1/0 Psychology

Assignment I

Rationale:

The purpose of this training program is to teach students two separate mnemonic devices that will increase their ability to remember a list of items. This training program is important because students often need to remember lists of information for their classes. The outcome sought is that students will be able to better remember the material presented and learn the material more efficiently, reducing study time.

Gap:

Most students can remember between five and nine units of information. The goal of this program is to have all students be able to remember a random list of ten units of information after the training process is complete.

Objective:

A brief overview of the training is students will be given one minute to study a list of ten random items. A memory test will be given to determine how many items can be recalled. It is the goal of this program to have all the students be able to remember the complete list without any errors. Criteria for evaluation in the learning environment will consist of two parts. The first part will be a three-month follow up self-report questionnaire. It will ask participants how often they use the material taught during the training pro-ram, if it has been effective in aiding them in memorizing material, and has it reduced their study time. The second part of the evaluation will be a comparison between a pre-traiiiino test and a three-month follow up post-training test.

Methods:

The method of training, will be in a lecture format with the use of an overhead projector or chalkboard. A memory test will be given in the beginning. The participants will be asked to remember a list of ten random items. They will be given one minute to study the list. The actual training will be subdivided into three sections. The first section will teach the nursery rhyme mnemonic device, the second section will teach the familiar walk mnemonic device and the third section will address troubleshooting and variations. The nursery rhyme mnemonic device is patterned after the rhyme one two buckle my shoe. It is the pairing of a number with an image that one can visualize (e.g. one-bun, two-shoe, three-tree, etc). Everybodv in the training session will make personal visual pictures that rhyme with the numbers one through ten. After this task is completed, the trainer will then write out a list of ten items. The trainer will instruct the class on how to combine the pictures into an absurd picture. For example, if a golf club and giraffe were the first and second items the shaft of a golf club could pictured as made out of a hot dog bun, and the giraffe could be wearing tennis shoes. Once the students practice with this method, the second mnemonic device will be explained. In this method, the student is asked to visualize a familiar walk. This could be a walk home or to a frequent building on their campus. Once they have a walk visualized, they will then be asked to remember ten different points or landmarks. In much the same procedure as the first, a list will be presented and they will be shown how to pair specific points on their walk with specific items on the list. They will then be given several different lists until they become familiar with this method. The final section of the training, program will consist of any problems or concerns that arose during the training seminar. It is during this time that some ideas on how to handle concepts that are not easily visualized will be addressed (e.g. freedom, inflation). A final test will be administered. The participants will be able to use either of the techniques that they learned in the training session. The test will be the same format as the initial test, it will only vary in the items on the list.

Evaluation:

The construct measured is the memory of a ten-item list. Three separate measurements will be taken, one before the intervention, the next immediately following the intervention, and the third will be a three-month follow-up test and a questionnaire. All the participants will receive the treatment. The effectiveness of the program will based on the change from the initial test, to the two follow up tests. The validities that will be assessed will be training validity, and performance validity. Training validity will be demonstrated by a comparison between the initial test and the first post-training test. If the intervention is effective than there should be a significant change between the two tests. Performance validity will be more difficult to measure. It will be measured by a comparison of the initial test and the second post-training test, the personal responses given in the questionnaire, (e.g. have you been using the techniques), and also a comparison of grade point averages before the intervention and three months afterward. All three of these factors will used to determine performance validity. Once the training has been completed, trainees will be expected to transfer the material learned in the workshop to their actual courses. Some problems may arise however when the students attempt to transfer the information learned. Some of these problems may be the material given is more abstract or theoretical, thus making information in this format more difficult to fit into one of the two memory models taught. Another proposed problem that might arise is the amount of information that needs memorized might exceed ten units of information. Strategies to handle situations such as these will be given consideration during the training program, but they will not be the focus of the program.