Mnemonic Devices for Elementary Age Students

This project was aimed to address the issue of students not keeping their hands to themselves, particularly first grade through fourth grade students. After conducting a brief interview with the site supervisor at John R Williams Elementary, we decided that one of the most pressing issues was that of students physically touching or disturbing one another, which leads to conflict. To address this, we devised several mnemonic devices to encourage students to keep their hands to themselves. We devised a slogan (Hands in place- Jaguar space!) along with acronyms (P.A.W.S, H.A.N.D.S) and put those mnemonic devices on posters which were then put up in the multipurpose room, which is the central location that students spend most of their time in during the after school program. Students would pass by these posters every day while going in and out of the multipurpose room. It is difficult for us to measure exact data of inter-student conflict, but through direct observation and discourse with after school program employees, we noticed a slight decline in overall conflict since we had begun serving. With that said, there may also be other variables that can contribute to this end, for example a student's growing comfort with an authority figure, or development of inter-student friendship over the course of the year. We conclude that mnemonic devices can be effective tools for decreasing student conflict, particularly for younger elementary aged students.