Applications of Mnemonic Strategies with Students with Mild Mental Disabilities

Abstract

This paper reports the results of two classroom applications of mnemonic instruction with students with mild mental disabilities (see note). These applications were developed based upon previous research findings and implemented by special education teachers in their classrooms over extended time periods. In both applications, regularly assigned curricula were adapted to include the use of mnemonic strategies. In the first application, the strategies were supplied by the teacher to facilitate the learning of social studies content. In the second application, students first used teacher-made strategies and later assisted the teacher in generating “class” mnemonic strategies for learning science content. Results of both applications suggest that students successfully learned content using the mnemonic strategies and reported enjoying instruction when the strategies were used. Findings are discussed in relation to future applications by teachers.