Mnemonics
I'm so glad to see a discussion of mnemonics. I teach the dining room service course in a culinary arts college and use mnemonics every time I lecture/demo on how to set a table for formal dining service. It really helps students remember more easily what they need to do. Our mnemomic is "4's on left, 5's on the right" meaning that a fork (f-o-r-k has 4 letters) goes on the left (l-e-f-t has 4 letters). Knife and spoon have 5 letters and they go on the right (5 letters). Works everytime !!!
Hi Kathleen,
Thanks for sharing this mnemonic with us. I am going to use in teaching my kids how to set the table.
Gary
I love mnemonics. For myself I feel like this method has taught me a lot and I have retained these mnemonics over the years. It's worked great and I love teaching these to my students.
Hi Sue,
Me to. They are one of my most effective learning devices plus, I think they are fun to create and they let me retain large amounts of material as a result.
Gary
I teach a Food Safety and Sanitation Class. Several of lessons in the class including learning about "micro-organism" and how to prevent their issues. It could be hard, because of the words you can't hardly pronounce. I have come up with hints to help them associate. Here are a few:
Hepatitis A (Hep A) "I need help, because I’m weak"
Noro-Virus- Found on Cruise ships. Cruise ships sail in Dirty Water
Bacillus Cereus- Cereus= Cereal. Affects rice and corn dishes
Staph- You get Staph from your Staff
Anything I can do to help them. It gets pretty wild but it works!
We use a mnemonic in culinary school to help our students remember the 5 mother sauces - BETH V. The sauces are bechamel, espagnole, tomato, hollandaise and veloute. To be honest, it helps me remember them, too!
Hi Jennifer,
This is great. Thanks for sharing it with us. I am sure the content retention with your students is very high as a result of this fun and catchy way of learning field specific terminology.
Gary
Mnemonics are a great way to help students retain information. This is a great example!
Hi Kate,
I use mnemonics a lot in my classes with great results plus my students really have fun learning them. Glad you like using them as well.
Gary
Mnemonics have helped me get through college and I'm relaying the information I learned on to my students. When learning all the nerves in the head, there's just to many to remember without a mnemonic so I have the students see what they can come up with.
Hi Debra,
Wondering what your students come up with when they create their own mnemonic for learning the nerves or other important content. I know my students are very creative in this area and we have a lot of fun with the words they create and how they go about memorizing the content. Helps to relieve some of the stress in addition to being highly effective.
Gary
We utilize Mnemonics in the medical field to remember certain disease processes and other pertinent information.
Hi Dennis,
Having had a number of medical courses in my background I can relate to your comments. Without mnemonics I don't know how I would have learned any of the required terms.
Gary
I use Mnemonics in the dental field to help the students to remember names of the dental instruments. Placing the instrument name in alphabetical order often helps the students to learn their names and uses.
Hi Sue,
I know they have been a life save for me. I used them when I was taking some medical training and without them I would never have been able to remember even half of all the words I had to be able to recall, spell and use. Plus mnemonics are fun for the students to create.
Gary
Brilliant Kathleen! That is certianly a way they can retain the information. Mnemonics have helped me with rote memorization through college and I also use it in the classes I teach.
here's another one I use in sanitation that I'm not sure everyone will like, but it works. I associate listeria with "hysteria" and pregnant women being hysterical.
I use "P.lease E.xecute M.y D.umb A.lgebra S.tudent to help them remember order of operations. It adds humor in the classroom, too.
I find the use of mnemonics to be a very valuable tool. The students find them interesting, if not funny, and anything that aides in student retension is just fine with me.
Mnemonics are so useful and they are also fun for the students. I always ask each student if they would like to share their own unique mnemonics with the class because maybe someone else can use it to help him/her remember the material better.
