I came across an interesting article today that talked about memorization verses actual learning. Recently in school from middle school to college I learned to memorize things just for a test and then I quickly forgot it after. So while I learned the material I was never really learning it to remember more so I was just memorizing it for the test. This isn't what learning is suppose to be about though. Learning is suppose to be able learning something and being able to recall later on to use.
An article I found discusses how cheat sheets are allowed now in many classrooms for students to write down formulas so they don't have to memorize all of that and focus on learning the bigger abstract concepts. You apply these memorized formulas to the concepts. The article stressed however that if a teacher is allowing a cheat sheet but not giving these abstract questions that take more than writing down a simple answer students aren't learning anything and are just copying the formula down and filling in the numbers. They are just memorizing how to solve the problem so they can plug numbers in if it math or write the facts down. So maybe cheat sheets aren't really serving their purpose?
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/when-memorization-gets-in-the-way-of-learning/279425/
I totally understand what you mean. I feel like most of the exams I've taken were just testing my memorization skills, not about the material we were studying. Once I was done taking an exam, for my brain, it was out with the old and in the new. I too forget what I had just memorized and begin absorbing the new information. I completely agree that these facts and equations we are forced to memorize briefly will not help us in the real world. We are not acquiring the necessary skills or knowledge that we need to help us in our future career goals.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that memorization is not useful for long term memory. However I think that cheat sets are not always the answer. Yes, students don't have to memorize formulas, but this also doesn't even have the students learn the formulas.
ReplyDeleteThere are some things that are just as good to learn as memorization. A formula should be memorized, but not an answer to that same formula with imputed numbers. Even then, learning why a formula is that way would be superior.
ReplyDeleteI think that if you use memorization correctly over time it works. For example, if as college students we actually reviewed our notes on a daily basis like we are supposed to, we would more likely remember the information for a longer period of time. But, no one actually does that. We study everything a few days before an exam then immediately forget what it is we memorized.
ReplyDelete