In the perfect world of education, everyone succeeds in life. Unfortunately, life isn't perfect and students do fall down. Instead of telling students what they did wrong or telling them how they should have done something, educators need to offer a variety of strategies to students to foster individual success. No two students are the same, so by offering a variety of strategies, students can pick the strategy that best suits their own individual needs and take off from there.
When it comes to learning new information, we all have different modalities. Some students can hear information just one time and they make that connections. Some students have to see the information, or read it, and they can make the connections. Others must do it. Students who are kinesthetic learners need more support from their teachers to become a better learner. Support from the teacher includes teaching a variety of methods to learning information or study strategies. Such strategies are often times not taught in the classroom and are more of an expectation that students already know what learning style suits their needs.
By incorporating a variety of learning strategies into our curriculum, such as mnemonics using imagery, KWL charting, and the first letter technique, educators can help create more successful life-long learners.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Literature Review
In today’s society, children are labeled with numerous learning disabilities. With a lack of teachers with special education training, special needs students are more commonly seen in a regular education classroom. This common approach of integration allows accommodations and modifications to be made for individual students (Ehens & Gates, 2003, p. 9). Educators are faced with developing new ways to teach curriculum that reaches out to all children, regardless of individual learning needs. Each individual learns differently and at a different pace, by understanding a variety of approaches to learning, educators can better meet each students’ individual learning need/s; thus help students understand their own successful approach to learning.
By the fifth grade, students should have an idea or understanding of how they learn best. Students should be familiar with a variety of “tricks” they use to help them study; flashcards, reviewing notes, studying with a partner, etc. Educators are finding that many students have yet to develop these understandings. Furthermore, numerous students are labeled with some type of a learning disability. In regards to the use of cognitive skills, memory is one area in which students with intellectual disabilities have deficiencies (Arabsolghar & Elkins, 2000). A new deficiency, utilization deficiency, suggests that students are unable to “transition from initial to proficient strategy use (Waters, 2000). By helping students learn about a variety of study strategies, and modeling them, educators can help students to become independent, life-long learners.
It has been said that we forget roughly 99% of all information that enters our brains (Kelly, 1994, p. 7). Memory strategies are defined as “a set of behaviors specifically initiated to cope with the problem of remembering” (Bray, 1979, p. 716). “These strategies are used to encode, organize, and retrieve information (Kail, 1984), and they are important for successful recall in classroom contexts” (Pressley & Levin, 1987; Turner 1994). Insufficiencies in memory strategies occur due to the fact that students’ fall short in understanding an assignment and assessing their own performance (Turner, 1994).
Memory strategy techniques can differ between students. Mnemonics using imagery, KWL charts, and first letter technique are among a few successful approaches to learning that are more common within the classroom. “Young children may not realize that strategies can be helpful. Furthermore, children may not use the strategies effectively, a problem called utilization deficiency” (Matlin, 2005, p. 464). By using and incorporating such memory strategies into our everyday curriculum, educators can enhance their student’s metamomory. Metamemory is defined as “an individual’s knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs about the functioning, development, and capacities of her or his own memory and the human memory system” ( McDougall, 1994; Matlin, 2005, p. 191). The “inability to use strategies hinders the development of cognitive abilities in children with intellectual disability and may contribute to increasing deficits in knowledge” (Bray & Turner, 1986).
Factors believed to influence any aspect of memory include a selection of mnemonic strategies. Mnemonics is a device used to make connections between our long-term and short-term memory. We use mnemonics to remember a variety of concepts. The first letter approach to mnemonics is highly valuable when necessary to learn a wealth of information in a particular order. In the first letter approach, “you take the first letter of each word you want to remember and compose a word or a sentence from those letters” (West, 1995). In mathematics, for example, one concept is learning the Order of Operations. With this concept, students are to complete mathematical steps in order to acquire the correct answer. Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction are the correct order in which to carry out an equation. To help students better remember this order, they are taught the word PEMDAS or the sentence Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. This first letter approach helps students to remember which steps to complete first, second, and so forth. The first letter approach also aides in successfully transferring important information to ones’ long-term memory.
Most children have a “vivid imagination” (Kelly, 1994, p. 16). With this in mind, students are able to visualize atypical, yet memorable, things. A second successful technique focused around mnemonics, uses imagery. When applying mnemonics using imagery, “we mentally represent objects or actions that are not physically present” (Matlin, 2005, p. 178). This particular strategy has “received a lot of positive press and is being applied to everything from management to athletics to healing” (Kelly, 1994, p. 16). In this approach to learning, students visualize a pair of words together. By developing a mental picture that links unrelated, or even related words together, students are better able to recall important words. When employing mnemonics using imagery, the keyword method and the method of loci are also introduced (Matlin, 2005, p. 178).
A third approach to memory strategies incorporates the use of a chart. KWL charts are charts that stand for What I Know, What I Want to Know, What I Learned. Such charts are functional cross-curriculum as well as extremely effective for both the teacher and the student. The teacher can activate students’ prior knowledge by asking them to fill in what they already know about a topic. Misconceptions are easily acknowledged in the beginning of a unit and teachers can also see what particular topics his or her students are interested in studying. Furthermore, KWL charts serve as an assessment tool for educators as they can see first hand what their students have learned at the end of a unit. By continually charting new knowledge, students can use the KWL chart as a study aide.
Overall, educators can help foster successful, independent learning by incorporating and modeling a variety of memory strategies. Mnemonics using imagery, the first letter technique, and KWL charts are just a few successful approaches to transferring knowledge into one’s long-term memory. When students with or without learning disabilities become familiar and comfortable using a variety of strategies, they will incorporate them to enhance their metamemory. Carrying such skills into their future, we are sure to create successful, life-long learners. Memory strategies are “effortful behaviors; therefore, one’s belief in the effectiveness of his or her efforts will impact strategy use. Children who believe that effort is important are likely to engage in activities that are strategic” (Turner, 1998).
By the fifth grade, students should have an idea or understanding of how they learn best. Students should be familiar with a variety of “tricks” they use to help them study; flashcards, reviewing notes, studying with a partner, etc. Educators are finding that many students have yet to develop these understandings. Furthermore, numerous students are labeled with some type of a learning disability. In regards to the use of cognitive skills, memory is one area in which students with intellectual disabilities have deficiencies (Arabsolghar & Elkins, 2000). A new deficiency, utilization deficiency, suggests that students are unable to “transition from initial to proficient strategy use (Waters, 2000). By helping students learn about a variety of study strategies, and modeling them, educators can help students to become independent, life-long learners.
It has been said that we forget roughly 99% of all information that enters our brains (Kelly, 1994, p. 7). Memory strategies are defined as “a set of behaviors specifically initiated to cope with the problem of remembering” (Bray, 1979, p. 716). “These strategies are used to encode, organize, and retrieve information (Kail, 1984), and they are important for successful recall in classroom contexts” (Pressley & Levin, 1987; Turner 1994). Insufficiencies in memory strategies occur due to the fact that students’ fall short in understanding an assignment and assessing their own performance (Turner, 1994).
Memory strategy techniques can differ between students. Mnemonics using imagery, KWL charts, and first letter technique are among a few successful approaches to learning that are more common within the classroom. “Young children may not realize that strategies can be helpful. Furthermore, children may not use the strategies effectively, a problem called utilization deficiency” (Matlin, 2005, p. 464). By using and incorporating such memory strategies into our everyday curriculum, educators can enhance their student’s metamomory. Metamemory is defined as “an individual’s knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs about the functioning, development, and capacities of her or his own memory and the human memory system” ( McDougall, 1994; Matlin, 2005, p. 191). The “inability to use strategies hinders the development of cognitive abilities in children with intellectual disability and may contribute to increasing deficits in knowledge” (Bray & Turner, 1986).
Factors believed to influence any aspect of memory include a selection of mnemonic strategies. Mnemonics is a device used to make connections between our long-term and short-term memory. We use mnemonics to remember a variety of concepts. The first letter approach to mnemonics is highly valuable when necessary to learn a wealth of information in a particular order. In the first letter approach, “you take the first letter of each word you want to remember and compose a word or a sentence from those letters” (West, 1995). In mathematics, for example, one concept is learning the Order of Operations. With this concept, students are to complete mathematical steps in order to acquire the correct answer. Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction are the correct order in which to carry out an equation. To help students better remember this order, they are taught the word PEMDAS or the sentence Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. This first letter approach helps students to remember which steps to complete first, second, and so forth. The first letter approach also aides in successfully transferring important information to ones’ long-term memory.
Most children have a “vivid imagination” (Kelly, 1994, p. 16). With this in mind, students are able to visualize atypical, yet memorable, things. A second successful technique focused around mnemonics, uses imagery. When applying mnemonics using imagery, “we mentally represent objects or actions that are not physically present” (Matlin, 2005, p. 178). This particular strategy has “received a lot of positive press and is being applied to everything from management to athletics to healing” (Kelly, 1994, p. 16). In this approach to learning, students visualize a pair of words together. By developing a mental picture that links unrelated, or even related words together, students are better able to recall important words. When employing mnemonics using imagery, the keyword method and the method of loci are also introduced (Matlin, 2005, p. 178).
A third approach to memory strategies incorporates the use of a chart. KWL charts are charts that stand for What I Know, What I Want to Know, What I Learned. Such charts are functional cross-curriculum as well as extremely effective for both the teacher and the student. The teacher can activate students’ prior knowledge by asking them to fill in what they already know about a topic. Misconceptions are easily acknowledged in the beginning of a unit and teachers can also see what particular topics his or her students are interested in studying. Furthermore, KWL charts serve as an assessment tool for educators as they can see first hand what their students have learned at the end of a unit. By continually charting new knowledge, students can use the KWL chart as a study aide.
Overall, educators can help foster successful, independent learning by incorporating and modeling a variety of memory strategies. Mnemonics using imagery, the first letter technique, and KWL charts are just a few successful approaches to transferring knowledge into one’s long-term memory. When students with or without learning disabilities become familiar and comfortable using a variety of strategies, they will incorporate them to enhance their metamemory. Carrying such skills into their future, we are sure to create successful, life-long learners. Memory strategies are “effortful behaviors; therefore, one’s belief in the effectiveness of his or her efforts will impact strategy use. Children who believe that effort is important are likely to engage in activities that are strategic” (Turner, 1998).
Research Questions/Hypothesis
Many students that struggle in class have limited or poor study habits. By introducing and incorporating a variety of study skills, students can learn to be more successful in the classroom, creating life-long learners. By learning and incorporating a variety of study strategies, each individual student can use the strategy that best meets his or her own individual need. Just as no two fingerprints are the same, no two students are the same. Students can learn and work with different methods of studying, in the end, picking the method that best suits their learning needs. I will question to whether or not incorporating mnemonics using imagery will promote success in learning a variety of key terms, or vocabulary, that students are tested on across the curriculum.
I believe that students who struggle with vocabulary will benefit from learning and incorporating the study strategy mnemonics using imagery. Using imagery to remember unfamiliar terms will increase their in-class quizzes and test scores.
I believe that students who struggle with vocabulary will benefit from learning and incorporating the study strategy mnemonics using imagery. Using imagery to remember unfamiliar terms will increase their in-class quizzes and test scores.
Research Design
In order to test my hypothesis, I will be studying fifth grade students placed in a Regular Education Initiative classroom setting. Sixty students in all will be given a word list of basic fifth grade vocabulary. They will be asked to study the list for one week before being tested. A test taken from the Spectrum ISAT Prep series will be administered at the end of one week. All sixty tests will be scored and students will be divided into two groups. Group A will consist of all students scoring a seventy percent or higher. Group B will consist of all students scoring a sixty-nine percent and below. From there, fifteen students from each group will be randomly selected using a computer program. The fifteen randomly selected students who scored a seventy percent or higher will make up the control group, while the other fifteen randomly selected students scoring sixty-nine percent or lower will make up the experimental group.
After the control and experimental group has been established, students in the experimental group will begin learning a variety of learning strategies. The strategies that the experimental group will be exposed to include mnemonics using imagery, KWL charting, and first letter technique. Each technique will be incorporated into daily lessons five days a week for approximately two weeks. At the end of each two-week session, students will be tested on their abilities.
After the initial six weeks of incorporating one of the three study strategies, students will be given a two-week period of using one of the study strategies previously learned to learn a list of vocabulary terms. At this time, the control group will also be given the same list. Each group will be informed that they will be taking another vocabulary test at the end of two weeks. At the end of the two week period, which would be the eighth week in the research design, students will be given another vocabulary test taken from the Spectrum ISAT Test Prep series. Scores of those students who participated in the experimental group will be compared to the entry test and the three tests taken at the end of each two week lesson. The comparison of all five tests will help determine which, if any, study strategy was most successful in learning.
After the control and experimental group has been established, students in the experimental group will begin learning a variety of learning strategies. The strategies that the experimental group will be exposed to include mnemonics using imagery, KWL charting, and first letter technique. Each technique will be incorporated into daily lessons five days a week for approximately two weeks. At the end of each two-week session, students will be tested on their abilities.
After the initial six weeks of incorporating one of the three study strategies, students will be given a two-week period of using one of the study strategies previously learned to learn a list of vocabulary terms. At this time, the control group will also be given the same list. Each group will be informed that they will be taking another vocabulary test at the end of two weeks. At the end of the two week period, which would be the eighth week in the research design, students will be given another vocabulary test taken from the Spectrum ISAT Test Prep series. Scores of those students who participated in the experimental group will be compared to the entry test and the three tests taken at the end of each two week lesson. The comparison of all five tests will help determine which, if any, study strategy was most successful in learning.
Results Expected/Implications
After the eight week window has closed, I expect to find that the two-week period where students learned about mnemonics using imagery had the highest test scores. Mnemonics using imagery is an individual approach to better remembering key vocabulary terms. Each student can paint his or her own picture to help better understand and remember various vocabulary terms.
If my hypothesis proves to be accurate, I propose that teachers be aware of the results and plan to incorporate this study strategy into their weekly lessons. I would suggest to the administration that a team of teachers be trained and carry out the same research in their own grade-levels. Once the experiment is conducted and results are in, the team could compare their findings and present their data to staff members at a School Improvement Day session. Furthermore, the team that conducted the parallel experiments could offer a workshop at a the county wide Institute Day. I believe that by having familiar co-workers carry out the experiment, teachers are more apt to listen and carry out the proven method in comparison to attending workshops given by people they are not familiar with.
If my hypothesis proves to be accurate, I propose that teachers be aware of the results and plan to incorporate this study strategy into their weekly lessons. I would suggest to the administration that a team of teachers be trained and carry out the same research in their own grade-levels. Once the experiment is conducted and results are in, the team could compare their findings and present their data to staff members at a School Improvement Day session. Furthermore, the team that conducted the parallel experiments could offer a workshop at a the county wide Institute Day. I believe that by having familiar co-workers carry out the experiment, teachers are more apt to listen and carry out the proven method in comparison to attending workshops given by people they are not familiar with.
Limitations & Weakness
The fact that one vocabulary test is being used to separate students is not a truly reliable source. Another possibility is that students could be separated into group A or B by taking an average of two or more vocabulary tests. Another weakness is the fact that students are given a word list to study on their own and not reviewed throughout normal classroom interactions or lessons.
Although their will always be a flaw in any experimental design, the truth is that as an educator, it will become more evident as to which study strategy is more successful among a group of students. It will also become more clear as to which study strategy is the least successful of all three.
For future references, students coming into the fifth grade could be tested using this or a similar research design. Students with lower scores could be put into a group where they are introduced to a variety of learning strategies that will help them have a more successful school year.
Although their will always be a flaw in any experimental design, the truth is that as an educator, it will become more evident as to which study strategy is more successful among a group of students. It will also become more clear as to which study strategy is the least successful of all three.
For future references, students coming into the fifth grade could be tested using this or a similar research design. Students with lower scores could be put into a group where they are introduced to a variety of learning strategies that will help them have a more successful school year.
Reference
Arabsolghar, F., & Elkins, J. 2000. Comparative expectations of teachers and parents with regard to memory skills in children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 25, 3, pp. 169-179.
Bray, N.W. (1979). Strategy production in the retarded. In N. R. Ellis (Ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency, psychological theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 699-726). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bray, N.W., & Turner, L.A. (1986). The rehearsal deficit hypothesis. In N.R. Ellis & N.W. Bray (Ed.), International review of research in mental retardation (Vol. 14, pp. 47-71). New York: Academic Press.
Ehens, C. & Gates, J. 2003. Assisting learners with special needs in a regular classroom at a parochial school. Chicago: Saint Xavier University & SkyLight.
Kail, R. (1984). The development of memory in children. New York: W.H. Freeman.
Kelly, E. B. (1994). Memory enhancement for educators. Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Matlin, M. W. (2005). Cognition: 6th Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
McDougall, G.J. (1994). Predictors of metamemory in older adults. Nursing Research. 43, 212-218.
Pressley, M., & Levin, J. R. (1978). Developmental constraints associated with children’s use of the keyword method of foreign language vocabulary learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 26, 359-372.
Turner, L.; and Others. (1994). The effects of performance feedback on memory strategy use and recall accuracy in students with and without mild mental retardation.
Turner, L. 1998. Relation of attributional beliefs to memory strategy use in children and adolescents with mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation. Vol. 103, No. 2, 162-172.
Waters, H. S. (2000). Memory strategy development: Do we need yet another deficiency? Child Development, 71, 1004-1012.
West, R. L. (1995). Compensatory strategies for age-associated memory impairment. In A.D. Baddeley, B.A. Wilson, & F.N. Watts (Eds.), Handbook of memory disorders (pp. 481-500). Chichester, England: Wiley.
Bray, N.W. (1979). Strategy production in the retarded. In N. R. Ellis (Ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency, psychological theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 699-726). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bray, N.W., & Turner, L.A. (1986). The rehearsal deficit hypothesis. In N.R. Ellis & N.W. Bray (Ed.), International review of research in mental retardation (Vol. 14, pp. 47-71). New York: Academic Press.
Ehens, C. & Gates, J. 2003. Assisting learners with special needs in a regular classroom at a parochial school. Chicago: Saint Xavier University & SkyLight.
Kail, R. (1984). The development of memory in children. New York: W.H. Freeman.
Kelly, E. B. (1994). Memory enhancement for educators. Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Matlin, M. W. (2005). Cognition: 6th Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
McDougall, G.J. (1994). Predictors of metamemory in older adults. Nursing Research. 43, 212-218.
Pressley, M., & Levin, J. R. (1978). Developmental constraints associated with children’s use of the keyword method of foreign language vocabulary learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 26, 359-372.
Turner, L.; and Others. (1994). The effects of performance feedback on memory strategy use and recall accuracy in students with and without mild mental retardation.
Turner, L. 1998. Relation of attributional beliefs to memory strategy use in children and adolescents with mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation. Vol. 103, No. 2, 162-172.
Waters, H. S. (2000). Memory strategy development: Do we need yet another deficiency? Child Development, 71, 1004-1012.
West, R. L. (1995). Compensatory strategies for age-associated memory impairment. In A.D. Baddeley, B.A. Wilson, & F.N. Watts (Eds.), Handbook of memory disorders (pp. 481-500). Chichester, England: Wiley.
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