CRITIQUE IN APA

MainAssignment.pdf

Home >English homework help >Article writing homework help >CRITIQUE IN APA

Enhancing School Success with Mnemonic Strategies

M A R G O A. M A S T R O P I E R I A N D T H O M A S E. S C R U G G S

Many students with disabilities and those at risk for educational failure exhibit problems with remembering materials covered in school. Sug- gestions for helping these students improve memory for school content are described in this article. In particular, mnemonic instruction is described and examples are provided of how it can be used to increase school learning and memory of students with learning difficulties.

A few years ago, we revisited an inner-city middle school where—about a year before—we had conducted an investigation on the effectiveness of mnemonic techniques in helping students with mild cognitive disabilities remember U.S.

states and capitals. As we entered the classroom, Crystal, a student classified as mildly mentally handicapped, rec- ognized one of our graduate students immediately.

"Hey! I remember you!" she exclaimed enthusiastical- ly. "You were here last year—you taught us states and capitals! I remember, go ahead, ask me one!"

"Well, uh," replied our colleague, taken slightly by surprise, "How about . . . Florida? What's the capital of Florida?"

"That's too easy!" she said, smiling. "Here it is: Florida, the keyword \$ flower—the flower is on a televi- sion set, and television is the keyword for Tallahassee!"

In this scenario, a student classified as mentally retarded effectively remembered information she had been taught 1 year previously. Even more impressive was the fact that she had not reviewed or rehearsed this

information with any teacher since the last time we had seen her! As startling as this scenario is, it underscores something we have been witnessing for many years: the incredible power of mnemonic strategies to increase dra- matically the amount of information students remember, even students with learning problems.

In this article, we describe the need for effective mem- ory strategies for school learning. Next, we provide a brief description of what mnemonic strategies are—and what they are not. Following that, we describe how you can use these powerful learning tools to enhance the school success of your own students.

T H E N E E D FOR M N E M O N I C STRATEGIES

According to the Sixteenth Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (U.S. Department of Education, 1994), 71.2% of all stu- dents now spend all or a substantial part of their school day in general education classrooms. As many as 78.9% of students with learning disabilities spend all or most of their educational time in general education classrooms. On the secondary level, students with disabilities are included in content-area classrooms, such as English, science, and social studies classes. Largely, ability to suc- ceed in these classrooms determines their level of success in school.

What factors determine whether a student will suc- ceed in secondary content-area classrooms? Putnam (1992b) surveyed 7th- and lOth-grade teachers in Kan-

INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC VOL. 33, No. 4, MARCH 1996 (PP. 2 0 1 - 2 0 8 ) 201

sas, Indiana, and Florida, and reported that an average of nearly half of a student's report card grades depended on test performance. Clearly, such factors as attendance, punctuality, participation, and homework completion are also important. However, teachers made it clear that test scores were the single most important factor in report card grades. Teachers gave an average of 11 of these tests over the course of a single 9-week grading period. Clearly, students' academic survival is tied very closely with performance on academic tests.

In addition to the number of tests teachers give, Putnam (1992a) also examined the types of questions teachers asked on tests. He found that the overwhelming majority of test questions students were asked required factual recall:

The majority of questions on tests administered by main- stream secondary classroom teachers required the student to recall a specific fact—25.3 per test. A sa?nple question that asked for a specific fact was "Who discovered America?" Other possible responses, such as conclusion, sequence, opinion, discrimination, compare and contrast, purpose, correct an example, and summary, appeared about one per test. (p. 131)

Thus it can be seen that memory for factual informa- tion is absolutely essential for success in school, particu- larly at the secondary level. Unfortunately, it is also true that students with learning disabilities and other learning problems have been consistently shown to have par- ticular difficulties remembering academic content (e.g., Cooney & Swanson, 1987). Our work in the area of mnemonic (memory-enhancing) strategies has been devoted to finding ways of increasing the amount of content-area information students are able to remember. This article provides information on the utility, and effectiveness, of mnemonic strategies in enhancing memory for school learning.

W H A T M N E M O N I C STRATEGIES A R E

Mnemonic strategies are systematic procedures for enhancing memory. Their particular use is in developing better ways to take in (encode) information so that it will be much easier to remember (retrieve). Although there are retrieval strategies that can be employed to attempt to retrieve information that has been forgotten, research has demonstrated that the way we encode information when we first study facilitates memory better. The par- ticular task in developing mnemonic strategies is to find a way to relate new information to information students already have locked in long-term memory. If we can make a firm enough connection, the memory will last a very long time. For example, Crystal had learned the capita] of Florida so well because the mnemonic strategy had carefully linked it to things she was very familiar

with. Because Florida sounds like flower (the keyword), it was easy to teach her to make an automatic connection between Florida and flower:

What's the keyword for Florida? Flower, good! And, what state is flower the keyword for? Good, Florida!

It was also easy to teach her to establish a firm associa- tion between Tallahassee and television because televi- sion was very familiar to Crystal and the two words, again, sound very similar:

What's the keyword for Tallahassee? television, good! And, what capital is television the keyword for? Good, Tallahassee!

Having linked the two words (Florida, Tallahassee) to con- crete, familiar words that sound similar (flower, televi- sion), all that remains is to link the two familiar words together. And although memory experts Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas have suggested that these words must be associated "in some ridiculous way" (1974, p. 23), in fact all that is necessary is that the two keywords be pictured in some meaningful interaction. In the Florida instance, a picture had been created and displayed on an overhead projector of a flower sitting on a television set, as shown in Figure 1.

Although recalling that Tallahassee is the capital of Florida may be difficult for a student with learning prob- lems, remembering a picture of a flower on a television set was much simpler, and—if the keywords had been learned—contained the same information. For this rea- son, we have found mnemonic strategies constructed

2 0 2 INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC

according to these procedures to be extraordinarily effec- tive (Mastropieri, Scruggs, Bakken, & Brigham, 1992).

W H A T M N E M O N I C STRATEGIES A R E N O T

It might be helpful, at this point, to also mention briefly what mnemonic strategies are not. Mnemonic strategies do not represent a "philosophy" of education. We do not use, or recommend the use of, mnemonic strategies because they are compatible with someone's particular philosophy or because they are a part of some- one's theory about what education should be. We rec- ommend mnemonic strategies for only one reason: Over and over again, they have been proven to be extremely effective in helping people remember things (Bulgren, Schumaker, & Deshler, 1994; Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1989).

It is also true that mnemonic strategies are not an overall teaching method or curricular approach. T h e focus of mnemonic strategies is so specific that they are intended to be used to enhance the recall of the compo- nents of any lesson for which memory is needed. We have found, for example, that mnemonic strategies can be used to enhance science learning when the curricu- lum involves a textbook/lecture format (Scruggs & Mas- tropieri, 1992) or when the curriculum involves a hands-on, inquiry learning format (Mastropieri, Scruggs, & ("hung, 1997). Even though these approaches to sci- ence learning are very different (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1994), mnemonic strategies can still be incorporated for the elements that require recall.

It is also important to consider that mnemonic strate- gies are memory strategies, and not comprehension strategies. Students who are trained mnemonically also perform better on comprehension tests of that content (e.g., Mastropieri, Scruggs, & Fulk, 1990; Scruggs, Mas- tropieri, McLoone, Levin, & Morrison, 1987), but that is generally because they remember more information that can be applied on comprehension tests. Never- theless, when comprehension enhancement is called for, it is important to consider using specific comprehension strategies, such as content elaboration, prior knowledge activation, manipulation, coaching and questioning, or prediction and verification (e.g., Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1997; Scruggs, Mastropieri, Sullivan, & Hesser, 1993). Nevertheless, mnemonic strategies do not inhibit com- prehension, as suggested by some (e.g., Kilpatrick, 1985), and, more importantly, there are many instances in school of students who have achieved adequate com- prehension of a concept, but who have forgotten the facts associated with it. For example, it is completely possible to comprehend the nature of states and capitals while being unable to retrieve the capital of Florida. For another example, it is altogether possible to comprehend the concepts of a cell having a nucleus and consuming other organisms while being unable to retrieve the

related verbal label {prokaiyotic heterotroph). These are the areas where mnemonic strategies can help.

Finally, it should be emphasized that mnemonic strate- gies do not represent an educational panacea. There are many things that students must do to succeed in school, and remembering content information is only one part of the entire picture. However, when there is academic content to be remembered, mnemonic strategies may be an important instructional component. In the next sec- tion, we discuss some general procedures for improving memory, followed by a description of how to create spe- cific mnemonic strategies.

GENERAL TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING M E M O R Y

Mnemonic strategies as described in this article are not the only way of improving memory in students who exhibit difficulty remembering things. It is important that you consider all possible methods for improving memory and not assume that mnemonic strategies are your only option. In other publications (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1993; Mastropieri & Scruggs, in press), we have described more general methods for improving memory. These include the following:

1. INCREASE A T T E N T I O N . Students will not remem- ber something that they did not pay attention to in the first place. Be sure your students1 memory problems are not really attention problems. Use strategies for enhanc- ing attention, such as intensifying instruction, teaching enthusiastically, using more visual aids and activities, and reinforcing attending.

2. PROMOTE EXTERNAL MEMORY. Many things that need to be remembered can be written down, a practice known as "external memory." Practices such as keeping an assignment notebook and maintaining a student cal- endar can be helpful in remembering to do things. Unfortunately, external memory is usually of little use (ethically, anyway) on tests.

3. E N H A N C E MEANINGFULNESS. Find ways to relate the content being discussed to the student's prior knowl- edge. Draw parallels to the students' own lives. Bring in concrete, meaningful examples for students to explore so the content becomes more a part of their experience.

4. U S E P I C T U R E S . Pictures can provide a substantial memory advantage. Use pictures on the chalkboard or on the overhead projector. Bring in photographs or other illustrations. Show concrete images on video- tape, when appropriate. If pictures are simply unavail- able, ask students to create images, or "pictures in their heads."

VOL. 33. No. 4. MARCH 1998 203

5. MINIMIZE INTERFERENCE. Avoid digressions and emphasize only the critical features of a new topic. Make sure all examples relate directly to the content being covered.

6. PROMOTE ACTIVE MANIPULATION. Students re- member content better when they experience it for themselves (Scruggs, Mastropieri, Bakken, & Brigham, 1993). For example, rather than lecturing the class on the effect of weak acid (such as vinegar) on calcite, allow students to place calcite in a glass of vinegar and see for themselves.

7. PROMOTE ACTIVE REASONING. Students remem- ber better if they actively think through new informa- tion, rather than simply repeating it. For example, rather than simply telling students that penguins carry their eggs on the tops of their feet, ask students why it makes sense that penguins would carry their eggs on the tops of their feet.

8. INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF PRACTICE. Students remember information better if they have practice using it more frequently. Use lots of review in your teaching; do not simply finish one topic and then never mention it again. Remind the class, and have students practice pre- vious information frequently.

All these strategies can be used to improve memory, and all should be considered. Unfortunately, none of these strategies specifically targets recall of information contained in new or unfamiliar words, and this is the aspect of memory where students most often fail. For example, in the Scruggs, Mastropieri, Bakken, and Brig- ham (1993) investigation, students who engaged in active manipulation remembered more information about elec- tricity and rocks and minerals than students who studied from textbooks. However, neither condition improved recall of critical vocabulary or terminology, the area where mnemonic strategies are most effective. In the fol- lowing section, we describe several different types of mnemonic strategies that can be used to improve stu- dents' memory.

SPECIFIC M N E M O N I C TECHNIQUES

T h e Keyword M e t h o d

The keyword method has already been described for helping students remember states and capitals. However, the keyword method is extremely versatile and has a vari- ety of helpful applications. One possibility is in teaching new vocabulary words. For example, to help students remember that barrister is another word for lawyer, first create a keyword for the unfamiliar word, barrister, Remember, a keyword is a word that sounds like the new word and is easily pictured. A good keyword for barrister,

then, is bear. Then, you create a picture of the keyword and the definition doing something together. It is impor- tant that these two things actually interact and are not simply presented in the same picture. Therefore, a pic- ture of a bear and a lawyer in one picture is not a good mnemonic, because the elements are not interacting. A better picture would be a bear who is acting as a lawyer in a courtroom, for example, pleading his client's inno- cence. We have created pictures and shown them on overhead projectors, but you could show them in other ways as well. When you practice this strategy, be certain students understand all parts of it:

Class, barrister is another word for lawyer. To remembei' what a bairister is, first think of the keyword for barris- ter: bear. Whats the keyword for barrister? [bear] Good, the keyword for barrister is bear, and barrister means lawyer. Now [displays overhead] look at this pic- ture of a bear acting like a lawyer. The bear is the key- word for . . ? [barrister] Barrister, good. So remember this picture of a bear acting like a lawyer. When you hear the word barrister, you first think of the keyword . . ? [Bear] Good, and remember, what is the bear doing in the picture? [being a lawyer]. Right, being a lawyer. So what does barrister mean? [lawyer] Lawyer, good.

The keyword method can also be used for more spe- cialized vocabulary such as ranidae, the scientific term for common frogs. A good keyword for ranidae could be rain, and you could show a picture of frogs sitting in the rain. Practice the strategy as in the barrister example. When you question individual students, ask them to give the answer and then describe how they remembered. You should get an answer something like:

Ranidae is the word for common fi'ogs. I remembered because the keyword is rain and it was raining on the frogs.

If you practice the strategy carefully and frequently, stu- dents should remember this information very well. At early stages of learning, you might find some students give the answer rain when you ask what ranidae means. In these cases, you simply remind the student,

No, rain is the keyword—it just helps us remember the answer Now, think in the picture, what is it raining on? [frogs] Right, frogs. So what does ranidae mean? [com- ?non frogs]. Correct, common frogs.

Mnemonics can also be used in acquiring foreign lan- guage vocabulary. A list of some Italian vocabulary words (from Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1991, p. 24) and corre- sponding mnemonic strategies are given in Table 1. Before you read, cover up the keywords and strategies and see if you can come up with your own.

Keywords have also been used to improve recall of map locations. For example, students with learning dis- abilities were much more successful in locating Revolutionary War battle locations on a map when they

2 0 4 INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC

Table 1. Sample Italian Vocabulary Words and Corresponding Mnemonic Strategies

Word & meaning

mela (apple) capre (goat) lago (lake) carta (letter) fonda (bag)

Keyword

mail cop log cart phone

Strategy

an apple in a mailbox a goat dressed like a cop a log in a lake a cart with a letter in it a phone in a bag

were mnemonically encoded (e.g., a picture of a tiger, keyword for Fort Ticonderoga) than when representa- tional pictures were used. When asked for the location of Fort Ticonderoga, students proved much more able to identify where on the map the tiger had been than they were to identify the location of a more traditional illus- tration. Further, if the tiger was shown tending a cannon, students were more likely to remember that at Fort Ticonderoga, cannons were captured that were helpful in the American war effort (Brigham, Scruggs, & Mastropieri, 1995).

T h e Peg-word M e t h o d

Pegwords can be used when numbered or ordered information needs to be remembered. Pegwords are rhyming words for numbers and include the following:

One is bun, six is sticks, two is shoe, seven is heaven, three is tree, eight is gate, four is door, nine is vine, five is hive, ten is hen.

Pegwords are substituted for the number to be remembered and associated with the other information. For instance, to remember that insects have six legs whereas spiders have eight legs, create a picture of insects on sticks (see Figure 2) and another picture of a spider on a gate. To remember Newton's first law of motion (objects at rest tend to remain at rest unless acted on by another force), create a picture of a bun (pegword for one) resting. To remember that a garden rake is an example of a third-class lever, create a picture of a rake leaning against a tree (pegword for three, or third).

Pegwords can also be combined with keywords. To teach that crocoite is a mineral that is number 2 on the Mohs hardness scale, create a picture of crocodiles (key- word for crocoite) wearing shoes (pegword for 2). To remember that the mineral wolframite is hardness num- ber 4, black in color, and used in making filaments for lightbulbs, create a picture of a black wolf (keyword for wolframite), looking in a door (pegword for 4), and turn- ing on a lightbulb. Research has shown that elaborate strategies such as this are very effective, and that color, appropriately encoded, can also be easily remembered

(Scruggs, Mastropieri, Levin, & Gaffiiey, 1985). That is, a picture of a black wolf is much more likely to be remembered than a picture of wolframite colored black.

Pegwords can also be extended beyond the number 10 (11 is lever, 12 is elf, etc.). For instance, to remember that the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution guar- anteed women the right to vote, create a picture of a woman dressed as a knight (19 = knighting) riding to a voting booth. To remember that James K. Polk was the 11th American president, create a picture of a polka- dotted (keyword for Polk) lever (pegword for 11) as shown in Figure 3 (Mastropieri, Scruggs, & Whedon, 1997).

INSECTS 6 (sticks) legs

James Polk (Polka-dotted)

VOL. 33. No. 4. MARCH 199B 205

Pegwords can also be extended beyond the number 19, by using, for example, twenty is twin-ty (twins), thirty is thirsty, forty is party, and fifty is "gifty," or gift-wrapped. For example, to remember the math fact, 7 x 8 = 56, cre- ate a picture and practice the pegword phrase, "Heaven's (7) gate (8) holds gifty sticks" (pegword for 56). To remember that Taft was the 27th president, create a pic- ture of a taffy (keyword for Taft), being pulled between twin heavens (pegword for 27).

Letter S t r a t e g i e s

Letter strategies, which involve using letter prompts to remember lists of things, are the most familiar to stu- dents. Most former students remember using the acronym HOMES to remember the names of the Great Lakes and FACE to remember the notes represented in the spaces of the treble clef, from bottom to top. Except for the FACE strategy, however, most acronyms assume that a name of something will be remembered when the first letter is retrieved. However, this may not always be true. For example, if a student is unfamiliar with Lake Ontario, remembering simply that the first letter is O is insufficient to prompt recall. T h e names of the indi- vidual lakes must be practiced until they have become familiar.

Acronyms are most helpful when the first letters of a list can be used to create an entire word; however, some- times modifications can be made. For instance, consider the acronym FARM-B, which represents the five classes of vertebrate animals: fish, amphibian, reptile, mammal, and bird, as shown in Figure 4. The B for bird does not really fit, but it can be added to FARM and practiced until it becomes automatic.

In other cases, appropriate words cannot be easily con- structed from the first letters of the words to be remem-

Fish VERTEBRATES Amphibian

(Farm-B) Reptile iMammals Birds

Figure 4. Mnemonic representation of the vertebrates: fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. (Note. From A Practical Guide for Teaching Science to Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Settings /p. J 58], by M. A. Mastropieri and T. E. Scruggs, 1993, Austin, TX: PRO-ED. Reprinted with per- mission.)

bered. For example, if you wished to remember the names of the planets in their order from the sun, the let- ters would be M-V-E-M-J-S-U-N-P, from which a word cannot be made. In these cases, an acrostic can be created, in which the first letters are reconstructed to represent the words in a sentence. In this case, the sen- tence could be "My very educated mother just sent us nine pizzas" (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1994, p. 271). Again, the names of the planets must be sufficiently familiar so that students can retrieve a planet name, given only the first letter. Also, students should be suffi- ciently familiar with the solar system to know that the first M stands for Mercury, and not Mars.

For another example, to remember the classification taxonomy of living things, remember the sentence, "King Philip's class ordered a family of gentle spaniels." This sentence helps prompt kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species, in order.

T R A I N I N G INDEPENDENT STRATEGY U S E

Several research studies have described the effects of training students with memory problems how to use mnemonic strategies independently (Fulk, Mastropieri, & Scruggs, 1992; King-Sears, Mercer, & Sindelar, 1992; Mastropieri, Scruggs, Levin, Gaffhey, & McLoone, 1985; McLoone, Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Zucker, 1986; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992). T h e earlier studies suc- cessfully trained students with disabilities to use the mnemonic procedures and then to generalize the proce- dures for learning new vocabulary words (Mastropieri et al., 1985; McLoone et al., 1986). More recent studies trained students with disabilities to use the strategies across different content areas, including science and social studies (Fulk et al., 1992; King-Sears et al., 1992; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992). All of these studies demonstrated some positive benefits for training stu- dents to use mnemonic strategies independently. More importantly, however, studies shared seven common ele- ments during the training sessions with students with disabilities, as described by Fulk (1994) and Bulgren et al. (1994) and summarized next.

STEP 1. Inform students about the purpose of the instruction and the rationale for the strategy training. Tell students that strategy training will be beneficial for them and that their efforts at using the strategies will result in better performance. Provide examples of how the strategy can be beneficial across a variety of learning situations and content areas. For example, in teaching students how to implement the strategy to learn science vocabulary, show them how the method can also be help- ful in learning social studies content and for learning English and foreign language vocabulary.

STEP 2. Provide instruction in the strategy and in pos- itive attributions toward strategy usage. Demonstrate,

2 0 6 INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC

model, and lead students using many examples to ensure their complete understanding of the mnemonic process during the strategy component training. Provide instances and noninstances of correct usage and have them identify and correct any incorrect examples.

Make charts listing the steps involved in generating strategies. King-Sears ct al. (1992) taught students the I T FITS strategy:

Identify the term. Tell the definition of the term, Find a keyword. Imagine the definition doing something with the key-

word. Think about the definition doing something with the

keyword. Study what you imagined until you know the definition.

(King-Sears et al, 1992, p. 21)

Provide ample modeling and practice with students, attributing their successes to strategy use. Say, for exam- ple, "When I try hard and use the strategy, I will remem- ber more information." Reinforce students for trying hard to use the strategy and attribute success and failure to strategy usage.

S T E P 3. Provide models during which examples and thinking processes are said aloud. Demonstrate how you proceed with your thinking while generating a strategy for specific examples. Include statements attributing your success to the hard effort and use of the strategy.

S T E P 4. Allow students opportunities to practice orally and provide corrective feedback. Practice several exam- ples with the class as a whole. Encourage brainstorming during the development of the keyword and interactive picture phase. Allow students to work in small groups and practice generating strategies and brainstorming. Then, have students work with partners to develop strat- egies before working independently.

S T E P 5. Arrange guided practice with relevant feed- back on both strategy usage and attribution feedback. Give students additional items to practice using the mnemonic and attribution strategies. Provide corrective feedback and allow opportunities for students to share their thinking with one another about how they devel- oped their strategies.

STEP 6. Provide generalization instruction, practice, and feedback. Use different types of materials to demon- strate how the strategy can be applied across content areas and various types of factual information. Have stu- dents practice generating strategies for vocabulary words in English, for names of famous people and their accom- plishments in history, for minerals and their associated attributes in science, and other associated factual infor- mation they may need to learn in school.

STEP 7. Include positive reinforcement and positive attribution training for completing the tasks and for remembering the information correctly. Provide review and practice with information that was learned using strategies. Students will still need to practice retrieving information learned with strategies. When implemented as a package of training, students with disabilities may be more likely to learn to use and generate these strategies independently.

L i m i t a t i o n s

Research has indicated that students who have been taught strategies for creating their own mnemonics out- perform comparison students in free-study conditions. Unfortunately, however, when students generate their own strategies, instruction may proceed at a much slower rate and students' performances may be lower than when teachers supply the strategies (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992). During a given unit of instruction, teachers should consider whether learning a strategy or learning the content is the priority.

Moreover, initial development of many of these strate- gies can be difficult for anyone. Try developing several strategies yourself before teaching your students with disabilities. If you experience difficulties, imagine that the task will be much more difficult for your students. Each year, develop a few strategies to accompany the content areas that you teach most frequently. Over time you will have a great number of effective strategies that you can teach your students. This does not mean that you should not teach your students to develop strat- egies independently. You can still encourage active strategy development on the part of your students, but if students have difficulties generating strategies, you can supply the ones developed by you or your co-teachers. Perhaps you will find that a combination of teacher- created and student-generated mnemonic strategies is the best way to enhance recall and still promote inde- pendent strategy use.

S U M M A R Y

Although many changes in schooling have taken place in recent years, memory for academic content remains an extremely important part of the school learning expe- rience. Students with learning disabilities and other spe- cial needs may be at particular risk for failure in this important arena of school functioning. In order to pro- mote academic success in school, we recommend that teachers teach students how to remember as well as what to remember. This can be done by a variety of strategies, but by far the most powerful have been the keyword method, the pegword method, and letter strategies. Systematic instruction using mnemonic strategies for important information to remember, as well as syste-

VQL. 33, No. 4, MARCH 1998 207

matic instruction in independent use of mnemonic strategies, can be important factors in determining school success for students with learning and memory problems.

A B O U T THE A U T H O R S

Margo A. Mastropieri, PhD, is a professor of special education, Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University. Her research interests include ways to facilitate learning, memory, and thinking of students with disabilities. Thomas E. Scruggs, PhD, is a professor of special education, Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University. His research emphasizes research synthesis, science instruction for students with disabilities, and mnemonic instruction for students with disabilities. Address: Margo A. Mastropieri, Department of Educational Studies, LAFB 5th floor, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IX 47907-1446; e-mail: [email protected]

REFERENCES

Brigham, F. J., Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (1995). Elaborative maps for enhanced learning of historical information: Uniting spa- tial, verbal, and imaginal information. The Journal of Special Education, 28, 440-460.

Bulgren, J. A., Schumaker, J. B., & Dcshler, D. D. (1994). The effects of a recall enhancement routine on the test performance of sec- ondary students with and without learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 9, 2-11.

Cooney, J. B., & Swanson, H. L. (1987). Memory and learning disabil- ities: An overview. In H. L. Swanson (Ed.), Advances in learning and behavioral disabilities: Memory and learning disabilities (pp. I^K)). Greenwich, CT: JAI.

Fulk, B. J. M. (1994). Mnemonic keyword strategy training for stu- dents with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 9, 179-185.

Fulk, B.J. M., Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. F. (1992). Mnemonic generalization training with learning disabled students. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 7, 2-10.

Kilpatrick, J. (1985). Doing mathematics without understanding it: A commentary on Higbee and Kunihira. Educational Psychologist, 20, 65-68.

King-Sears, M. F., Mercer, C. D., & Sindelar, P. T. (1992). Toward independence with keyword mnemonics: A strategy for science vocabulary instruction. Remedial and Special Education, 13, 22-33.

Loravne, H., & Lucas, J. (1974). The memory book. New York: Ballantine.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. F. (1989). Constructing more mean- ingful relationships: Mnemonic instructions for special popula- tions. Educational Psychology Review, 1, 88-111.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T E. (1991). Teaching students ways to remember: Strategies for learning mnemonically. Cambridge, MA: BrookJine.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (1993). A practical guide for teach- ing science to students with special needs in inclusive settings. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T E. (1994). Text-based vs. activities- oriented science curriculum: Implications for students with disabil- ities. Remedial and Special Education, IS, 72-85.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (1997). Best practices in promot- ing reading comprehension in students with learning disabilities: 1976 to 1996. Remedial and Special Education, 18(4), 197-213.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (in press). Strategies for teaching in inclusive classrooms. Columbus, O H : Prentice-Hall/Merrill.

Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., BakkenJ., & Brigham, F. J. (1992). A complex mnemonic strategy for teaching states and capitals: Comparing forward and backward associations. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 7, 96-103.

Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T E., & Chung, S. (1997, April). Qualitative and quantitative outcomes associated with inclusive science teaching. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.

Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., & Fulk, B.J. M. (1990). Teaching abstract vocabulary with the keyword method: Effects on recall and comprehension. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23, 92-96.

Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T F., Levin, J. R., Gaffney, J., & McLoone, B. B. (1985). Mnemonic vocabulary instruction for learning disabled students. Learning Disability Quarterly, 8, 57-63.

Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., & Whedon, C. (1997). Using mnemonic strategies to teach information about U.S. presidents: A classroom-based investigation. Learning Disability Quarterly, 20, 13-21.

McLoone, B. B., Scruggs, T E., Mastropieri, M. A., & Zucker, S. (1986). Mnemonic instruction and training with learning disabled adolescents. Learning Disabilities Research, 2, 45-53.

Putnam, M. L. (1992a). Characteristics of questions on tests adminis- tered by mainstream secondary classroom teachers. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 7, 129-136.

Putnam, M. L. (1992b). The testing practices of mainstream secondary classroom teachers. Remedial and Special Education, /i(3), 11-21.

Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (1992). Classroom applications ot mnemonic instruction: Acquisition, maintenance, and generaliza- tion. Exceptional Children, 58, 219-229.

Scruggs, T F., Mastropieri, M. A., Bakken, J. P., & Brigham, F J. (1993). Reading vs. doing: T h e relative effectiveness of textbook- based and inquiry-oriented approaches to science education. The Journal of Special Education, 27, 1-15.

Scruggs, T F., Mastropieri, M. A., Levin, J. R., & GaffrieyJ. S. (1985). Facilitating the acquisition of science facts in learning disabled stu- dents. American Educational Research Journal, 22, 575-586.

Scruggs, T E., Mastropieri, M. A., McLoone, B. B., Levin, J. R., & Morrison, C. (1987). Mnemonic facilitation of learning disabled students' memory for expository prose. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 27-34.

Scruggs, T E., Mastropieri, M. A., Sullivan, Ci. S., & Hesser, L. S. (1993). Improving reasoning and recall: The differential effects of elaborative interrogation and mnemonic elaboration. Learning Disability Quarterly, 16, 233-240.

U.S. Department of Education. (1994). Sixteenth amiual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC: Author.

2 0 8 INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC

mailto:[email protected]

be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.