Mimal & Wiktm and mnemonics

Don St Martin & Reginald LaCoste
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Mr Mimal and Mr Wiktm ("Well, I know the math," said one of my students) are not real fellows. They are imaginary people. We call them mnemonics.

Mnemonics are memory aids. They help students learn, especially when it comes to memorization. Mimal helps people remember the states that border the Miss R on the west side. Wiktm is his podna on the east.

In class students used a US map handout to denote the 10 Miss valley states.

Pupils colored them in the practice of tactile learning - using the sense of touch.

Then the class added 5 of the tributaries ("contribute") of the Miss.
- the Ohio, Tenn, Missouri, Ark and Red rivers.

How is that network of rivers like an early form of the internet? That's a question for brief response on the next quiz.

How is a Philadelphia cab driver connected to a dock worker in New Orleans?
There's an answer that relates to our map.


Finally, I call our sketch-based learning the Einstein approach. That's because Einstein used visualization throughout his entire life, says slideshare.net.

At the age of 16 Einstein used visualization when he discovered that the speed of light was always constant. Einstein believed that visual understanding was the most important form of education and more important than knowledge. Later in life Einstein would write: “ I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination circles the world.”