Memorization

Memorization AKA rote learning or rote memorization has been an evil phrase in education for over a decade.  The paradigm has shifted from memorization to thinking or problem solving in all subjects in BC; this has been motivated by Bloom's Taxonomy where a student moves from simple thinking to higher levels of thinking.  Rote memorization is memorizing through repetition; this is the basic level of thinking in Bloom's.  It's unfortunate that some people (like the BC government) have unilaterally removed memorization without any kind of analysis.  Some believe that the Internet is available, so memorization is not important.  However, if we don't know certain facts exist, we can't possibly know what to search for.  The brain is actually capable of memorizing a lot, some would argue that there is no limit.

If we want to maximize memorization then we would do it formally by taking advantage of the Spacing Effect which was mentioned in a previous post.  This is refreshing the memory at recommended increasingly set intervals.  Bloom's taxonomy states the knowledge (knowing the facts) is the first level of thinking.  The second level is comprehension (understanding the facts).  I would argue, as some people have, that you can't get to the second level if you miss the first level.

I do agree that not all things need to be memorized.  For instance, if we wanted to discuss the possibility of World War 3 occurring, it is not important to memorize the dates of World War 1 and 2.  But it would be necessary to learn why World War 1 and 2 started and ended.  If we wanted to discuss Romeo and Juliet, we don't need to memorize every word in the novel, but we would take notes of the major characters and events.

Many kids learn to read before entering school by having parents read to them at home.  They are taking advantage of the Spacing Effect by making reading a daily habit.  They probably read the same favourite books over and over again, this is repetition at constant intervals rather than increasing.  They are learning the sound and spelling of words (facts).  In order to have a discussion about the story, the child has to memorize the plot of the story.  So memorization is happening, Bloom's level 1.

Now, how can we have an understanding level (Bloom's 2) discussion in an art class if we didn't know about shapes and colours?  We would end up talking in circles trying to come up with definitions that already exist and wasting an awful lot of time.

Similarly, in a music class, do we tell the children to go to the box with strings which could mean piano or guitar.  Go to the cylinder with holes which could be flute or clarinet.  No, we would show them what a guitar and flute are; we are giving them definitions.  Do we tell them to make this sound with the device.  No, we would explain the music staff, how to read the notes, then play a particular note.

So what kind of analysis can be done to determine what needs to be memorized in the curriculum?  From an economics point of view, we can attempt to do a cost benefit analysis.  This means we measure how much effort is needed to memorize something (the cost) vs how much usage we get from the memory in the future (the benefit).

I remember in grade 3 (over 50 years ago) that my friends asked me who my teacher was; I said Mrs. Hodgson.  They all went "ooooooo" and said she was a hard teacher.  Every week, we would learn 10 words for a spelling test.  During the spelling test, she would say the word in a sentence so that we knew the context.  Every week, we would learn a new row of the multiplication table.  I concluded that Mrs. Hodgson was one of the better teachers I had in elementary school.  I can't remember the words that we learned to spell (it would be amazing if I did!), but I gained an appreciation of using and spelling words correctly from then on.  And of course, I use the multiplication table every day.  That means the benefit vs cost of memorizing spelling and the multiplication table is a huge number and growing every year that I keep living!  If it takes 10 repetitions to memorize something and that something is used 1000 times, the benefit cost ratio is 1000/10=100.  I wouldn't be surprised if the benefit cost ratio of the multiplication table for me is over 100,000!

In the BC Curriculum Guide for math from K to 6, memorizing the multiplication table or addition and subtraction of single digits are not in the curriculum.  There are strategies for adding and subtracting, and treating multiplication as repeated addition but that's not the same thing as memorization.  There are many concepts taught from grade 8 and up in math that require quick mental calculations so that they can try to learn higher level concepts such as prime factorization and factorizing a polynomial.  If we can't do the mental calculations, we will overload our working memory and not be able to grasp the higher level concept as easily or at all.  Unfortunately I witnessed students struggling in grade 12 math because they never learned mental math well and YES I offered them help to improve their mental math.

Using another analogue, let's look at reading a sentence:  A geometric series is the sum of the terms of a geometric sequence.  Let's say we didn't know certain words and had to look up the definitions: sum, term and geometric sequence.  This will require temporarily memorizing 4 sentences just to understand 1 and it will probably be hard to make a picture of the concept.  Let's look at another sentence that is longer:  This breed of working dog is medium to large size, and has medium to long tan and black hair, and has ears that are large and erect, and was originally developed to herd sheep.  Because you know all the words, it will not tax your working memory and you should be able to picture this breed of dog, a German Shepherd.

I don't teach English, so I don't know exactly how to interpret the BC Curriculum Guide for English.  Most of it talks about creating stories and structures but doesn't specifically address learning words and spelling.  The closest directive I found is:  Communicate using sentences and most conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  Because of lack of specificity, I had some students unable to differentiate:  there, their and they're; or to, too and two.  Writing stories with a limited vocabulary is not teaching students to think at a high level in Bloom's Taxonomy.  Another teacher told me that a student submitted a resume with "hear is my resume."

It's egregious to have an education system that graduates students that don't look intelligent enough.  Education tends to swing with the latest trends without fully evaluating the effects.  It's not hard to do a cost benefit analysis; we see that we are limiting learning at the higher grades by cutting out spelling, vocabulary, and math tables from the earlier grades.  Teachers can only go so far to limit the changes that government wants; so parents need to question and evaluate their child's progress and ask for changes from the government if the progress doesn't meet expectations.  Right now, it might be parents that have to teach their kids the multiplication table, spelling and vocabulary so that their kids have a more complete education.  Sadly, THAT concludes this post!