Assists to Memory in the Science Classroom using

Marzano Strategies
Identifying Similarities and Differences 45
Dichotomous Definitions: students will have a
stronger concept of both definitions of physical and
chemical changes by comparing them.
Venn Diagrams: this is visual way to represent the
relationships between terms or concepts. Ex.
Characteristics of plants and animals

Summarizing and Notetaking 34

Twitter Summaries: in 140 characters students
need to summarize an article, paragraph, study or
video. To do this effectively students need to use
precise vocabulary.
SQ4R Reading Method: This is a reading strategy,
but after the reading strategy is in place you can
extend the same idea to writing- students will learn
organizational methods such as lists, headings and
sub-headings:
http://www.fastol.com/~renkwitz/sq4r_study_method
.htm It is important to model this several times
before expecting students to do it.

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition 29

Specific Praise: good work does little for student
self confidence. I really like how neat your
dissection line is with smooth edges is a statement
that will build a positive science self-concept. Be
sure to encourage a growth mindset by
encouraging the skills and efforts and not focusing
on the final product perfect dissection.
Student Experts: if you notice one student doing
something really exceptional on a performance
based task, have them teach the class or struggling
students. It is important that student experts are of
all abilities- even the students that struggle the most
will be good at something.
Increasing Value in Homework and Practice 28
Authentic Tasks: base challenges on something
the student is already interested in- for example,
have the student research the types of parasites that
might be found on THEIR pet instead of reading an
article.
Communicate the why and the how:
Sometimes brute repetition is the best way to learn
certain content- ex. Flashcards to learn terminologytell the students how to use the flashcards- go
through whole stack, sort into know and dont
know piles and then focus on the dont know pile
until it disappears and go through the complete
stack again. Tell them this technique is the most
time efficient for learning vocabulary and they will
be more receptive.

Using Non-linguistic Representations 27

Expanded Definitions: defining an ionic compound
in words is hard remember- if you increase the
number of ways the concept is communicated- by
using pictures or diagrams, the memory will be more
salient.
Flow Charts: anything that is sequential, try to
represent as a flow chart- this will cue the student to
remember the number of steps.

Incorporating Cooperative Learning Effectively 27

Learning Collectives: groups of 3 (one high
aptitude, average and struggling learner). The high
aptitude learner is the group leader and all members
are responsible for the group performance.
Mentoring: Have struggling students mentor
younger students- this will serve to reinforce the
basic concepts in your struggling students and build
their confidence.
Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback 23

Rubric Creation: have students create their own

rubric for a particular project-based task. Many of
the indicators of quality for one project will transfer
over to other projects and students will increase
their self-evaluation capabilities. www.rubistar.com
I can Statements: turn learning objectives into
an I Can checklist: I Can create balanced
chemical equations, I Can list the 5 types of
chemical reactions. It helps to include page
numbers where these concepts are located,
examples of the standard or reference to previous
test questions or links for further review.

Generating and Testing Hypotheses 23

Inquiry Learning: have students develop their own
questions and approach to investigation.
Study Critiques: get the students to read the title
of an article, make their own hypothesis and
generate an approach to testing.
Utilizing Questions, Cues and Advance Organizers 22
Teaching Directional Vocabulary: Words such as
compare, conversely, consequentially, sequentially,
graphically, contrast, linearly elude some students
teach this vocabulary upfront and students will be
able to do better on exams and assignments.
SMART Reading: A good strategy for teaching
science problem solving is to have the students read
the problem, put a box around the variable they are
trying to find, underline any other given information,
identify the variables (ex. 68kg is mass), select the
correct formula, substitute their values, calculate

and answer the question). Modeling this every

single time as the teacher is really important.
Concept Mapping: for units that are vocabulary
heavy have students create digital concept maps to
show the relationships between terms- doing them
digitally helps students revise their tentative
understandings.

*note the number behind each strategy indicates the percentile gain when this method was employed vs. direct instruction