Critical Review Paper:

Mnemonic Strategy Instruction in Inclusive Secondary Social Studies Classes

Xxxxxx Xxxxxx
University of West Florida

Summary of Strategy/Technique
In the peer-reviewed article Mnemonic Strategy Instruction in Inclusive Secondary
Social Studies Classes (Fontana et al., 2007) the researchers looked at using mnemonic
strategies to improve academic performance in inclusive 10th and 11th grade social studies
classes. A mnemonic strategy is a type of content enhancement, which is a general term for a
wide range of techniques teachers use to enhance the organization and delivery of curriculum
content so that students can better access, interact with, comprehend, and retain academic
information (Heward, 2009). Mnemonic strategies use specific strategies for recall combined
with special presentation of the academic information. Most are often used to help students
remember large amounts of unfamiliar information or make connections between two or more
facts or concepts (Heward, 2009).
Three of the most commonly used mnemonic strategies by teachers are letter strategies,
keyword method, and pegword method (Heward, 2009). Letter strategies are acronyms and
acrostics which help students to recall lists of information. An example of an acronym
mnemonic is HOMES which could be used to remember the names of the Great Lakes (Huron,
Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior). Acrostics are sentences in which the first letter of each

word stands for a different word. For example, Kids playing croquet on freeways get smashed
can help students remember the life sciences classification system: kingdom, phylum, class,
order, family, genus, and species (Kleinheksel & Summy, 2003). The keyword method is used to
link a new, unfamiliar word with familiar information. It helps students to remember new terms
by using a word that they already know and which sounds similar to the new term (Fontana et al.,
2007). This was the strategy used in Fontana et al. (2007) in the experimental condition which
was to teach them about the term anarchy. In order to learn that anarchists are people who are
against all forms of government the keyword ant was paired with an illustration of large ants
pushing over a big building which represents the government. A script was also paired with this
for the teacher to use when teaching students. The last type of mnemonic strategy used is the
pegword method and this uses rhyming words for numbers (1 is bun, 2 is shoe, 3 is tree,
etc.) when information to be remembered is numbered or ordered (Heward, 2009). For example,
to remember that Newtons first (or number 1) law of motion is that objects at rest tend to stay at
rest, show a picture of a bun (1) resting.
Content enhancements, including mnemonics, are often helpful to students with learning
disabilities. In this article, the researchers looked at 10th and 11th grade students who had been
previously identified as having a learning disability (LD). According to federal, state, and
district guidelines this meant having a 15-point discrepancy between academic achievement and
ability in subjects like writing, reading, and mathematics (Fontana et al., 2007). According to
Heward (2009) a learning disability is defined in IDEA as meaning a disorder in 1 or more of the
basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or
written, which disorder may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, think, ready,
write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. Conditions included in this category are
perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental
aphasia.
Personal Review
I believe that mnemonic strategies are beneficial to use with children who have learning
disabilities, but I also think it is a good method overall to use with children of all ages and levels.
Students with LD are commonly looked at as having reading deficits, memory difficulties, and
problems selecting and using efficient strategies (Fontana et al., 2007). Educating students with
learning disabilities at the middle and secondary levels is can be difficult because most are not
properly prepared and have reading and language skills at the fourth- to fifth-grade level
(Heward, 2009). Research has demonstrated that mnemonic strategies are a good way to
increase a students memory in order to learn specific academic content, specifically with
children who have learning disabilities (Swanson, 1999; Brigham & Brigham, 2001). I think that
mnemonics will allow students with learning disabilities to feel more confident and happy about
school and the content they are learning. If they have a strategy that will help them succeed, they
are more likely to want to do better in school and it will also help them to feel like there are no
differences between them and other students. It will create a more positive educational
experience for them.
I found that there are many benefits to using mnemonic strategies with all types of
students. Mnemonics can facilitate access to the general education curriculum by giving students
the tools they need to better encode information so that it will be much easier for them to retrieve
it at a later time. Another benefit is that mnemonics can be used across all subjects including

language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and foreign language. It is also easy to use
and does not require a lot of extra materials or extensive planning and preparation time
(Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1998). Research also shows that both students and teachers prefer the
use of mnemonic instruction over direct instruction (Fontana et al., 2007). Students felt that they
learned more and would prefer to use mnemonic instruction in other content areas.
Although the majority of evidence I found suggests mnemonic instruction has been well
researched and validated for students with high incidence disabilities, particularly students with
learning disabilities, as well as for general education students in elementary and middle school,
there is caution that needs to be taken when implementing mnemonic instruction. There has
been research suggesting that students may not be able to construct their own mnemonics
effectively. Hwang & Levin (2002) found that students were unable to effectively create and
apply mnemonics on their own and use them independently. It would be more effective to have
the teachers provide the mnemonic strategy to the students and have them focus on learning the
content presented. But this also presents difficultly because teachers will constantly have to
come up with new mnemonics to teach material, decreasing the students ability to independently
use this strategy on their own while they are doing homework or studying. I also believe another
disadvantage of mnemonic strategies are it could not be implemented for all types of children,
especially children with severe cognitive delays since mnemonic strategies require some
previous knowledge and the ability to make connections between knowledge.
Applicability
Mnemonic strategies can support Response to Intervention (RtI) initiatives. RtI is a
school wide process that focuses on early intervention in the form of scientifically validated
instruction to all children in a school whose performance indicates that they are at risk for school
failure (Heward, 2009). The core principles of RtI are to effectively teach all students, intervene
early, deliver a multi-tiered model of service, and use the problem solving method to make
decisions within a multi-tiered model of service. RtI also shifts the identification of learning
disabilities for a wait-to-fail model to one of early identification and prevention (Heward,
2009).
There is no one single method that educators use to implement the RtI paradigm however
a three-tiered model of intervention is one that is widely used and supported (Canter, 2006). It is
important to explain what the tiers consist of and then explain how mnemonic strategies fit into
those tiers. Tier 1 instruction involves effective implementation of core curriculum for all
students in the general education classroom. Tier 2 involves students who are performing below
a certain level and are identifies as being at risk for failure in a particular assessed area. It
encompasses small group instruction utilizing research based strategies in addition to the core
instruction. Finally, students who are not responding to interventions presented in Tier 2 are
moved to Tier 3 which involves intensive individualized instruction (Shores & Chester, 2009).
Mnemonic strategies could be implemented during any RtI level. It could be used during
Tier 1 in general education classes for teaching instructional material to students. If there are
some children who need more intervention and are moved to Tier 2, mnemonic strategies are
well researched and supported as effective interventions to help children with various learning
difficulties and could help those children meet their educational goals, which would make them
eligible to move back to the Tier 1 level. Mnemonic strategies can also be used in the Tier 3

model, which involves more intensive and individualized instruction, like a special education
classroom. Since mnemonic strategies are easy to implement and do not require many additional
materials, they are perfect to use for all levels of RtI.
It can be hypothesized that mnemonic strategies can be applied to different educational
settings and activities other than what was described in the article referenced above. The article
Mnemonic Strategy Instruction in Inclusive Secondary Social Studies Classes (Fontana et al.,
2007) specifically looked at using mnemonic strategies with 10th and 11th grade students in social
studies class. Research has demonstrated that mnemonic strategies have been used with
elementary, middle, and high school students with disabilities in several different study
conditions to teach vocabulary (e.g. Uberti et al., 2003) and science (e.g. Scruggs & Mastropieri,
1992). Mastropieri & Scruggs (1991) also demonstrated that mnemonics has various uses in the
areas of English, foreign language, vocabulary, science, history, geography, math, phonics and
spelling.
Studies have also shown that mnemonic strategies can be used with students following
traumatic brain injury (Pershelli, 2007). It can be hypothesized that since most students who
have traumatic brain injury will have some degree of memory impairment, mnemonic strategies
can help improve a childs memory after the injury. It can take 1-3 years for a childs memory to
improve to its maximum capacity following injury and children cannot wait that long to return to
school. When implementing mnemonic strategies teachers should select one or two strategies
that will work best given a students individual strength. These strategies must then be taught
through repetition, practice, and assisted use until the employment of those strategies becomes
automatic (Pershelli, 2007).
Mnemonics are a very powerful strategy since they can be used in multiple settings.
They can positively affect both students with emotional and behavioral disorders (Kleinheksel &
Summy, 2003). They are extremely diverse and would be beneficial in both special education
and general education classrooms to increase the recall of information for all students.

References
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http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/cq345rti.aspx

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