Technological developments such as iPads in the classroom, computers, internet, etc. seem to make it less relevant to require student to memorize basic facts. Should teachers be more focused on teaching concepts.
Yes, student need not remember tables above 10.They need not remember the values of some physical constants or precisely dates of history. Technology is there to get informed easily. But on the basis of facts conceptualization is made . Even many concepts are organically linked. Solutions of problems, in many cases, are made by applying relationships among concepts .Therefore, memorization of some fact, concepts and their relationships makes solutions of problems faster which is needed in several walks of life. This way memorization should be taken as asset making exercise.
r s sindhu
I still hope that children will learn to memorise their own names, phone numbers, addresses!
In any case, memorisation is an important technique for helping the memory to grow. Children learn by linking to already known, memorised facts. And it is so easy for them to memorise at a young age.
(I remember meeting a man from Bangladesh who memorised my phone number after we were introduced! No business cards needed!)
Thank you Ian. Some school teachers are focused on the education of 50 years ago and are unwilling to change. Some teachers seem to invest enormous amounts of time with facts and details that may change quickly. In today's transient world, some seem to focus on memorization instead of teaching concepts.
In quality assurance there are several things to consider in education such as understanding, practical, cognitive skills ...etc. People try to underestimate remembering as not a thinking skill. Do we need our children to memorize? how our children will do in a meeting with the headmaster to make a dialogue with him and for some reason they blocked to use their iPad?
I think memorization is still important. I have tutored students who do not know basic information because they heavily rely on technology. Technology should be a tool to use in learning, but not be the entire learning process. Education has been so focused on strong academic content and test scores that we have forgotten about social and emotional learning along with relating concepts to the real world.
Unfortunately, the schools are trying to cut memorization as learning process as much as possible. In my opinion, if something is not in the memory, it cannot be interpreted as knowledge (the definition of knowledge emphasizes that it is something that is known - and I believe, that knowing means having the information in the memory, understanding it, having it included in some system, and being able to use it).
Relying on internet and technology is not always the best way of learning. I will exaggerate, but these are some examples:
If I do not memorize how much is 5x6, how am I going to solve more difficult problems, equations and so on? (Am I going to look up on the internet how much is 5x6 and all the other simple calculations?)
If I have to write an essay in foreign language, am I going to look up almost all the words? (How will I be able to put them in a correct sentence?)
If I have no idea when and what was a classicism in music, how am going to understand the concept of neoclassicism?
If I do not have in memory symptomatology, how am I going to diagnose a patient? Should I look it up on the internet?
If I do not memorize basic formulas in physics, how am I going to be able to select which one to use in particular problem?
I could continue.... but this is not my goal. I just want to say, that memorization is underestimated, that I strongly believe that it has its place in learning process and in education. Not only it helps to keep the mental capacity on certain level, but it also gives the opportunity to select the right procedures in solving problems, and opens the space for THINKING.
In no way I want to say that memorization is the only right method of gaining knowledge... I strongly support and recommend other "alternative" ways of learning, and I find their application necessary in today’s world... but I find not "wise" to try to avoid memorization just because it is hard, not "fun" and "old school". After all, if a teacher is skillful and creative, he can find ways to make memorization fun and interesting for children.
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