Why Memorizing is NOT Learning

Ever since Google and the internet emerged, it’s created a huge paradigm shift in what is important to memorize. Sure, back when I was a kid in the ‘50s and ‘60s, you needed know who was president during WWII or who invented the telephone.  Memorizing facts was a sign of intelligence and gave you points for cultural literacy.  But today, do we really need to memorize trivial facts that we can look up on Google in 2 seconds?

Besides, memorizing facts does not mean that you’ve learned the concepts.  I’ve watched students memorize long lists of meaningless information and receive solid A’s on tests.  But when I questioned them about the underlying meaning or asked for their analysis of the material, they couldn’t respond. And worse yet, they couldn’t remember any of it a week later. UGH.

When I ask students how they plan to study for English or history tests, 99% tell me that they’ll reread the texts and review their notes. To them, that’s all they need to do, and they’ll insist that they need to do this the morning of the test or the night before. I’ve heard all kinds of reasons why they vehemently believe that this is the best way for them to prepare for the tests.

But when they report back to me with their test grades and they’re not particularly happy with them, they’ll blame it on the teacher for making the test difficult, for not giving them a study guide, or for covering topics that they didn’t cover in class.

The real problem, however, is that the student didn’t actually understand the concept and couldn’t apply what they had read or learned to answer the questions correctly.  In other words, the student was not prepared and didn’t know the material.  PERIOD. 

So how should students study so they know the concepts and get good grades?  They need to engage with the material.  Don’t just reread something or glance over notes.  By reading to understand the concept – to learn the new idea – well enough that they could teach someone else, they’ll be able to field a wide array of questions the teacher may pose as questions on the test. Yup! Engage in thinking.  Talk about it with others.  Apply it to other classes or in real-world circumstances. Make it their own!

And if they do need to memorize lots of information, they should make emotional connections with the words.  Use mnemonics to help remember.  If you went to Claremont McKenna College and you want to remember your college roommates’ children’s names (Courtney, Miles, and Connor), just think about their first initials are CMC, and this can help you retain trivial info like this for decades.

By wrapping new information with information that you already know, you can establish quick tricks that come naturally to you.  What’s surprising is that you’ll remember these facts quicker and retain them longer.

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