The Wonderful world of
Memory
Making Remembering Easier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeUnC2QpsU 0.30 corona
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=wjh10kj9Y64
Once we recognise how the brain works - by making links
and connections between new stuff and existing stuff we can aid recall by "helping our brains" to make those
links and connections in a deliberate way.
Mnemonics (memory aids) are useful because they can
help us to "file" memories in such a way that it is easy
to "find" them later on.
There are lots of different ways to do this. The
following suggestions will appeal to different types of
intelligence: you should try to find those that suit you
best!
The Electromagnetic Spectrum mnemonic
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Radio
Microwaves
Infrared
Visible
Ultraviolet
X-rays
Gamma rays
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Rabbits
Mate
In
Very
Unusual
eXpensive
Gardens
Magic Number 7 (plus or minus 2)
…if we want to remember more than that - and we invariably do we need to find a way to help our brains.
One method is to sub-group units of information (into groups of 7
or less) and to relate each of these to an overarching grouptheme.
Forces
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Motion graphs
Balanced
Unbalanced
Newton’s Laws
Falling objects
Momentum
Stretching materials
3 Examples of Memory Improvement
Techniques:
1. Method of Loci
2. Acrostics
3. Body pegs
How do you use them?
That is what we will
explain this
evening!
Method of Loci
To use the method of loci bring to mind a familiar building, such
as your house. Take a moment to conduct a mental walk through
the rooms in your house.
Along your route create a list of "loci“ (well defined parts of
the room that you can use later to memorize things). A locus
can be a door, a bed, an oven, etc. Be sure that you can easily
go from locus to locus as you visit the house.
Now, when you are faced with your key words/concepts,
you must form visual images for each of the words and
place them, in order, on the loci in your route.
To recall the words or ideas now you take a mental walk
throughout your house, asking yourself , "What is on the
living-room door? What's on the bed. What's in the
oven?" And so on.
Associating the words or ideas to remember with the loci, you
should create surprising images. More striking is the created
image, the more easily you will remember the aspect you are trying
to learn.
Science Memory Palace – life cycle of a star
• I enter the kitchen and there are clouds of steam from the
boiling potatoes (stars start as clouds of dust and gas)
• I go into the lounge and turn on the light and the fuse goes
(stars start to make light through fusion)
• I go up the main stairs one step then two steps, then one step
then two steps and so on (stars become a main sequence star)
• In the cold bathroom is a massive rugby player wearing the
Welsh kit (stars cool and become red giants)
• I move into the garden and there is a small man cooking on a
BBQ on which there are white hot coals and black coals that
are not hot (A star becomes a white dwarf before turning into
a black dwarf)
Which RE GCSE units could I
use this method for?
B601: Belief about Deity/ End of Life
B602: Good & Evil/ Religion & Science
B603: Religion & Human Relationships/ Religion & Medical Ethics
B604: Religion, Peace & Justice/ Religion & Equality
Acrostics
One way to remember a list of words in order is to make
up an acrostic, using the first letter of each word in the
list, for example:
The colours of the rainbow in order, from the outside to
inside are:
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet.
They can be remembered using this acrostic:
Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.
Chemistry Acrostic
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P
A
N
I
C
Chemistry Acrostic
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Positive
Anode
Negative
Is
Cathode
RE Acrostic:
Christianity questions:
Deity
End of Life
Good and Evil
Religion and Science
Carefully
Drying
Every
Garden
Rainbow
Ethics:
Christianity questions:
Human Relationships
Medical ethics
Peace & justice
Equality
Chatting
Humans
Make
Pies
Everyday
Body Pegs
The principle of the
system is that you
"attach" one key-word
to each body-peg in
turn (preferably with a
memorable action).
When you need to recall
your list of key-words,
your body (and the key
word associated action)
acts as a memory-aid.
In order to use this
system, you must learn
the 20 "body-pegs"
shown on the diagram.
(10 minutes)
You will notice that
points numbered 1 to 9
start at the fingers of
one hand, go up the arm,
over the head and down
to the fingers of the
other hand. Points 10 to
20 start at the eyes and
move down the body to
the feet. You should
practice until you are
able to point to all 20
"body-pegs" without
hesitation.
Example
Number 1
Body Peg: Right fingers
Key word: Cosmological argument (St.
Thomas Aquinas.)
Association: Snap your right hand fingers
to represent God being the FIRST
CAUSE .
Number 2:
Body peg: palm right hand
Key word: Teleological argument (William Paley)
Association: bounce an imaginary watch in the palm
of your hand. It is so intricately designed, you
deduce God is the designer. You relate the
Teleological argument to the world.
Number 3:
Body peg: right elbow
Key word: Moral argument (Cardinal Newman)
Association: elbowing someone to represent moral laws
have always existed and actions like this are wrong. This
proves the existence of a God who made those laws.
Number 4:
Body peg: right shoulder
Key word: omnipresent
Association: imagine God sat upon your shoulder, always
present. His presence is a warm comfort.
Number 5:
Body peg: Head
Key word: Ontological argument – (St Anselm of
Canterbury)
Association: imagine heading a football. God is the
most perfect being imaginable. This is a logical
argument, based upon reason (not observation).