Learning is more than memorizing
Learn your ABCs, learn the periodic table, learn when to say no. Which are memorization exercises and which represent learning? And does it make any difference how one acquires knowledge as long as one gets into the gray matter between the ears?
Apparently it does matter, according to Oakland high school teacher and tutor Ben Orlin, “Memorizing is a side road: It runs parallel to the best parts of learning, never crossing. It’s a detour around all the action, a way of knowing without learning, of responding without understanding”.
The meaning of ‘memorize’ is often and obviously defined as ‘to commit to memory’. The definition of ‘memory’ has been characterized as the power or process of reproducing or remembering what has been learned and retained, especially through associative mechanisms.
Simply put, learning fosters understanding, which can then be stored in one’s memory banks as a guide to future learning. Grasping the underlying meaning, purpose, and idea behind an experience, concept, or philosophy allows a person to explain the essence of something in their own words.
Memorizing presents ideas literally; learning provides educated interpretations. Memorizing does not create concepts; it simply stores them for future use. Learning extends what is, towards what could be.
As long as the facts pour into our brains, why does it matter? Facts are facts regardless of the input process, right? Not quite. Let’s assume for a moment that you have a fact, or a group of facts, that are important to completing a particular project, any project.
The facts in your mind have brought you to an unknown crossroads in your work, and your progress forward depends on the next decision or set of decisions you make. Without a ‘factual’ roadmap to guide you, something you have memorized, on what basis do you make a decision if you haven’t ‘learned’ how to create, plan or function in the absence of that roadmap? How do you access knowledge that has not been memorized?
Think of memorization as a cornerstone of thought and action. They provide raw material from which “learned” concepts can materialize. From these learned concepts, new theories, experiences and policies can be memorized for the evolution of thought. Call it the learning cycle; the process of understanding the facts in order to expand their meaning.
“Memorizing information is valuable, but only if you are able to make sense of the information and put it into a useful context. Isn’t it much better if we can attach something tangible to that information?” – Kenneth C. Davis, author of I Don’t Know Much About Geography: Everything You Need to Know About the World But Never Learned.
Of course, like most things, the discussion between memorizing and learning can be boiled down to a matter of perspective and usage. For students in the learning process, memorizing facts in order to pass tests can be helpful, even if those facts are forgotten shortly after class.
For those who are in the real world, it is necessary to understand the “why” and “how” of the facts to create new paths of knowledge and progress. Learning, in all its forms, must start from a solid foundation. Without the factual awareness that memorization can provide, learning would have no structural pillars on which to build the future. And so the cycle continues.