I was working with a group of students recently who wanted to know some learning techniques, so I asked them to bring me a lesson they thought was particularly tough. One student from Class 9 took out his biology textbook and showed me a lesson on the kidneys. What he showed me was this daunting page with detailed diagrams, and large numbers of long words.
Kidneys, Nephron tubules, Malpighian tubules, renal tubules, collection tubules, bowman’s capsules, Glamerlous tubes, Henle’s loop, and so on.I looked at the magnitude of it all, took a deep breath, summoned my creativity, and launched into a session of “association”.
OK, Nephron. What does it sound like? How about nephew? So now we have to think than the Kidney has a nephew. There are three things under him. A pig wearing a mala (flower necklace)–malpighian. “What does ‘Renal’ remind you of?” One student said, “A person named ‘Rena’.” OK, so imagine Rena riding on the back of the pig. Now everyone was cracking up. And what is she doing? Collecting test tubes–thousands of them. Now back to that pig. Imagine a bowman is trying to shoot the pig, not with an arrow, but with medicine capsules (Bowman’s Capsule). “What do I do with glamerlous?” One student answered, “It sounds like glamour.” Very good! So the pig runs into the middle of a Glamour Fashion Show and everyone starts screaming. (Glamerlous Tubes). Henle’s loop? Easy: A hen riding a rollercoaster and doing a loop….and laying an egg…Hen lay loop.
At this point all the kids were laughing like anything. I asked them how they felt. Tired? No way, they were all energized.
It’s important to remember to keep associations clear, funny, crazy, and exaggerated, otherwise you won’t remember them. It’s also important to remember that this is only a learning technique. You still need to undertand the content. I know of examples where kids have written the associated words on tests. Well, although it might better than writing nothing, you still don’t get points for by doing so!!
