The assessment of two mnemonics-aided key concepts learning strategies to improve the retention of information from prose material

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of two prose learning strategies. Both strategies required students to extract key concepts from text. They differed in that one strategy required students to elaborate the extracted concepts. Additionally, students were taught non-elaborated and elaborated versions of the method of loci mnemonic. The study addressed four questions: (1) Does a key concepts extraction and elaboration strategy lead to greater retention than an extraction strategy? (2) Does either strategy lead to greater retention than for no-treatment control students? (3) Can the addition of a mnemonic increase retention of prose material? (4) Does individual verbal ability interact with the effectiveness of the strategies? These questions were studied by developing two learning strategies and having students use the mnemonic only when specifically instructed. In addition a no-treatment control strategy was used. Eighty-five students, randomly divided into three groups, took part. All students completed three sessions. In the first session, training groups received instructions over and practice with the strategies. No-treatment control students practiced their typical study techniques with identical materials. In the second session all groups read two, 1700 word assessment passages while employing a mnemonic for only one. In the third session students were given essay, short answer, multiple choice and concept cloze tests over each assessment passage and a training evaluation questionnaire. The data were combined using a principal components analysis. Two variates emerged--one reflecting cued tests and another uncued tests. Two-way analyses of variance employing strategy group and verbal ability (as measured by the Delta Vocabulary Test) showed no differences between training groups on either test variate in both the mnemonics use and non-use conditions. An interaction was observed between the strategy students and no-treatment control students on uncued tests when mnemonics were used. The results were discussed in terms of previous learning strategies research, the specific questions addressed in the present study and practical educational implications.