Page 50 - The Creative Training Idea Book Inspired Tips and Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning

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Brain-Based Learning 39
U.S. Military service number for personnel prior to the Viet Nam era _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (seven
or eight numbers)
License plate numbers (up to seven numbers or letters, often with a space between some
of them)
Postal zip codes in the United States _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ (nine numbers chunked into two
groups)
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
The Seven Deadly Sins
The Brady Bunch television family (mom, dad, and six children)
The characters of Gilligan’s Island on television (seven people—Gilligan, Skipper, Pro-
fessor, Mr. & Mrs. Howell, Ginger, and Mary Ann)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Seven Wonders of the World

Acronyms

By turning key points of a presentation into an acronym using only the first letter of
each word or phrase, you can help ensure that your participants get and retain them.
This technique was likely used to help you learn much of the information you were
exposed to in school. Whenever possible, use familiar acronyms to help participants
remember complex terms, titles, or elements in your sessions. The following are examples
of well known acronyms:

NATO: North American Treaty Organization
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
USA: United States of America

NFL: National Football League

Acrostics are formed by taking the first letter of the words in a series and creating
another familiar word with them. For example, HOMES—The Great Lakes (Heron, On-
tario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior). You can use this technique to create words from
lists of steps, phases, or elements in a process or system.
Rhymes

Developing phrases or words that sound similar or organizing into a little song-like
process can also help retention of information. For example, in order to remember
which way to turn your clock when daylight savings time begins and ends, you may have
learned, “Spring forward; Fall back.” To remember how many days are in each month—
”Thirty days hath September, April, June and November, all others have thirty one, except
February with twenty-eight, and twenty-nine in leap year.”