Memorizing medical word part amygdal-

Using association and mnemonic memory techniques we can remember educational information faster and more efficiently without using rote memorization.

As an aside before we memorize amygdal-. While the Internet is rife with educational articles about teaching students critical thinking vs. memorization I ask anyone interested in this controversy to consider this question. Why not try to do both? From the numerous articles I've read we've got nothing to lose by using mnemonics in education. It only takes instructors willing to create memory techniques and "risk" sharing them with their students.

blue emboldened words are common or academic terms that can be used for association purposes because they share a word part with a medical term. [I could find no common terms with the word part amygdal- in them.]

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

orange emboldened words are terms from other fields of study that some people may find interesting.

[amygdal- from L. amygdala, almond means "almond, or amygdala, various almond shaped structures in the brain and lymphatic system called tonsils". [amygdalin, lit. almond compound, amygdaline, lit. relating to an almond or tonsil, Amygdalus, Bot. almond tree]

Memory Story: Star Wars' Princess Amadala (amygdala) with her hair and clothing coated with jewels shaped like almonds, has been rushed into your emergency room with almond shaped jewel lodged in her throat's tonsils.

Memorizing Electron Configuration subshells

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d10 5p6 6s2 4f14 5d10 6p6 7s2 5f14 6d10 7p6

Using Mnemonic's Phonetic System (which is posted below) we're going to memorize this alphanumeric series using what mnemonics calls a Link, which is a series of visual images creatively Linked together.

We're fortunate with this series because "s" is always followed by a 2, "p" is always followed by a 6, "d" is always followed by a 10 and "f" is always followed by a 14. So we have s2, p6, d10, f14. [If you've read my first Memory Story about the Periodic Table you'll remember this as being "Sunny Peach Dates Father" or the favorite dessert of the men at Men Don't Leave Prison.]

Because the numbers are always the same following s, p, d, f, we can eliminate the last numbers. What we want to memorize is: 1s 2s 2p 3s 3p 4s 3d 4p 5s 4d 5p 6s 4f 5d 6p 7s 5f 6d 7p.

Now we convert using the Phonetic System: 1s (toes), 2s (nose), 2p (knapsack), 3s (mouse), 3p (mop), 4s (rose), 3d (mud), 4p (rope), 5s (lasso), 4d (road), 5p (lip), 6s (cheese), 4f (roof), 5d (lead), 6p (jeep), 7s (gas), 5f (leaf), 6d (shed), 7p (cop).

Memory Links need to be bizarre creations in order to make them as visually memorable as possible. This can sometimes make them a bit nightmarish like the one that follows. First we need to start with a base to start our Link from so you're in Chemistry Class surrounded by shells of electrons. Suddenly your toes burst out of your shoes and on top of your toes is this ugly nose that keeps getting bigger and bigger. The nose grows to at least six feet tall and inside of one nostril is a knap (sack). Curious you yank the knap (sack) out and this huge mouse covered with, well you know, comes out with it. The mouse runs over to the corner and grabs a mop and makes threatening motions towards you when the mop mysteriously turns into a rose. You approach him but undaunted the mouse rubs your face in the rose which turns out to be filled with mud. You grab a rope, that just so happens to be lying there, and rub the mud off your face with it. You turn the rope into a lasso and go outside and being in a Tall Tales mood lasso the road outside of your Chemistry class. You decide you're going to ride the road when it turns into one giant long black asphalt lip the moment you get on. The lip begins to spit up a flood of cheese until you're drowning in cheese but you manage to make it to a roof. On the roof a rain of lead pellets begins to fall until the torrent magically turns into a lead jeep. You get in the jeep but it won't start so you go back and fill it up with gas from a gas can. When you hit the gas you fly off the roof onto a giant leaf that breaks your fall but you can't stop and go flying into a shed. Unfortunately there's a cop there to give you a ticket.

 

 

Mnemonic's Phonetic System

• One is the phonetic sounds "t or d". Made memorable by t or d only having one foot.
  
• Two is the phonetic sound "n". Made memorable by n having two feet.
  
• Three is the phonetic sound "m". Made memorable by m having three feet.
  
• Four is the phonetic sound "r". Made memorable by four's phonetic "r".
  
• Five is the phonetic sound "l". Made memorable by holding up your outstretched left hand and the L being created with the thumb and forefinger.
  
• Six is the phonetic sounds "sh, ch, soft j or soft g". Made memorable by J and G "kind of" looking like a six.
  
• Seven is the phonetic sounds "k, hard g, or hard c". Made memorable by two sevens being used to create a printed K.
  
• Eight is the phonetic sounds "f or v". Made memorable because a handwritten "f" looks like an eight.
  
• Nine is the phonetic sounds "p or b". Made memorable because p or b look like a nine.
  
• Zero is the phonetic sounds "z or s". Made memorable because zero starts with the letter z.
  

Remembering medical terms ampulla/amphoric

Struggling Student's Memory Guide helps students use association and memory techniques to recall educational information quickly by eliminating as much rote memorization as we can.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used for association purposes because they use the same word part as a medical term.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Medical terms and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amphoric from Gr. amphora, a jar with two handles, from amphi-, both sides + -phor-, to carry, medically means "a sound from the lungs that sounds like someone blowing into an amphora".

ampulla from L. ampulla, a narrow necked globular bottle with a round bottom and two handles for carrying wine, perfume, or ointments, from the diminutive of amphora, a jar with two handles, means "a dilated section of a tube or vessel that resembles an ampule". [ampule, Med. a small sealed bottle containing drugs, ampullula, lit. a diminutive ampulla]

Memory Story: You're helping with a dive in the Mediterranean Sea after finding a sunken ancient Greek trading vessel loaded with ampullae and amphorae that held olive oil and perfumes. The diver's air hose has formed an ampulla and he is yelling for you to pull him up. "I am pulling! " (ampulla) you yell as another ampulla begins to form in the air hose in your hands.

Remembering medical word part amnio-

Struggling Student's Memory Guide uses association and mnemonic memory techniques in an effort to help students keep from using rote memorization.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used for association purposes because they share the same word part as a medical term. [I could find no common terms to associate to medical word part amnio- to.]

reddish brown words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for the figurative meanings.

amnio- from Gr. amnion, the bowl for catching the blood of sacrificial victims, from amnus, lamb + -ion, diminutive, means "amnion, the inner fetal membrane that encloses the embryo of reptiles, birds, and mammals". [amniocentesis, lit. puncturing the amnion, amniogenesis, lit. amnion production, Amniota, lit. amnion (animal group)]

Memory Story: You're having a Matrix nightmare and are struggling to get out of your amniotic sack because you dream you're drowning in amniotic fluid. You awaken spitting fluid out of your mouth and cry, "I am Neo!" (amnio-) only to discover your water bed has burst open again. Duct tape has it limits you know.

Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

Remembering word medical part amelo-

Struggling Student's Memory Guide uses association and mnemonic techniques to help students recall information quickly and retain it longer without using rote memorization.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used for association purposes because they share the same word part with other medical terms listed.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word part from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amelo- from Early English amel, means "enamel". [enamel, ameloblast, lit. enameled germ cell, amelogenesis, lit. production of enamel, odontoameloblastosarcoma, lit. tooth enamel germ cell flesh tumor]

The obvious association to enamel made a memory story or mnemonic unnecessary.

Remembering medical term amelioration/meliorate

Just imagine an instructor giving you something to learn (that you can actually use for the rest of your life) and then saying, "Here's a couple of ways to help you remember it. First of all here's something I found you can associate to that and second, here's a little memory technique I created and use that helps me remember it. And oh yea, if you create something better or discover something else to associate to let's share it with the rest of the students. Wouldn't that be more helpful than, "Remember this, it will be on the test."

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be associated to medical terms that share the same word part.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amelioration from L. ad-, to + melior, to make better, medically means "improvement". [ameliorate, to make better; to improve, meliorate]

Memory Story: [Using meliorate.] You ask your satisfied looking friend, who was ravenous when he sat down at your dinner table, "That meal you ate (meliorate) improve things or make you feel better?"

Memorizing ambly-, a medical word part

Just imagine an instructor giving you something to learn (that you can actually use for the rest of your life) and then saying, "Here's a couple of ways that will help you remember it. First of all you can associate this to that and here's a little memory technique I created and use that may help you too. And oh yea, if you create or find something better let's share it with the rest of the students."

This is a way to quit using rote memorization in the classroom but it takes instructors to do it because students don't have the time to find associations and to create and improve mnemonic devices over the years.




blue emboldened words are common or college level terms that can be used for association purposes. [I could find no common terms that contain the word part ambly-.]





reddish brown words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.





Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.
All the medical word parts in this entry are in HSMT for MT.




ambly- from Gr. amblys, dull, means "dull, blunt, dim, or faint". [amblyaphia, lit. dull touch condition, Amblyomma, lit. dull eye, amblyopia, lit. dull eye condition]





Memory Story: [You're a guy.] I am blind (ambly-) in this faint light, you think, as you slowly amble (ambly-, nr.) into the dull and blunt armrest of your movie theater seat, spilling your popcorn and drink all over your date. Warning: An acronym addendum to this story could be: No BFD (blunt, faint, dim, dull) because she left before you got back.

Memorizing -amble-, -ambul- medical/common word part

One of Struggling Student's Memory Guide goals is to use association and mnemonics to remember the hundreds of medical word parts used to create over ninety percent of medical terms.

blue emboldened words are common or college level terms that can be used for association purposes when they share the same word parts as a medical term.

reddish brown words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

-amble-, -ambul- from L. ambulare, to walk, means "walk, move, go". [ambulance, orig. a moving field hospital for following troop movement, perambulate, lit. to walk through, fig. to walk through or over in order to inspect, preamble, lit. walk or go before, fig. a preface or introduction, somnambulant, sleep walking, ambulatory, lit. nature of walking]

Memory Story: You're watching a fleet of ambulances (-ambul-, rel.) out for a nice walk around the park during a slow time.

Memorizing word parts ambi-, ambo-, and amphi-

Memorize the meanings of a little over a thousand medical word parts and a high school student would have the fundamental building blocks of a medical vocabulary. Using association and mnemonic techniques like acronyms and memory stories I think this medical term memory challenge could be accomplished by any self-motivated student in about six months.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used for associating between words we know and medical terms that contain the same word part.

reddish brown words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word parts and memory stories from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

[Besides today's word parts this book includes all the other medical word parts in the medical terms below and most of the common word parts.]

ambi- ambo- from L. ambo, both, means "both, around, on all or both sides". [ambidexterous, lit. right hands on both sides, fig. using both hands with equal skill, ambiguous, lit. driving both, fig. capable of being understood in two or more senses, ambitious, lit. to go around, fig. to go around soliciting for help or votes, ambient, lit. that which is around, ambilateral, lit. relating to both sides, ambiversion, lit. to turn both (directions) amboceptor, lit. that which takes both]

amph-, amphi-, ampho- from Gr. ampho, two sided, means "both sides, surrounding, double". [amphibious, lit. the characteristic of having a double life, fig. an animal or plant living in both water and on land, amphitheater, lit./fig. a surrounding theater, amphiaster, lit. double star, amphichromatic, lit. the nature of double color, amphicrania, lit. both sides of the head condition, Amphioxus, lit. both sides or surrounding sharp, amphithymia, lit. double mind condition, amphiphil, lit. double loving or fondness]

Memory Story: Warning, could be offensive to some people: You're a bar patron and have had way too much to drink because you're beginning to see double and triple. You slur to the hallucination of yourself on the right, "I am buying (ambi-) us both a round". Your hallucination of yourself on the rights says, "I am fine", (amphi-) and your hallucination of yourself on the left says, "I am fine (amphi-) too."

Memorizing amaurosis medical term meaning

Struggling Student's Memory Guide shows students ways association and mnemonics can be applied to educational challenges instead of relying on rote memorization.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be use for association purposes. [I could find no common terms that can be associated to amaurosis.]

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meaning.

Medical term and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amaurosis from Gr. amauros, darkness, obscure, means "blindness without change to the eye itself".

Memory Story: Any Frenchman can tell you amor is (amaurosis) blind but it doesn't affect the eyes - just the brain, the heart, the stomach and a variety of other parts.

Memorizing the Periodic Table – Part One, General Information

To remember information about the Periodic Table we have to be able to recall symbols, numbers, and alphanumeric combinations. (In other words what is considered very difficult memory challenges for anyone who doesn't know Mnemonic's Phonetic System.) So before tackling the Periodic Table here please take a few days to become familiar with the Phonetic System and then come back. [Let me assure you, you will never regret the little bit of effort it takes to learn the Phonetic System, especially if you want to remember information for Chemistry, Mathematics, and any other subject that requires remembering numbers.

Since the Periodic Table is a very big subject, we're going to tackle it numerous ways using Memory Stories first, then later on more memory stories for the elements by group, and then in a few more days we'll use the Peg System to memorize all the elements by their atomic number. Today we're only going after some general information about the Periodic Table without even mentioning any of the elements by name.

Today, in part one; we'll memorize the following things about the periodic table.

(1) The design or shape of the periodic table, e.g. where the alkali metals, alkali earths, transition elements, halogens, and noble gas elements are.

(2) S2, P6, D10, F14 - the four blocks and the number of groups in each block.

(3) The electron configurations for S block group 1 alkali metals S1, S block group 2 alkali earths

S2, P block group 17 Halogen elements S2P5 and for P block group 18 Noble gas elements S2P6.

(4) The word ending for Halogen elements is always –ine.

(5) And some other miscellaneous information that may be helpful to remember.

 

A Periodic Table Memory Story

You are Father Mendeleev and run the Men Don't Leave Prison. There are four cell blocks at Men Don't Leave with S block on the left, P block on the right, D block tucked down and in the middle between S and P blocks and last but not least F block which is separated and below the other blocks. (Visualize the blocks while looking at the Periodic Table.) Each block has groups or gangs in them with some very peculiar habits and characteristics but they all love to watch TV (18 groups in the periodic table). The way to remember how many gangs there are in each block is using the phrase, Sunny (S2) Peach (P6) Dates (D10) Father (F14). This is extremely important because Sunny Peach Dates are the inmates' favorite dessert and they plead "Sunny Peach Dates Father for dessert?" when you walk through the cell blocks because they love this fruity dessert so much.

Now don't get the wrong idea that it's all fun and games here because there are some real bad gangs in Men Don't Leave Prison with some very strange habits. In S block there's the Suit Gang (S1 electron configuration) who are all into metal and go around in their metal suits saying "I'll kill ya". (alkali metals) Then there's the Sun Gang (S2 electron configuration) who are also into metal so they wear this Samurai-like metal sun helmet and not to be outdone by the Suit Gang they yell "I'll kill the Earth". (alkali earth) Believe me, they would if they could. The Sun Gang read books in the prison library on how to create miniature suns (atomic theory and fusion) on the earth's surface all the time.

Next to S block is D block and all these gangs are in transition. They've been trying to give up Metal in a ten step program but to no avail so every time you have the cell blocks searched it's the same old metal story but as you go from left to right through the cellblock they seem to be trying to give up metal but none of them are cured.

P block is another story because most of the gangs have given up Metal altogether. Just not all of them. Metal is a very hard habit to break here at Men Don't Leave Prison. One group or gang that has given up metal completely is the Halo Gents (halogens). No, they don't wear halos but grin broadly and yell "Halo!" just before…Well let me explain. This is P block group 17 and the Halos play a repulsive game called Pee Tag (P17) and just before they "tag" you they yell out "Halo!" Because they have to feed this repulsive habit the Halo Gents do their best to retain liquids so they're really into salt and eat saltines (-ine being the word ending for halogens amongst a number of other meanings my blog page will cover eventually.) and drink Snapple™ (S2P5 electron configuration) by the truckload. Needless to say the Halo Gents can smell pretty bad, even to the point you could die being around some of them because the gas is so bad.

Another gang in P block is the Nobles. The Nobles are a bit snooty and only watch Pay TV (P18) and tend the Sunny Peach (S2P6 electron configuration) orchard. They're so stuck up they will have nothing to do with any of the gang members. I think it's because they don't want to get their Noble outfits dirty.

Finally there's F block where they're also into metal but striving for inner transitional peace. (Inner transition) The gangs in F block listen to Rare Earth (rare earth elements) albums but the guys on the top of F block tend the beautiful lantana (Lanthanoid, not related) plants up on the roof (4f) of their side and the guys on the bottom practice acting (Actinoid, not related) out life (5f) experiences.

 

 

 

Memorizing word part amar-

Using association and mnemonic long-term memory techniques makes it possible to keep away from rote memorization, the much maligned short-term memory technique. The way an instructor can tell whether their students use long-term or short-term memory techniques is in how fast they answer questions. Long-term memory recall requires us to do a mental search through our memory before answering while information in short-term memory is repeated verbatim, very quickly, and without thought.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be use for association purposes.
(Unfortunately I couldn't find any common terms for this word part.)

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms which should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amar- from L. amarus, bitter, means "a bitter plant substance". [amaroid, lit. bitterlike, amarine, lit. bitter like substance, amarum, lit. bitter]

Memory Story: [Using amarine.] You're a marine (amarine, not related) during WWII who has been captured by the Japanese. What they don't know is you have knowledge of plant poisons and during your walk through the jungle to your workstation you've collected enough specimens to take out a regiment. Unfortunately the extracts are very bitter and your stumped for a vehicle until you stumble across a case of rum. (amarum)

Memorizing amalgam and -malac- medical term and word part

Struggling Student's Memory Guide shows students and instructors ways to use association and mnemonics instead of rote memorization for educational challenges.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used to make associations to medical and scientific terminology that share the same word part.

reddish brown words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for the figurative meanings.

orange emboldened words are obscure terms from other fields of study that may be of interest or of some associative value.

Medical word part and memory stories from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amalgam from Gr. malagma, emollient from malassein, soften, means "an alloy of a metal with mercury". [amalgamate, fig. to join two or more corporations or societies together into a whole, malagama, lit. poultice or emollient, malacia]

-malac-, malaco-, -malax-, -malacia from Gr. malakos, soft, means "softness or a morbid softening of a body part or tissue". [malacia, lit. softness condition, malacoplakia, lit. soft plaque condition, malacotomy, lit. soft (area) incision, malagma, a poultice, malaxation, lit. softening, ophthalmomalacia, lit. eye softness, tephromalacia, lit. gray matter softness, malachite, a green mineral related more to the mallow plant from which we get the word marshmallow, malacology, Zoo. mollusk science, mauve, a pale grayish violet color]

Memory Story: You lose a filling when you're in remote Egypt during an archeology dig. The pain is so bad you go to the local dentist/barber/gun maker. Not wanting to get mercury poisoning you ask him how he softens the metal and he proudly shows you a wad of what he calls camel gum, (amalgam) a metal mass softened by a chewing camel.

Memory Story: That malachite (malaco-, rel.) orb you paid over a thousand dollars for is turning soft because it is made out of wax.

Memorizing alveolo-, alveolus, alveus medical terms

Two of the ways to eliminate using rote memorization in education is to turn to association and mnemonic memory techniques. While this has been talked about in the past it hasn't worked because finding associations and creating mnemonics takes too much time, at least for students. I think the key is for instructors who teach the same subject year after year to do the finding of associations and creating of mnemonics and then share them with their students just like we do in Stuggling Student's Memory Guide.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for the figurative meanings.

orange emboldened words are terms from other subject that may be of interest to some people.

Medical terms and memory stories from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

alveolo-, alveolus from L. alveolus, the diminutive alveus, a tray, trough, or cavity, means "alveolus, a small cavity or pit, e.g. air cell of the lungs, tooth socket, acinus of racemose gland, the cell or compartments of a honeycomb, or a pit in the wall of the stomach from a gland opening. [alveoloclasia, lit. alveolus breaking, alveolodental, lit. relating to the alveoli and teeth, alveolate, pitted like a honeycomb, alveary, a beehive]

alveus from L. alveus, a river channel or trough of the sea, means, "a tray, trough, or cavity". [alveus hippocampi, lit. trough of the seahorse or trough of the horse sea monster]

Memory story: alveolo-, alveolus [You're telling a tall tale about your friend Al and his viola.] Al's viola (alveolo-) fell overboard (Some say it was tossed.) last year and Al received a strange phone call from a fisherman who recovered it after he found Al's engraved nameplate with his phone number still on it. When the "familiar" looking fisherman returned Al's viola it was covered with grooves and pits from seaworms, barnacle encrustations that looked like honeycomb, and seaweed bladders.

Memory Story: alveus Funny? That fisherman in alveolo- looked a very old Elvis (alveus, not related). He took off on what looked like Neptune's monster seahorse or hippocampi, went down the river channel and disappeared in a trough of the sea.

Memorizing medical term alopecia

Struggling Student's Memory Guide goal is to use long-term memory associations and other memory techniques to show students and instructors ways to eliminate rote memorization, a short-term memory technique. The main focus in these blogs is on the word parts used to create medical terminology but there are other subjects like the Bill of Rights, The Preamble, Bloom's Taxonomy, Architectural Order, (so far) and this week we're going to start on the Periodic Table.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

orange emboldened words are from different subjects that may be of interest to some people.

Medical term and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

alopecia from Gr. alope, a fox, means "a disease like fox mange or baldness". [Alopecurus, Bot. foxtails (grass)]

Memory Story: You're Ali Pash (alopecia) and your hair is falling out like you have fox mange. That's too bad because now your six hundred wives won't have anything to do with you baldy, (almost bald that is).

Memorizing allant-, allanto- medical word parts

The goal of Struggling Student's Memory Guide is to develop and use ways to memorize information without using rote memorization, the much maligned short-term memory technique we all detest. If we use long-term memory techniques like association and mnemonics it can make the memorization process expedient, reliable, interesting, and much more entertaining then just repeating something over and over again in hopes it will sink in.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms we can use for association purposes. [I could find no common or college terms that could be associated to allant- and allanto-.]

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

allant-, allanto- from Gr. allas, sausage, means "sausage, sausage shaped, or having to do with the sausage shaped allantois membrane". [allantiasis, lit. sausage condition, allantois, lit. looks like a sausage, allantoidangiopagus, lit. fastened twins at the allantois vessel]

Memory Story: You're looking at the CT (computerized tomography) scan of a lawn toy (allantois) that has penetrated the allantois of a pregnant woman's fetus. You thought they took those lawn darts off the market. Or. WARNING: It's you're first day in pediatrics and you're doing your first sonogram. You see what looks like a long toe (allanto-). It must be a boy with a hell of a..... Oh wait. Maybe it's a huge allantois or maybe the lady had sausages for lunch. Oh hell. You never could make heads or tails out of sonograms.

Memorizing word parts -all-, -allo-, -allel-, allotrio-

Over ninety percent of medical terms are created from both Greek and Latin word parts. Memorizing the little over a thousand medical word parts used as building blocks would be a formidable and pretty boring task using rote memorization alone. Using association between words we already know and memory techniques however can make this task go faster, more efficiently, and sometimes we even have some fun with the word part meanings here at Struggling Student's Memory Guide.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms we already know that our memory can associate to medical terms we don't know.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Medical word parts and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

-all-, -allo- from Gr. allos, other, means "other, another, different". [alias, L. allius, other fig. an assumed name, alien, L. alienus, another, fig. foreign, strange, not natural, allegory, lit. different in the agora or marketplace, orig. to speak in metaphor in a Greek or Roman marketplace to avoid eavesdroppers and spies, now, a story using characters symbolic of something else; an extended metaphor, allesthesia, lit. other sensation condition, alloarthroplasty, lit. different (material) joint surgical formation, allomorphism, lit. different form state, alloploid, lit. different fold resemblance]

-allel-, -allelo- from Gr. allelon, means "a relationship to one another, reciprocally, mutually". [parallel, lit. alongside of one another relationship, allele, lit. reciprocally, allelomorph, lit. reciprocally shaped or formed, allelocatalysis, lit. reciprocally capable of dissolving completely, allelotaxis, lit. reciprocally arranging, pseudoallelism, lit. false relationship to one another condition]

allotrio- from Gr. allotrios, means "strange, foreign". [allotriodontia, lit. strange (place) tooth condition, allotriogeustia, lit. foreign taste condition, allotriophagy, lit. foreign (things) eating condition, allotriosmia, lit. foreign smelling condition]

Memory Story: (for -all-, -allo-) You make telemarketers believe you're a foreigner and can't speak English by answering the phone "allo" (-allo-) loudly and then repeating it every time they ask a question.

Memory Story: (for -allel-) Warning: (Violent) You're a Hatfield and your betrothed is a McCoy. You're standing at the front of your families who are all standing in two lines parallel (allel-, related) to one another as you exchange the recipe (reciprocally) of your family's famous moonshine for their famous opossum stew; a condition of the marriage. Something is said, all hell (-allel-) breaks loose, and you've been mutually and reciprocally killing each other ever since. (It's time to elope.)

Memory Story: (for allotrio-) You're Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas and fall down a hollow tree (allotrio-) to a strange and foreign place called Christmas town.

Memorizing Bloom's Taxonomy

Using association and memory techniques to quickly remember educational information is the goal of Struggling Student's Memory Guide. Hopefully we can alleviate the use of rote memorization in school with enough instructors looking for or creating long-term memory associations like the one below.

For two examples on how to use visual associations and mnemonics to memorize Bloom's Taxonomy, first we're going to use an acronym in a memory story and then we're going to use a memory story without an acronym which comes close to being a Link technique. Starting from the base of the pyramid and going up the key words are: Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation.

Unfortunately (and as usual in mnemonics) there are no acronyms that fit our needs perfectly so we're going to get a bit creative. The only word I came up with for an acronym was a misspelling of the word koalas to a KUAlAS Evaluation. [Kuala Lumpur didn't work that well either.]

Memory Story: Your
knowledge of Bloomers (Bloom) is second to none so as an
underwear (understanding) specialist you've been asked to investigate the
application of KUAlAS appliques and
analyze (analysis) why they keep falling off the
synthetic (synthesis) bloomers your company manufactures and give the company your
evaluation.
Unfortunately your company has been using tacks (taxonomy) to apply the kualas appliques and when your customers pick the tacks off the KUAlAS fall off too.

Now let's do the memory story that's also like a Link. For those unfamiliar with the Link memory technique it's making visual connections or associations between things we wouldn't normally make which can make the Link rather bizarre. That's good though because the stranger and more visual the Links are the more memorable they are.

Warning: This Link is in red because it may offend some people.
You look out in the garden and there's blooms (Bloom's Taxonomy) everywhere. Running around is a gnome (knowledge) in his underwear (understanding). You toss an apple (application) at him and he bends over, points at his anal (analysis) region, and makes a repulsive sound like a rock band's synthesizer (synthesis) that knocks you to the ground. Your friend Eve (evaluation) comes over and picks you up off the ground.

Medical word part alex-, alexi-

Using association and mnemonic memory techniques we can quit depending completely upon rote memorization in school. The Struggling Student's Memory Guide shows students and teachers some of the more interesting and entertaining ways I think this can be done using very short memory stories.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used for word association purposes.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word part and memory story taken from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

alex-, alexi- from Gr. alexo, means "to ward off, to guard against". [Alexander, lit. a defender of men, alexin, lit. ward off substance, alexipharmac, lit. to guard against drugs]

Memory Story: You're one of Alexander the Great's bodyguards. Or. You're guarding supermodel Alexis. Cool.