The document discusses using mnemonic devices to help students memorize and retain information in chemistry class, specifically for the topic of oxidation reduction. It provides background on mnemonics and different types that could be used. The author proposes researching the effectiveness of letter-type mnemonics on student performance in a high school oxidation reduction unit compared to traditional memory techniques.

1. Mnemonics in the
Regents Level
Chemistry Classroom
Aid Information Retention in
Oxidation Reduction.
Christie MorganteSEYS 777 --Dr. Murfin S
Queens College

2. Problem
S Chemistry
S requires students to memorize, recall, and
retain specific definitions before they can
proceed to understanding the material.
S Oxidation Reduction poses a difficult topic
for students to grasp
S involves memorizing vocabulary of
locations, particles, and charges

3. Purpose
S review mnemonics as a general study
aid as well as specific methods of
mnemonics.
S also evaluate if in fact, it would be
beneficial for students to utilize this
method in a regents Chemistry
classroom.

4. Mnemonic
S Mnemonic devices can be defined as learning
strategies
S “The term mnemonic is derived from the
name of the ancient Greek goddess of
memory, Mnemosyne. Mnemonic literally
means to aid the memory (Bourne,
Dominowski, Loftus & Healy 1986).

5. History
S Mnemonics have been around for centuries
S Romans made a systematic memory training the
basis of an education, which suggests the
importance of information retention and the application
of mnemonic-type instruction from the earliest
generations of formal education training

6. History
S Example
S House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii
S Within the House there were watercolors painted on wall panels.
S After the House was destroyed mnemonic devices were used to create
the location and images of these panels.
S creating a mental picture of the house with pegs, a linking of an image
relating in some way to what you want to remember
S By backtracking the pegs in an specific order in which it was
remembered would trigger a memory of what was there before.
S “relationship between concrete image and verbalized meaning with the
architectural mnemonic might operate in a pictorial programs of
Roman house…”

7. Types
S There are multiple types if Mnemonics.
1 “pegword”
S a rhyming proxy for a number and is used to remember numbered or ordered
information
(e.g., one is bun, two is shoe, three is tree)
2 “keyword”
S a concrete, acoustically similar proxy for unfamiliar information that can then be
associated with the to-be remembered information.”
(e.g., vocabulary words, terminology, people, places).
3 “letter-type”
S the most commonly known mnemonic strategies and include acronyms, in which
each letter represents a word…and acrostics, using the first letter of words in a
sentence to remember a list or sequence of information.
S each letter or syllable represents a fact.”

8. S GIN LIP
Gain is Negative Lose is positive
S GER says LEO
Gain is reduction Lose is oxidation
S RED CAT AN OX
Reduction at Cathode Anode Oxidation

9. S “Every task required of the student in the process of learning
chemistry cannot be accomplished solely by reasoning. Much of the
subject matter must be memorized as a basis for reasoning” (Article 1
p. 276).

10. Information Retention
S Mnemonics have been used in classrooms with students
of
S Different ages
S Different learning types
S Different Subjects
“students learned, and retained, virtually all information taught
mnemonically, which contrasted dramatically from the
amount of information students learned with traditional
instructional methods”

11. Findings
S “the average student in a mnemonic condition would
have scored at the 94.7th percentile of the students in the
comparison condition in which mnemonics was not used”
S “it must be considered that mnemonic strategies do not
address all school objectives and should not be
considered a panacea for all aspects if school learning”

12. Missing Information
S not that many findings on the specific letter-word type
S challenges of developing mnemonic strategies
S most are done in a generic sense and do not target the
specific subject of chemistry, let alone the topic of
oxidation reduction.

13. Conclusion
S Hypothesized that the students sampled in Robert H.
Goddard High School will have similar, successful, results
in using the memory device of mnemonics.
S Hopefully, with the conclusion of this experiment, a more
in-depth analysis of the use of letter-type mnemonic
devices in the chemistry classroom can be examined;
therefore, bridging the gap that exists in previous studies.

14. Research Proposal
S Oxidation Reduction Unit (3 week unit)
Quasi-Action Research
S High School in Ozone Park , Queens
S Chemistry students (66 participants) grades ten through twelve
will be split into two randomly assigned groups
S Pre and Post Test (ANOVA)
S The control group will be taught the entire unit utilizing memory
techniques that they are already familiar with.
S The experimental group will be given a plethora of mnemonic
devices to assist in their memory retention.

15. Research Proposal
S The success of these approaches will be measured by the
average scores on a unit test (a post-test) given to them at the
end of the period.
S The students in the experimental group will be asked to
complete a questionnaire regarding their impression of the
mnemonic devices given to them and if they felt they were at all
helpful in the memorization and retention of key concepts
throughout the unit.
S Quantitative and Qualitative