The Use of Method of Loci (MoL) Teaching Tools Enhances Students’ Short-Term Memory

Eddie Ti Tjih Tan,Zuraida Jaafar,Nadya Hajar,Nurul Azlin Tokiman,Nur Rabiatul Adawiah Mohammad Noor,Alice Shanthi

doi:10.5296/ijssr.v10i1.19341

Abstract

To recall Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles and implementation steps was challenging for Food Technology Program students, though remembering the principles and steps usually requires lower-order thinking skills. Previous reports indicated that using the Method of Loci (MoL) in teaching and learning (T&L) has noticeable potential to enhance students’ memory and further improve their learning capacity. Therefore, conventional lecture MoL (CLMoL) teaching tools were developed. This study aims to investigate the short-term and long-term memory retention among participants after using CLMoL teaching tools in T&L of HACCP principles and implementation steps. In this experiment, two (2) groups of participants were taught using Conventional Lecture (CL), and the other two (2) groups were taught using CLMoL teaching tools. Thereafter, four (4) similar memory recall written assessments were performed, namely, pre-intervention assessment (Q1), post‐intervention assessment (Q2), 4‐week follow‐up assessment (Q3, 29 to 32 days), and final examination (FE). Q2 and Q3 assessments showed significantly better (p≤0.05) short-term and long-term memory recall for the CLMoL group (treated group) compared to the CL group. Even though the Q3 mean score for the CLMoL group was still significantly higher than the CL group, the mean scores for both groups indicated a declining pattern after a lapse of a month. The assessment results, along with the positive survey responses suggest that the use of CLMoL teaching tools may improve the efficacy of T&L of the HACCP concept by apparently enhancing the short-term memorization of the HACCP principles and steps of implementation.

Highlights

One of the fundamental concepts of knowledge for the Food Technology students in applying their knowledge on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles with its implementation steps to identify food safety risks and manage the food production system
One of the ways to assess the effectiveness of the use of conventional lecture MoL (CLMoL) teaching tools was by comparing the mean scores between the participants who were taught by using CLMoL and the participants who were taught by the Conventional Lecture (CL) alone
These findings suggest that the use of CLMoL teaching tools in teaching and learning (T&L) the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles and steps of implementation may produce higher and more consistent short-term memory assessment results

Summary

Introduction

One of the fundamental concepts of knowledge for the Food Technology students in applying their knowledge on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles with its implementation steps to identify food safety risks and manage the food production system. Several personal communications with a large number of Food Technology students in the Universiti Teknologi MARA found out that they do not aware of the empirically proven mnemotechnics that can help in learning, they were having difficulties in remembering the HACCP principles and steps of implementation. This finding accords with earlier observations, which showed that many undergraduates may not verse in mnemotechnics such as Method of Loci (MoL) that could enhance their academic performance (Hartwig & Dunlosky, 2012; McCabe, 2011, 2015). The MoL in enhancing memory recall can be dated back to the Greek Era (Yates Frances, 1966) and interestingly, this ancient mnemotechnic is still being used to this day (Shaw & Hosseini, 2020; Singzon, 2020; Vetter, Götz, & von Mammen, 2020)

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Conclusion