEFFTT

A bird in the

the handTwo ofof a kind

Paris inin the spring

Who Studies This Stuff? …and Why?

Richard Atkinson – StanfordJoel Levin, Michael Pressley,

et al.- Wisconsin….And many others

Results are ambivalent…but a few things stand out

There is always a need for a link between ...

To Sleep Parallel

Word

dormir

Coding Link

Linus and Lucy Viewing a Herd of Cows

Linus…Do they always bring the cows in from the pasture at night?

Lucy..Of course, you blockhead. If they leave them out overnight they get

Guess what, Biff.After I go to thePost Office I am going to the Vet and get TUTORED!

Learning Can Be Fun

Jerry Lucas

“Learning is a process of recollection”

Socrates The Meno

A associated with B

Association Learning…one thing associated with another

.

Substitute Word…I’ll Ask YOU!

Alaska

After You Attend…Ways and Means of Ensuring Memory…

Linking

Boyle’s Law

P V

P

V

PV

After You Attend…Ways and Means of Ensuring Memory…

Linking Substitute Word

Substitute Word Technique

One --- RunTwo---Zoo

Three---TreeFour---DoorFive---HiveSix---Sticks

Seven---HeavenEight---GateNine---WineTen---Den

Eleven---Eleven (Football)

Twelve---Shelve

Thirteen---Hurting

Fourteen---Courting

Fifteen-Lifting

After You Attend…Ways and Means of Ensuring Memory…

Linking

Substitute WordKey Word or Phrase

Key Word System

CaveBondage to Ignorance

Escape

Wisdom

Responsibility

Key Phrases…EBDGFRoy G. BivPlease Excuse My Dear Aunt SallyMary Eats Peanut ButterIn Persia Men Are TallHOMESLucy Can’t Drink Milk (50,100,500,1000)

Every Bible Gets Dusty After Easter (Standard Guitar Tuning)

King Henry Died Miserable Death, Caught Measles(Kilometer, hectometer, decameter, meter, decimeter, centimeter, millimeter)

Capitals Always San…Agua = waterIf at end - capital same name as country

Western Australia

South Australia

PAM ShouldBe Here,Dear

Victoria inher castlein Wales

N

E

S

W

Anticlockwise

A Variation on the Theme

First Chief Judge of Supreme Court of the United States

John Jay

Key Questions About Using Mnemonics

How best to get learners to attend?How often do you review?Linking things together Who gives the links? Teacher or

learners?How is the new information linked to

old? Use ridiculous associations?

Sesquipedalian

A Few SesquipedaliansBrumal

DiscommodeMendicityMuliebrityOmphalosAnchorite

Some Sesquipedalian Sentences1. The revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no

congeries of a miniscule, verdant bryophytic plant2. The temperature of the aqueous content of an

unremittingly ogled saucepan does not reach 100 degrees C.

3. Where there are visible vapors having their prevalence in ignited carbonaceous materials, there is conflagration

4. Upon the non presence of the domestic Felis catus the Mus musculi proceed to engage in sportive capers.

5. A plethora of individuals with expertise in culinary techniques vitiate the potable concoction produced by steeping certain comestibles.

More Sesquipedalian Sentences1. It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a

superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.

2. Exigency is the matriarch of ingenious contrivance.

3. The person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses, thereby, the optimal cachinnation

4. Members of an avian species of identical plumage congregate.

5. You appear to be inebriated with the exuberance of your own verbosity.

Fears and Phobias acrophobia androphobia

categelophobia ergasophobia

erythrophobia gynephobia

pnignophobia ptergophobia thanatophobia villophobia

Fear of peanut butter sticking the roof of your mouth

Arachibutyrophobia

Okay, now no one gets intoHeaven unless you can answerthis…a train leaves Philadelphiaat 1:00 PM going 70 miles an hour. Another leaves Chicago at the same time…

The Mathphobe’s Nightmare….

A New Concept… Non-Examples

I wondered whether my Scotch Tape Dispenser had enough tape to complete the job. I noticed that it didn’t and added fresh tape.

ExamplesLeaving home this

morning I had gone but a mile when I asked myself whether I actually saw the garage door close. I turned around, returned home, and, indeed, found that the door was nicely closed.

A New Concept… Non-Examples

I remembered that I had not turned off the iron. I returned home to pull the plug.

Examples

Having handed in my weekly assignment to Prof. Jones, I left class early. On my way to the car I asked myself whether I had picked up the assignment for next week. I craftily sneaked back into class only to find that I had the sheet in my file folder that I carry everywhere.

A New Concept… Non-Examples

I forgot to have my oil changed last month and the entire engine of my new Ferrari froze up…or was that in my dreams that I won a Ferrari?

Examples

Having emailed my mother that I would send the recipe that she requested, I woke up at 2AM and just knew that I hadn’t attached it to my email. When I checked with my computer I determined that it had been sent

A New Concept…I simply forgot

to send my girl friend flowers for Valentine’s Day. She is

really steamed.

Examples

Did I send that check to cover my rent for this month? I don’t think so…soooooo …I called the apartment manager and he informed me that he had already deposited my check into his account.

Zeigarnik Effect

Learning Chains …

27

Adding Integers…to the tune of “Mr. Sandman”

When you adding and signs don’t match(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)Forget the signs and just subtractThen take the sign of the larger number(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)Your problem’s right and you won’t

wonder…

-21 +12 =

The Planet Song“She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”

There are nine old planets moving ‘round the sun

‘round the sun

There are nine old planets moving ‘round the sun

‘round the sun

There are nine old planets moving,

There are nine old planets moving,

There are nine old planets moving ‘round the sun

‘round the sun

V, 2

We have Mercury and Venus, Earth and Mars…(Earth and Mars)

Then come Jupiter and Saturn, (giant balls, giant balls)

At last we have Uranus, Neptune, Pluto …

The Continent Song(“Frere Jacques…”)

North America

South America,

Europe too,

Good for you.

Asia and Australia

Don’t forget Antarctica

Africa.

Now you’re through

Avagadro’s Number (“Frere Jacques…”)

Avagadro, Avagadro

number please, number please

6 times 10 to the 23rd,

6 times 10 to the 23rd

atoms in a mole,

atoms in a mole

Mnemonics Use

Attending

Linking

Practicing

We Do Know That…

Practice..not repetition…works….

…Now nature herself teaches us what to do. When we see in everyday life things that are petty, ordinary, and banal, we generally fail to remember them, because the mind is not being stirred by anything novel or marvelous. But if we see or hear something exceptionally base, dishonorable, unusual, great, unbelievable, or ridiculous, that we are likely to remember for a long time. Accordingly, things immediate to our eye or ear we commonly forget; incidents of our childhood we often remember best. Nor could things be so for any other reason than that ordinary things easily slip from the memory while the striking and the novel stay longer in the mind.

Ad Herennium, ca. 1000 BCE

• The case against ridiculous associations

If there is to be a use of ridiculous associations…

Substitution – using one object in place of another

Action – Get movement or action into pictures

Exaggeration – see many items (millions) Out of Proportion – Larger or smaller than

real life Distortion – bent or damaged in some way

Effects of the Memory Model

Nurturant Creative Attitudes

and Capacities A Sense of

Intellectual Power

Instructional Mastery of Facts and

Ideas Attending Faculties A System for

Memorization