Abstract
Eighth-grade students silently read passages that described dichotomized attributes of nine North American minerals. One-fourth of the students were given instruction in the use of mnemonic techniques, and were provided with “keywords” and mnemonic illustrations of the passage content; one-fourth were provided with keywords and given instructions for creating internal mnemonic images of the passage content; one-fourth were given instructions for creating their own keywords and internal mnemonic images; and the remaining fourth were given motivational instructions and told to use their “own best method” of studying while reading the passages. Mnemonic instruction, when accompanied by experimenter-provided keywords and mnemonic illustrations, produced superior recall of the mineral attributes in comparison to the other three conditions on both immediate and eight-day delayed performance tests. Implications of the findings are discussed with regard to the amount of external support necessary for effective use of mnemonic techniques by students reading expository prose passages.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Atkinson, R. C. (1975). Mnemotechnics in second-language learning.American Psychologist, 30, 821–828.
Bellezza, F. S. (1981). Mnemonic devices: Classification, characteristics, and criteria.Review of Educational Research, 51, 247–275.
Bransford, J. D., Stein, B. S., Vye, N. J., Franks, J. J., Auble, P. M., Mezynski, K. J., & Perfetto, G. A. (1982). Differences in approaches to learning: An overview.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 111 390–398.
Kirk, R. E. (1982).Experimental design (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Levin, J. R. (1982). Pictures as prose-learning devices. In: A. Flammer, & W. Kintsch (Eds.),Discourse processing (pp. 412–444). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Levin, J. R. (1983). Pictorial strategies for school learning: Practical illustration. In M. Pressley& J. R. Levin (Eds.),Cognitive strategy research: Educational applications (pp. 213–237). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Levin, J. R. (1985). Educational applications of mnemonic pictures: Possibilities beyond your wildest imagination. In A. A. Sheikh (Ed.),Imagery in education: Imagery in the educational process (pp. 63–87). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.
Levin, J. R., Morrison, C. R., McGivern, J. E., Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (in press). Mnemonic facilitation of text-embedded science facts.American Educational Research Journal.
Levin, J. R., & Pressley, M. (1985). Mnemonic vocabulary instruction: What’s fact, what’s fiction. In: R. F. Dillon (Ed.),Individual differences in cognition (Vol. 2). New York: Academic Press.
McCormick, C. B., & Levin, J. R. (1984). A comparison of different prose-learning variations of the mnemonic keyword method.American Educational Research Journal, 21, 379–398.
McGivern, J. E., & Levin, J. R. (1983). The keyword method and children’s vocabulary learning: An interaction with vocabulary knowledge.Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, 46–54.
McLoone, B. B., Zucker, S., Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (in press). Mnemonic instruction and training with LD adolescents.Learning Disabilities Research.
Morrison, C. R. (1988).Individual differences in student’s ability to use a mnemonic strategy. Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Peters, E. E., & Levin, J. R. (1986). Effects of a mnemonic imagery strategy on good and poor reader’s prose recall.Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 179–192.
Pressley, M., & Levin, J. R. (in press). Elaborative strategies for the inefficient learner. In S. J. Ceci (Ed.),Handbook of cognitive, social and neuropsychological aspects of learning disabilities (Vol. 2). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Pressley, M., Levin, J. R., & Delaney, H. D. (1982), The mnemonic keyword method.Review of Educational Research, 52, 61–91.
Rohwer, W. D., Jr. (1973). Elaboration and learning in childhood and adolescence. In H. W. Reese (Ed.),Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 8). New York: Academic Press.
Shriberg, L. K., Levin, J. R., McCormick, C. B., & Pressley, M. (1982). Learning about “famous” people via the keyboard method.Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 238–247.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morrison, C.R., Levin, J.R. Degree of mnemonic support and students’ acquisition of science facts. ECTJ 35, 67–74 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02769432
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02769432