Memory strategies workshop, Information literacy, Erasmus+ project New Literacy Set, 2015-2017

1. MEMORY STRATEGIES

2. HAVE YOU EVER SAID OR HEARD
THESE SENTENCES?
"I'm not a good test taker."
"I sit down to take a test
and my mind goes blank."

3. WHY?
These are all things students say when
they forget assignments or don't do well
on tests.
All of us, students and non-students
alike, forget important things. This
happens when we don't transfer
information into long-term memory.

4. STRATEGIES
Have you ever noticed that
some things are easy for
you to remember while
others are difficult?
There's nothing wrong with you; this
happens to everyone. But there are
strategies that can help you remember
what you need to remember.

5. STRATEGY 1. CHUNKING
It is easier to memorize information when
you break it up into small chunks. This is
called chunking. You use chunking often,
like when you memorize your friend's
telephone number. It's easier to remember
long numbers when you "chunk" them into
groups of threes, fours and fives.
621234572 → 621 23 45 72

6. Suggestions on how you can use
"chunking"
1. Chunk vocabulary words by
grouping them by parts of speech
or other attributes.
2. Chunk history by time periods
or events.
3. Chunk foreign language by
grouping words into categories
like household items or
occupations.

7. STRATEGY 2. UNDERSTANDING
Before you begin trying to memorize
something, try to understand it.
A good way to do this is by making
a connection between what you are
learning and what you have
experienced.
The better you can relate the new
information to what you already know,
the easier it is to learn.

8. Suggestions for understanding
For example, before attempting to
memorize events of European history, find
the places on a globe (or world map) and
see where they are relative to one another
and also relative to where you live.

9. STRATEGY 3. GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
These tools help
you see things you
are trying to learn.
They help organize
information. There
are many different
types of graphic
organizers. You can
even design them
yourself.

10. Suggestions for graphic organizers
1. The Venn Diagram for comparing and
contrasting.

11. Suggestions for graphic organizers
2. A Web for the main topic and details.

12. Suggestions for graphic organizers
3. The Cause and Effect
Design with the event in
the middle box, the
causes listed in the left
boxes and the effects
listed in the right boxes.

13. Suggestions for graphic organizers
4. The Cycle
Organizer consists
of shapes drawn in a
cyclic pattern with
words in each shape
to represent things
or events that go in
cycles. For example,
the water cycle.

14. STRATEGY 4. VISUALIZATION
To visualize means to see an image in your
head without actually looking at it.
Visualization can help you learn almost
anything.
If you have trouble
visualizing material,
try drawing maps,
charts, graphs, or
pictures.

15. Example of visualization:
the water cycle
Create a mental image of a cloud.
Picture it growing. Now see, and
"feel" its heavy cold rain. See the
rain hitting the ground, then flowing
toward streams and rivers toward the
ocean. Now "see" the hot sun hitting
and evaporating the water and
forming clouds.
If you can visualize parts of the water cycle, the
boring diagram becomes meaningful and remember-
able.

16. STRATEGY 5. ASSOCIATION
Another learning strategy
is to associate, or
"connect," each word or
event with a person, place,
thing, feeling, or situation.
For example, you may
connect what you are trying
to learn with someone you
know, or with a movie
character or scene.

17. Suggestions for association
When you have to learn vocabulary words,
just write the new words, write the
definitions next to them, and then write a
person, thing, event, movie, or any strong
association to help you remember the
meaning of each word.
For example,
"My altruistic Aunt Alice gives
great gifts." (Altruistic means generous.)

18. STRATEGY 6. RHYMING
Rhyming can be an important technique
to help us remember things. We all used
rhyming in the ABC song to learn the
alphabet.
And the rhyme "I
before E, except
after C, or when it
sounds like A as
in neighbour or
weigh”.

19. More suggestions for rhyming
For example:
7 and 7 went down the line
to capture number 49; 8 and
4 made some stew and gave
it to 32.
“In fourteen hundred and
ninety two, Columbus
sailed the ocean blue”

20. STRATEGY 7. TALKING
Just talk about the information you have to
learn. Do you want to learn history? Then
talk history: discuss, debate, argue. Think
of a person who may have lived during a
major historical event and pretend to be
that person. Now talk about the important
events: who was involved,
when it happened,
where it took place,
what happened, and why?

21. Suggestions for talking
Teach others:
If you have the time and
resources, you can extend
your strategy of explaining
to yourself by teaching
others.
You can ask a friend to
help you study by being
your student.

22. STRATEGY 8. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is a great way to help you
remember information in any subject.
Write a story by focusing on the key points
of what you're learning and arranging them
in a logical sequence. It can even be a song
or rhyme that tells the story. In addition,
each event in the story
triggers your memory of the
next event, so you'll remember
even more.

23. Suggestions for storytelling
Try science fiction.
Imagine that you had a
time machine and could
go back and visit each of
the geological ages. You
would see the trilobites in
the oceans. You would
watch all the different
dinosaurs, perhaps as
they attacked and ate
another dinosaur.

24. STRATEGY 9. WRITING SENTENCES
This strategy can even help us learn those
extra troublesome spelling words. Just
make up a sentence using words that begin
with the letters.

25. Suggestions for writing sentences
To learn "aardvark,"
you may make up a
nonsense sentence
like: Aardvarks Always
Run Down Very Angry
Rowdy Kids.
Another example:
the way to learn the
planets.

26. STRATEGY 10. ACRONYMS
An acronym is a word made up from the
first letters of a list of words. Here's how it
works. You take the list of words or facts
that you want to remember and put them in
an order so that the
first letters of each
word, or the first
syllables, spell a real
word or a made-up
word.

27. Example of acronyms
To memorize the names
of the five Great Lakes
just remember "HOMES."
H=Huron, O=Ontario,
M=Michigan, E=Erie, and
S=Superior. While this
strategy won't help you
understand the
information, it at least
helps you to memorize it.

28. STRATEGY 11. REHEARSING
When you want to remember
information, you have to
practice it, or else it fades.
Practice carries the skill from
the STM (short-term memory)
to LTM (long-term memory)
establishing a memory trace.
Repetition helps the brain to
form a stronger connection
related to that piece of
information.

29. Suggestions for rehearsing
Here are some helpful hints on
"rehearsing" whatever information you
need to learn for homework or tests:
1- Rehearse for short
practice periods (perhaps
30 to 60 minutes) and then
take a short ten-minute
break to call a friend,
have a snack, drink water...

30. Suggestions for rehearsing
2- Use a multisensory
approach every time
you rehearse: say it,
write it, read it, draw it,
sing it... do whatever it
takes.

31. Suggestions for rehearsing
3- Just before going to sleep,
review everything you will
need to know for the next day
or for the upcoming test.
It's amazing how much
more you'll remember if
you rehearse the night
before.

32. Suggestions for rehearsing
4- Review in the morning while
brushing your teeth, eating breakfast
or sitting on the bus.

33. STRATEGY 12. PLAYING GAMES
Playing games is a great way
to memorize information. You
see, as you play the game
you are learning the material
and practicing it over and
over again. Games can help
you remember facts,
formulas, definitions, events
or any other information
you're trying to learn.

34. Examples of playing games
Vocabulary games, memory games,
maths games, bingo games,
kahoot, sudokus...

35. STRATEGY 13. THE METHOD OF LOCI
It is the oldest known
mnemonic strategy ("loci" is
the plural of locus, which
means location, or place). It's
based on the assumption that
you can best remember
places that you are familiar
with, so if you can link
something you need to
remember with a place that
you know very well.

36. Steps of the method of Loci
STEP 1: Have a physical journey that
you know well (for example, you can use
a trip around your house, stepping into
each room in turn).

37. Steps of the method of Loci
STEP 2: Rehearse this journey in your
mind a number of times. Try and think of
what emotions crop up in each location.

38. Steps of the method of Loci
STEP 3: Place each item that you want to
remember at one of the locations,
for example on the sofa in the living room,
on the bed in your room...

39. Steps of the method of Loci
STEP 4: When you want to remember the
items, simply visualize your house and
go through it room by room in your mind.
Each item that you associated with a
specific location in your house should
spring to mind as you mentally make
your way through your home.

40. STRATEGY 14. HEALTHY BODY –
SHARP MIND
To have a sharp mind to
study and do the
memorisation that you
need to do, you should eat
healthily, exercise,have a
physically fit body, enough
sleep, relieve stress, have
fun and relax.

41. webgraphy
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/13043/education/12_
great_memory_strategies_for_better_grades.html
https://www.mind-expanding-techniques.net/method-of-loci.html
http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-
system/how-to-improve-your-memory7.htm
http://www.slideshare.net/EssayWriterCoUk/strategies-to-
improve-memory-and-retention
http://www.breakthroughlearningcollege.com/memory/storytellin
g-in-memory/