Mnemonic Strategies and Classroom Learning: A Twenty-Year Report Card

In this article I review a generation of educationally relevant mnemonic (memory-enhancing) strategy research. A variety of mnemonic strategies and curricular applications are graded from A to F. Awarded A's are (1) mnemonic materials specially designed for factual content, and (2) mnemonic applications with educationally handicapped students. In the B category are (1) student-generated simple mnemonic strategies following specific instructions and practice, and (2) extensions beyond memory for lists of facts to memory for text-embedded information, as well as to alternative performance outcomes and alternative types of knowledge. The C's and D's include (1) more complex mnemonic strategy applications and combinations, (2) independent strategy maintenance and transfer, and (3) mnemonic strategy instruction for ethnically different students. Along with the identification of sources of strategy implementation failure (F) comes the prospect of future successes.