LINCS Strategy

LINCS is a mnemonic strategy for learning new and/or complicated vocabulary.  LINCS stands for the following:

• List the parts (both the word and its definition)
• Indicate a reminding word
• Note a linking story
• Create a linking picture
• Self-test

For anyone familiar with the use of interactive note-taking in the classroom, many elements of this strategy will seem similar.  Students are encouraged to make connections between the word they are learning and their own prior knowledge (a reminding word).  They are expected to create a story connecting the new learning to that prior knowledge.  The illustration of the story is a powerful visual tool for most students.

The first video listed explains how to use the LINCS strategy, but it is geared to older students and adults.  The second video walks the viewer through the actual steps of creating a LINCS vocabulary card, and it is this step that I think is so essential for this strategy to be used successfully with younger students.

LINCS Strategy #1


LINCS Strategy #2 - Creating a Vocabulary Card