How Mammoth Memory can boost brain power among GCSE students
Mammoth Memory, the GCSE revision aid website, has been launched recently to help boost brain power among teens. Here, illustrator Kate Ulloa-James explains why students are able to remember more effectively when they can picture their subject… What is Mammoth Memory and how does it help GCSE students? Can you give an example? Mammoth Memory is a completely free education website that specialises in helping students memorise key points for their GCSE exams. Our fabulously fun images and mnemonic stimulus help the brain embed information for those visual learners who sometimes stumble when faced with traditional methods of revision. Here is one of our favourite examples: Think of the periodic table. All of those elements and their often seemingly unrelated one or two-letter abbreviations. Can you bring to mind the chemical symbol for tin or iron? Perhaps not yet, but check out our mnemonics and you’ll never forget them again. Every time you see a tin, just think of that slimy snail crawling out and the association between tin and snail (Sn) will be locked in your mind for evermore. Equally, just look at those hairy feet doing the ironing. Creating that memorable link between iron and feet will help solidify that Fe is the chemical symbol for iron! How did the concept come about, where did Mammoth Memory begin? Leading educationalists recommend that “students should be taught how to remember as well as what to remember”. With this in mind, Mammoth Memory was founded two and a half years ago, but the idea had been alive long before! Dean Hammond, our Director, came up with this concept decades ago after having struggled himself as a student when it came to memorising information for exams. He came across some diverse memory techniques that changed his life and ever since, he has made it his Mammoth Mission to pass this methodology onto others! Is Mammoth Memory used in lessons or as a revision tool? The website has been designed so that it can be used for both independent learning as well as in a classroom with a teacher. We have had many teachers excited about using this with their students to help them with some of the trickier content in their curriculum. What subjects does Mammoth Memory cover? Are you planning to add more? We are currently focusing on building our content for Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Maths and English. History and Religious Studies will follow swiftly after, as our small team works hard to build up our content. We see this as an ongoing project that keeps expanding with more subjects in the future so who knows where it may take us! What is the cost to the school and pupils? Do students need to pay to subscribe? There is absolutely no cost. This website is completely free and accessible to anyone and everyone, which is very important to us! See Mammoth Memory’s website here.