Hi Hsingfoo and everyone in this discussion,
I have started doing workshops in schools and university / college level on memory methods. I base the ideas on Indigenous memory methods because that is where my research starts, and reference to Australian Aboriginal knowledge systems is an exciting new component in education here. Indigenous cultures are dependent on memory for their entire knowledge system, so they have developed the best methods over the millennia. But the methods overlap heavily with those familiar to memory groups like this forum - as is clear from responses above.
I suggest that you also offer your course to teachers for them to incorporate the methods in they own curriculum. Most of my bookings are teacher inservice workshops, but some are with students. I did research in primary and secondary schools for my book, Memory Craft.
- I start with methods which can be used for items without a list or specific order. These methods can be combined with all memory methods and any school subject.
Story
Song
Dance (any form of movement)
Example: really good for memorising fundamental definitions. In one school we did Force - they’d studied it in science and almost none of them could just give a quick definition (force = push or pull). So we sung the definition, with actions, to the Imperial March from Starwars (given a lot of them said: May the Force be with you). Weeks later on retesting, we got 100% swift recall of the definition. So many teachers are building on sand when the students forget the basic definitions of words in the context of the subject.
They acted out stories, such as the actinides in the periodic table, the planets in order coming to dinner at the Sun’s home. Jupiter was stormy, Saturn wore a lot of rings …
- Characters
I add in the role of characters, and having one, or more, to mentally act out knowledge. Or bring abstract ideas to life. We call them Rapscallions, but it is the way indigenous cultures use ‘ancestors’ or other characters which make their stories so memorable. Kids used favourite toys (you’d be surprised how many older kids still have a teddy or suchlike) or pets or favourite characters from books or films or TV - but it works better with real physical characters. In one school, the art teacher had students make the characters in art class. We had a great result when they wrote argumentative essays, and we then experimented by putting one of the other kids’ Rapscallions on the table and said that character didn’t agree with them. They rewrote and the essays were so much stronger! Rapscallions act our multiplication tables and grammar and anything.
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Memory palaces - The teacher(s) and I set them up around the school grounds and the same palace can be used for anything and any teacher. I stack multiple items into a single palace with no trouble. We used them for history, periodic table …
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Lukasa - hand held memory boards. I am doing this workshop with year 3 students next week, university students the week later, and teacher inservices in June! This is based on the handheld memory boards of the African Luba people.
I have done a lot of work on these boards - I have found the equivalent in every Indigenous culture. It is extraordinary how well these work.
We talked about them in this thread: Who used lukasa memory board before ?! - #2 by Josh
I have the local charity shop collect all the broken jewellery which they would normally throw out. I have a huge supply of beads and other items from that. I get sheets of pin board and cut it up and the students use pins to put on their beads and then glue them. It is the process of choosing the right bead and the pattern on the board they make which makes it so memorable.
- Art. I am currently working on using art as a memory technique for schools. I am basing this on the narrative scrolls of the Chinese and other Asian countries, much like the Bayeux Tapestry. I also use a lot of the ideas from the medieval times, which made books highly memorable because there were so few. I will be experimenting with these in schools, and presenting them at teacher inservices over the coming months.
I hope that may give you some ideas.
All the very best with it!
Lynne