Using Memory Strategies | Life Solutions of Dallas-Fort Worth

Sometimes, our memory just doesn’t work as well as it should, and we forget to remember! As I’ve stated in a previous post, there are a number of possible reasons why you or your student might forget the information you need to recall. The good news is that there are also a number of strategies to help you memorize for tests and improve your memory!

Meta-Memory: Thinking About Your Memory

One important key to dealing with memory problems is to think about your memory. This is a three-part process.

First, think about what you have trouble remembering: Vocabulary? Concepts? Facts? Details?
Next, try the research-based methods for storing and recalling information outlined in this article to see what works best for you.
Finally, think about when you will use specific memory tools or strategies. After learning about the following strategies, it is important to think through when you will use them to memorize different types of information. It can be helpful to think about using strategies in two ways: (1) What strategies will you use for specific subjects (History, Science, Literature, Language Arts, Math, etc.), and (2) the strategies you will use to recall specific types of information (lists, vocabulary, procedures).

Associations

Associations are memory strategies that combine verbal information with visual imagery. Of all the school-relevant memory strategies, the keyword technique is the most researched and most successful.

Think of two items or pieces of information you want to remember.
Associate left to right.
Visualize the two items together in a dramatic or creative way.

Think of a verb that will force the first item (on the left) to physically and visually interact with the second item (on the right).
Think of any other creative way the two things can be related to each other.

The most important part of this process is to see the picture clearly in your imagination.

If you want to associate a car with a house, you could visualize a car smashing into a house. The car is on the right and the house is on the left.

Once you have associated two items, then it is easy to quickly associate the second item to a third item, the third to a fourth, and so on, until you have memorized a whole list of items in this same manner.

Associations for Vocabulary and Facts

You can also use associations to memorize vocabulary.

First, you have to change the vocabulary word to something you can imagine or picture in your mind. This change is called a conversion.
Next, you associate the new word with the definition by visualizing them in a creative way.

Suppose you want to remember that a school of whales is called a “gam.” First, you might change “gam” to “game.” Then you could visualize a school of whales playing a game of cards.

You might also try these suggestions to change a previously unknown word into something you can better imagine and associate with a definition.

Separate a longer word into syllables (mandrill = man and drill).
Try substituting a rhyming word for the word you’re learning (prawn = pawn).
Try substituting a word that sounds the same but is spelled differently (scull = skull).
Try substituting words that sound similar phonetically (syllabus = silly bus).

Use these suggestions to then visualize an association between a word or fact that you’re learning and its definition.

Memory Pictures

A variation on the association strategy used by drawing pictures instead of visualizing pictures. This strategy can help with memorizing vocabulary or facts for science or history.

Use a three-column table.
In the first column, write the term or fact you want to recall.
In the third column write the definition or factual details.
In the second column, draw pictures/cartoons that associate the term or fat and the definition in some visual way.
When studying, fold the paper so you cannot see the third column and practice recall by stating the vocabulary word or name of the fact, describing the image, and then expressing the response.
Continue to do this until you know all the vocabulary words and facts.

For example, when learning that a plateau is a flat land surface at a high elevation, notice that plateau has the word “plate” in it. Next, draw a plateau with a flat plate on top of it. When learning that a plain is a flat land surface at a low elevation, draw a plane coming in for a landing on a runway with mountains in the background.

Elaboration

Elaboration is the process of linking new facts with already known facts. It makes remembering easier because the new facts can be recalled by thinking about what you already know. Try these steps to use elaboration.

Think about a new fact you must learn from a science or social studies topic.
Verbalize some information you already know about that topic.
Think about and explain why this new information makes sense based on what you already know.
Write down how the new information is associated with what you already know.

If you want to learn that working memory is the connection between short term and long term memory, first recall that you already know that working memory involves holding information in mind while performing complex multiple-step tasks. Next, make the connection that getting information into long-term memory is a complex multiple-step task; therefore working memory is required.

Category Clustering

One of the best ways to remember information is to organize it into categories. Psychologists have long promoted a memory model that emphasizes the inherent organization of memory. Organized input is retained and recalled better than disorganized input. Factual knowledge is thought to be best organized in categories and personal knowledge is best organized with scripts.

To use this strategy, figure out how information to be remembered can be grouped into four or five categories that have a common theme. For example, when taking U.S. History, it is easiest to recall names, places, dates, actions, causes, and effects when they are grouped by an event in a visual chart.

When learning about the Proclamation of 1763, ask and answer some questions: When was it? Who was involved? Where did it happen?, What was it?, and Why was it important? You can then write this information down in a chart.

Structured Graphic Organizers

Using highly structured graphic organizers is an effective way to enhance recall and understanding of material involving cause/effect or requiring you to compare and contrast the information you are learning.

Use a fish-bone diagram to organize causes and effects.
Use a compare and contrast frame to organize similarities and differences between characters in literature.
Use a compare and contrast frame to organize similarities and differences between processes in science and history.

By doing this, you are forced to organize the material in a way that makes sense to you. When recalling information on a test, you can visualize your graphic organizer.

Acronyms

An acronym is a word or group of words made by taking the first letter of a keyword in a list of items you wish to remember.

If you need to memorize the Great Lakes remember HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

If you want to remember the steps for editing your written work, try SPORTS to remember what you should check: Sentence Structure, Punctuation, Organization, Repetition, Tenses, and Spelling

Acrostics

An acrostic is a sentence made from the initial letters of keywords. They are often called “mnemonics” when used to recall the steps in math procedures or other processes. Take the following steps to make an acrostic.

List the items you need to remember in the order you need to recall them. If there is more than one word per item, underline one keyword that would help you remember the item.
Write the first letter of each keyword.
Create the Acrostic. Make a sentence using the letters in order. Sometimes it is easier to remember a sentence if it is silly, bizarre, or significant to you.
Practice the Acrostic. Memorize the sentence. Then practice translating the mnemonic by reciting what each word represents.

When I was a kid, we used to say, “Please excuse my dear aunt Sally” to remember the order of math operations (parentheses, exponents, multiple, divide, add, and subtract). These days, students remember a non-word called PEMDAS.

Loci

Another evidence-based memory strategy known as loci involves associating items with a sequence of familiar objects or locations. A student might associate information to be learned with rooms, furniture, or objects in his or her home. The home objects are in a fixed arrangement that the memorizer already knows.

The method of loci is also commonly called the “mental walk” or “memory palace.” In basic terms, it is a method of memory enhancement that uses visualization to organize and recall information. This technique was invented by ancient Greek and Roman orators to recall lengthy speeches. Today, many memory contest champions claim to use this technique in order to recall faces, digits, cards, and lists of words in a specific order.

The first step is to identify the objects in your bedroom in clockwise or counterclockwise order. If the number of things you need to recall is greater than the number of objects in your bedroom, choose another room until there are enough objects.
Proceeding in order through the room or rooms, create an image that pairs the household object with the items being learned.
If you need to recall the items sequentially, then pair the first item with the first object in the room and so on.
Even if you do not need to recall the items sequentially, you should still visualize the household objects in order so that nothing is omitted during retrieval.
The best associations are unusual or funny and details unrelated to the concept should be left out.
Practice retrieving the information. The objects in your room or house should be visualized one at a time in the order they are arranged in the house. Once you have pictured the well-known object, you should try to recall the item paired with it. The successful recall of the image should automatically produce the correct response.

If you need to remember that the Spaniards, French, and English were the main European nations to explore North America, you might visualize an image associated with each of the three main items in your bedroom.

An armored Spaniard on a horse standing on your bed,

A Frenchman wearing a beret working at your desk.

An English Pilgrim sitting on your dresser.

Talk It Out

When trying to memorize something, it can help to actually recite the information aloud. You might repeat ideas verbatim (when you need to do rote memorization), or you can repeat ideas in your own words (and thus ensure that you have a true understanding of the information).

If you try to recite the information aloud from memory, it is often quite clear how well you know it. If you stumble in your responses, have to look up answers, or can only give a vague response, then you know that you need to study more.

Another way to talk it out is to do so with a friend or study group. An advantage of working with someone else is that they can inform you when you are missing important concepts or misunderstanding an idea. Keep in mind, however, that studying with others does not work for everyone. Some students may become anxious or intimidated in study groups and would be more comfortable studying alone. Others may get side-tracked from the task at hand.

Teach What You’re Learning to Someone Else

An effective way to enhance recall and understanding of dense material is to teach it to someone else. Set a time to teach the material you need to learn to someone else. If mom and dad can’t be your students, teach it to your brother, sister, or pet.

Learn the material well enough to teach it to your “students.” By doing this, you are forced to organize the material in a way that makes sense to you and to anticipate potential questions that may be asked by your students. By talking aloud, you will uncover gaps in your comprehension (and recall) of the material. It is far better to discover those “weak” areas before a test than during it.

After you have mastered a particular section from your notes or textbook, try delivering an organized lecture on another topic from that section. Then check for accuracy. Don’t forget to anticipate questions that students might ask about the material as a way of anticipating potential test questions.

Coloring Pictures

Coloring pictures or using color is an effective and creative way to distinguish and recall the different parts of something like a map or parts of the brain.

When you need to recall the parts of something, find pictures from the internet, your textbook, or draw pictures relative to what you’re trying to remember.
Use color to distinguish specific parts.
Write out the words and use pointers to show the information you need to memorize.

A number of companies publish coloring books for science topics including biology, brain physiology, and anatomy. In graduate school, the creative act of coloring specific parts of the brain improved my memory for this information on tests.

Coloring pictures can also be helpful for learning the location of states and countries on maps for geometry.

Try these Strategies, and Remember!

The next time you need to memorize information for a test, try these strategies to figure out what might work for you. Don’t forget to think about which strategies will work for you when studying different subjects (math, science, language arts, history), and try to figure out what memory techniques you’ll use when memorizing lists, vocabulary, facts, and other information you need to remember.

Meta-Memory: Thinking About Your Memory

One important key to dealing with memory problems is to think about your memory. This is a three-part process.

First, think about what you have trouble remembering: Vocabulary? Concepts? Facts? Details?

Next, try the research-based methods for storing and recalling information outlined in this article to see what works best for you.

Associations

Associations are memory strategies that combine verbal information with visual imagery. Of all the school-relevant memory strategies, the keyword technique is the most researched and most successful.

Think of two items or pieces of information you want to remember.

Associate left to right.

Visualize the two items together in a dramatic or creative way.

Think of a verb that will force the first item (on the left) to physically and visually interact with the second item (on the right).

Think of any other creative way the two things can be related to each other.

The most important part of this process is to see the picture clearly in your imagination.

If you want to associate a car with a house, you could visualize a car smashing into a house. The car is on the right and the house is on the left.

Once you have associated two items, then it is easy to quickly associate the second item to a third item, the third to a fourth, and so on, until you have memorized a whole list of items in this same manner.

Associations for Vocabulary and Facts

You can also use associations to memorize vocabulary.

First, you have to change the vocabulary word to something you can imagine or picture in your mind. This change is called a conversion.

Next, you associate the new word with the definition by visualizing them in a creative way.

Suppose you want to remember that a school of whales is called a “gam.” First, you might change “gam” to “game.” Then you could visualize a school of whales playing a game of cards.

You might also try these suggestions to change a previously unknown word into something you can better imagine and associate with a definition.

Separate a longer word into syllables (mandrill = man and drill).

Try substituting a rhyming word for the word you’re learning (prawn = pawn).

Try substituting a word that sounds the same but is spelled differently (scull = skull).

Try substituting words that sound similar phonetically (syllabus = silly bus).

Use these suggestions to then visualize an association between a word or fact that you’re learning and its definition.

Memory Pictures

A variation on the association strategy used by drawing pictures instead of visualizing pictures. This strategy can help with memorizing vocabulary or facts for science or history.

Use a three-column table.

In the first column, write the term or fact you want to recall.

In the third column write the definition or factual details.

In the second column, draw pictures/cartoons that associate the term or fat and the definition in some visual way.

When studying, fold the paper so you cannot see the third column and practice recall by stating the vocabulary word or name of the fact, describing the image, and then expressing the response.

Continue to do this until you know all the vocabulary words and facts.

Elaboration

Elaboration is the process of linking new facts with already known facts. It makes remembering easier because the new facts can be recalled by thinking about what you already know. Try these steps to use elaboration.

Think about a new fact you must learn from a science or social studies topic.

Verbalize some information you already know about that topic.

Think about and explain why this new information makes sense based on what you already know.

Write down how the new information is associated with what you already know.

Category Clustering

When learning about the Proclamation of 1763, ask and answer some questions: When was it? Who was involved? Where did it happen?, What was it?, and Why was it important? You can then write this information down in a chart.

Structured Graphic Organizers

Using highly structured graphic organizers is an effective way to enhance recall and understanding of material involving cause/effect or requiring you to compare and contrast the information you are learning.

Use a fish-bone diagram to organize causes and effects.

Use a compare and contrast frame to organize similarities and differences between characters in literature.

Use a compare and contrast frame to organize similarities and differences between processes in science and history.

By doing this, you are forced to organize the material in a way that makes sense to you. When recalling information on a test, you can visualize your graphic organizer.

Acronyms

An acronym is a word or group of words made by taking the first letter of a keyword in a list of items you wish to remember.

If you need to memorize the Great Lakes remember HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

If you want to remember the steps for editing your written work, try SPORTS to remember what you should check: Sentence Structure, Punctuation, Organization, Repetition, Tenses, and Spelling

Acrostics

An acrostic is a sentence made from the initial letters of keywords. They are often called “mnemonics” when used to recall the steps in math procedures or other processes. Take the following steps to make an acrostic.

List the items you need to remember in the order you need to recall them. If there is more than one word per item, underline one keyword that would help you remember the item.

Write the first letter of each keyword.

Create the Acrostic. Make a sentence using the letters in order. Sometimes it is easier to remember a sentence if it is silly, bizarre, or significant to you.

Practice the Acrostic. Memorize the sentence. Then practice translating the mnemonic by reciting what each word represents.

When I was a kid, we used to say, “Please excuse my dear aunt Sally” to remember the order of math operations (parentheses, exponents, multiple, divide, add, and subtract). These days, students remember a non-word called PEMDAS.

Loci

The first step is to identify the objects in your bedroom in clockwise or counterclockwise order. If the number of things you need to recall is greater than the number of objects in your bedroom, choose another room until there are enough objects.

Proceeding in order through the room or rooms, create an image that pairs the household object with the items being learned.

If you need to recall the items sequentially, then pair the first item with the first object in the room and so on.

Even if you do not need to recall the items sequentially, you should still visualize the household objects in order so that nothing is omitted during retrieval.

The best associations are unusual or funny and details unrelated to the concept should be left out.

If you need to remember that the Spaniards, French, and English were the main European nations to explore North America, you might visualize an image associated with each of the three main items in your bedroom.

An armored Spaniard on a horse standing on your bed,

A Frenchman wearing a beret working at your desk.

An English Pilgrim sitting on your dresser.

Talk It Out

When trying to memorize something, it can help to actually recite the information aloud. You might repeat ideas verbatim (when you need to do rote memorization), or you can repeat ideas in your own words (and thus ensure that you have a true understanding of the information).

If you try to recite the information aloud from memory, it is often quite clear how well you know it. If you stumble in your responses, have to look up answers, or can only give a vague response, then you know that you need to study more.

Teach What You’re Learning to Someone Else

An effective way to enhance recall and understanding of dense material is to teach it to someone else. Set a time to teach the material you need to learn to someone else. If mom and dad can’t be your students, teach it to your brother, sister, or pet.

Coloring Pictures

Coloring pictures or using color is an effective and creative way to distinguish and recall the different parts of something like a map or parts of the brain.

When you need to recall the parts of something, find pictures from the internet, your textbook, or draw pictures relative to what you’re trying to remember.

Use color to distinguish specific parts.

Write out the words and use pointers to show the information you need to memorize.

A number of companies publish coloring books for science topics including biology, brain physiology, and anatomy. In graduate school, the creative act of coloring specific parts of the brain improved my memory for this information on tests.

Coloring pictures can also be helpful for learning the location of states and countries on maps for geometry.