@swiftdeck, I finished Mnememology last night and was very happily encouraged as I saw much that reinforced beliefs I held as a professor and recenly as an amateur analyst of memory systems. Also, I reviewed Bellezza’s structure of mnemonic devices and saw a general similar pattern except for my subdivisions of data types.
I did disagree on one point in his diagram. I don’t think single use and multiple use are that useful as a category. They are of a lesser importance, more of that of a characteristic.
I could reuse his Great Lakes mnemonic (HOMES) to associate a list of five things many times over. That’s a very small peg list. I recently started a topic on adaptable pegs which explains the use of reusability for peg lists.
But I now have a good understanding of the psychological view of mnemonics and will be posting some excerpts from Worthen and Hunt’s book that are relevant to people here on the forum. One of their last recommendations was to develop effective mnemonics with a view towards organization and elaboration (distinctive processing) and I think I am moving that way in my use of the SEA-IT data types with E being the elaboration element along with the other organized visual images.
Again, thank you for your references. The only remaining question I have is why don’t we see more application of psychological principles in education and mnemonics today? Even though I’ve been properly trained as an instructor at UC Berkeley and read continuously on the subject, I learned a completely new term from Worthen and Hunt. I’m preparing a course for introductory MIS students and wrote summaries of the subject to introduce the vocabulary and organize the concepts. Now I know that the proper term is advance organizer.
I hope to see more from you on the forum.