In this article, I will share some of the common mnemonics students can use to remember and connect concepts much more effectively. At the same time, I will share about we can leverage on ChatGPT to make mnemonics for us.
Read on to find out more!
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Mnemonics used in Primary School
- Mnemonics for Medical Anatomy
- Example of Mnemonic used in Physics
- How to Use ChatGPT to make Mnemonics
- Concluding Remarks
Introduction
Occasionally, we might come across terminologies or concepts that are much harder to memorise. It might feel rather demoralising when you forget it even after repeating it in your head multiple times. Therefore, it is important to utilise interesting ways to make concepts stick in your head, with the use of wordplay. Mnemonics serve as a fun way to remember the nitty-gritty details by connecting the different terminologies together.
Mnemonics used in Primary School
It can also be an effective way to help your students remember certain concepts. For example, in primary school:
- Factors that are required for germination—> WOW – which stands for Water, Oxygen, Warmth
- Factors that affect rate of evaporation —> WET – which stands for presence of Wind, Exposed Surface Area, Temperature
- Trigonometry: SOH CAH TOA was commonly taught when applying it to find the sine, cosine, and tangent values of acute angles in a right-angle triangle.
By using mnemonics to group terms, it can help to organise your thoughts/ concepts from a big picture down to the small details.
Here are some interesting mnemonics I have come across when learning about various topics!
Mnemonics for Medical Anatomy
For example, when I was attempting to understand the anatomical positioning of the carpal bones in the hand, I found a useful mnemonic online.
Source: https://www.scientificanimations.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
For Instance, the mnemonic can be: So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb
- Scaphoid (boat)
- Lunate(crescent moon)
- Triquetrium (pyramid)
- Pisiform(pea-shaped)
- Hanate
- Capitate (head)
- Trapezoid (wedge-shaped)
- Trapezium
Starting from the lateral side (the side with the radius) of the first layer (proximal),we have our (Lateral) Scaphoid to Pisiform (Medial) – and is at the pinky region.
Then we move down to the second layer (distal), starting with Hanate, all the way to Trapezium at the base of the thumb (which you can differentiate from trapezoid based on the mnemonic, “Thumb”).
Based on this piece of information, I was able to draw better connections with other anatomical components of the upper limb, like the attachment sites of the muscles by having an easy method to conjure an image of the carpal bones based on a mnemonic.
Example of Mnemonic Used in Physics
I have also used it to remember the electromagnetic spectrum, back in high school when I was learning about physics.
- Rabbits (Radiowave)
- Mate (Microwaves)
- In (Infra-red)
- Very (Very)
- Unusual (Ultraviolet)
- eXpensive (X-Ray)
- Gardens (Gamma)
How to Use ChatGPT to make Mnemonics
Apart from the above examples, I have also experimented with ChatGPT to customise the mnemonic to fit the concepts I wanted to group together.
When I was tutoring about the concept of Aerobic Respiration in Upper Secondary Biology, having a mnemonic helped with connecting the dots at least on a surface level. It helps to group the different stages of aerobic respiration together based on the reactants, intermediate products formed as well as the stages.
If you feel that the mnemonic provided by ChatGPT is not memorable enough, you can always make one of your own.
What I liked about making mnemonics is that it can be used as a precursor to actively recall the finer details. For example, how NAD+ is re-oxidised for glycolysis reaction to occur, during which glucose is converted to pyruvate. This also links to anaerobic respiration for humans (lactic acid) and yeast fermentation(ethanol).
Concluding Remarks
All in all, mnemonics is only one of the many learning techniques (some others include (Drawing Analogies & Mindmaps) that we can utilise to enhance our learning. Mnemonics make it easier for us to cluster and recall important details together. I believe that it is a useful (not essential) supplement to our learning because mnemonics might not necessarily work for everyone. Personally, it did help me encode certain pieces of information that I can still remember up till today.
Upon reflecting, I realised that most of what I have shared are related to conceptual learning – more so for the sciences. Those who have tried similar methods and did not fare well with them, take my opinions with a pinch of salt 😛. For those who have yet to try this method, give it a go and see if it works for you!
Happy Reading~
Here are some other articles related to learning techniques:
5 Quick Tips to Use Mind Maps when learning science