Daniel Davis Week 14: How and How Not to Utilize Memory in Education
Memories or the abundance of them are often viewed and discussed in a positive light, but should this always be the case?
An article by Varthana has supported my belief that, in relation to education, there are certain practices that may improve a student’s capacity to memorize or the amount of memories that they hold, yet act as an overall hindrance to their educational experience.
The article covers two main types of learning: route learning and conceptual learning.
Route learning is most commonly used to aid young children in learning “foundational informal.” This includes basic mathematic, grammar, and communication skills. While there are likely ways to improve how route learning is currently taught to the youth, the application of route learning in a student’s formative years is not where I believe this practice is misplaced or most poorly utilized.
Route learning becomes dangerous when it is applied to subjects and information that are not foundational or will not be built on following the completion of a topic. This issue is most prevalent in the curriculums of Language Arts and Social Studies courses. Memorization of specific details when these details do not contribute to or allow students to make overarching connections can be detrimental to their learning as route learning can be repetitive and may lead to situations where “it’s easy to become distracted.”
Here is a simple example in relation to two 8th grade history classes: one teacher/curriculum might “encourage” students to memorize the dates and details of every battle and piece of legislation leading up to and continuing into the American Revolution (as this is what they might put an emphasis on or test on), while another teacher might encourage their students to analyze the patterns present in the same battles and legislation by placing an emphasis on these patterns and testing student understanding of said patterns—implying the importance of understanding overarching ideas over specific details.
The second example is what the Varthana team would call “conceptual learning.”
Conceptual learning is the application of information students “already know about a subject or concept” (as in the second example, the specific details would still be covered; only the emphasis is changing). The results of conceptual learning or thinking—memorization of “the larger picture”—are what needs to be emphasized as education transfers into higher learning (High School, College, and possibly Middle School. This emphasis works to better prepare the youth to contribute to society as well as prevent those discouraged by the repetition of route learning from fully dismissing the value of educational memorization as meaningless.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI thought the subject of your blog was very interesting. It made me think deeper about how we apply generalizations to things often without thinking much more about them, even when it comes to memorization. When it comes to education, memorization seems like a very valuable skill. However, it is important to value understanding a concept as well as memorizing topics. In the short term, memorization may help in a test, but long term memory requires that we truly understand that concept for it to stick with us. For that reason, I find the Collegeboard AP Bio tests interesting in that they test mostly applications rather than memorizing specific facts. Although there are some things to remember, the priority is definitely on being able to apply it to real life situations. Additionally, when it comes to rote memorization, it is important to remember the right things. There are only so many things we can remember, so it is important to decide what is worth memorizing and what can be learned or remembered through other, maybe more thorough, methods.
Hi Daniel! I really enjoyed reading your blog post about memory utilization in education. The distinction between route learning and conceptual learning you highlighted raises many important points about effective educational strategies. Firstly, I really liked your critique of route learning when applied in the wrong way, especially in subjects like Language Arts and Social Studies, where understanding broader themes and patterns might be more beneficial than memorizing just the single facts. Your example of how different approaches to teaching the American Revolution can impact student engagement and understanding was really helpful towards illustrating your point. However, while route learning has its limitations, I think it is important to recognize that foundational knowledge, often learned through some degree of memorization, can significantly help conceptual learning. For instance, a solid understanding of key historical dates and events can provide students with an idea to better understand the connections made throughout history. Moreover, I think the concept of "conceptual learning" that you advocate for correctly emphasizes the importance of application of knowledge. Learning how educators can effectively balance these two types of teaching could be extremely beneficial. Combining technology and teamwork could be one way to balance learning, make it both informative and fun to do. I also think your call to emphasize the "larger picture" in education as a preparation for higher learning and later in life is likely something that I would call for as well, as I think school should prepare students for real life.
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