"What is a mnemonic device," I asked myself as I was preparing myself for the upcoming test on Monday. This obviously wasn't a good sign for me, as I didn't know and meant that I had to study even more. I had heard the term before in Biology this year, but was too busy breaking the rule of the "levels of processing" (taking down my notes word for word instead of listening and writing down my ow interpretations) that the term did not make it far enough for me to register what the professor was actually saying about it. So, after going back and looking in my textbook, I found that a mnemonic device was another helpful learning aid used for getting information into our memory banks. We encode these memories so that it is easier to recall them later. Then, after reading the examples, I immediately remembered using this throughout my elementary, middle, and high school years (my retrieval from long-term memory), when I had to remember the Linnaeus' classification system: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
It went a little like this:
Kings Play Chess On Fine Glass Surfaces
Well, this tool for learning was always extremely annoying to me, yet it was very useful. As a future teacher, I decided to do a little more research on the benefits of these devices. I will be teaching younger students, and as we know that they will not learn and recall information as easily as older students will, these devices are not only helpful, but a fun tool for learning. "Mnemonics can be used in language arts (i.e., vocabulary, spelling, and letter recognition), mathematics, science, social studies, foreign language, and other academic subjects," the article states. Who knew that so many subjects could be used?? I am amazed my the learning I am doing now. These uses will help me in my future, as well as help others with their learning!
Article Link:
http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/Mnemonics.asp
Have you thought of ways that you can use mnemonic devices in this class?