USING MNEMONIC STRATEGIES TO TEACH INFORMATION ABOUT US PRESIDENTS - A CLASSROOM-BASED INVESTIGATION

Over a six-week period, students with learning disabilities in an inne rcity middle school were taught the chronological orders of 32 U.S. pr esidents. For three weeks, they were taught using a modified mnemonic keyword-pegword strategy. For the next three weeks, they were taught u sing rehearsal and representational pictures. Two weeks subsequent to the six-week instructional period, students were given a delayed postt est in which they were asked to provide the numerical order of the pre sident, given a president name; and the president's name, given the nu merical order. Results revealed a significant main effect for instruct ional condition and a significant condition-by-response interaction, s uggesting that information was processed differently, depending on ins tructional condition. Implications for classroom instruction are provi ded.