With all the world's facts just a web search away, is memorization an outdated educational practice? Can we run the world on skill acquisition instead of knowledge?

TL;DR: No.

Here's our argument for memorization as a core part of education):

The value of rote memorization

Having knowledge immediately at the tip of your tongue has tremendous social and professional value.

At a recent networking event, I casually asked a Nigerian entrepreneur how much of his business was conducted in English versus his native Yoruba. He immediately became more engaged in our conversation. The simple fact that I knew that Yoruba was spoken in Nigeria seemed increase my social credibility, and therefore our rapport.

The same goes for professional settings. Imagine you're a pharmaceutical salesperson talking to a doctor about a specific digestion drug. The doctor asks if it has any effect on the process of peristalsis. It won't look great if you have to pull out a medical dictionary before answering. Those facts need to be ingrained in your brain for immediate access.

It's true that we don't have to remember everything. You can be a perfectly good coder without remembering every single Python command, you can speak French fluently without remembering every word, and you can even be a pretty good lawyer without remembering every legal case in the history of the world.

rote memorization, code on a screen
You don't have to memorize every command to be a good coder, but you do have to memorize a lot of them.

But each of those jobs does require you to remember some things. You can't code effectively without remembering most commands, you can't speak French fluently if you have to look up every word, and to be a competent lawyer, you really do need to remember a lot of law.

Memorizing every fact isn't essential, but memorizing at least some facts is. Imagine how effective a school teacher would be if they couldn't remember their students' names?

Educators just need to determine what rote knowledge retention is necessary and focus their students' memorizations efforts on facts with payoff.

Rote memorization vs. constructivist learning

Some educational situations need more personalized learning beyond rote memorization. Most constructivist educators argue that real-life simulations, on-the-job training, and project-based learning are more effective at learning new concepts than rote memorization.

These forms of education can be very effective. However, no single cost-effective constructivist activity will guarantee that your students (or you) will be exposed to all the concepts you need—or that you will fully remember the facts that you are exposed to. For example:

  • Medical residency can teach you a lot about the body, but can't reliably teach full, comprehensive anatomy.
  • Articling can teach law students a ton about how being a lawyer works, but isn't designed to teach them all the law.
  • Working at a vineyard can teach about how wines are grown and made, but can't reliably teach all the concepts needed to become a sommelier.
wine glasses on a barrel, rote memorization
Sommeliers need a very stable memorization base to hold onto key facts after four wines.

How to do rote memorization effectively

Like it or not, memorizing facts is essential.

Luckily for you, we're obsessed with the research around learning and memory. Here's what you need to do if you actually want to acquire a full range of knowledge about a given topic.

  • Study deliberately. Deliberate practice is still the best way to master something—including information.
  • Use active recall. This means that rather than doing matching, multiple choice, or re-reading exercises, you should instead perform learning activities where you need to actively reach into your memory to find the information. This can include flashcards or testing yourself.
  • Use spaced repetition. You need to space the learning out, but not space it out so far that you forget it.

Brainscape's web and mobile flashcard app is designed using these principles. It's the most effective app out there to quickly learn—and remember—large amounts of information. It offers a personalized learning experience that optimizes student performance. You or your students can use Brainscape to remember the facts, leaving you free to do more collaborative and constructivist activities in class.

Learn more about how you can use Brainscape as a learning tool with your students. And check out our huge guide on how you can double the learning effectiveness of your students.

References

Oxford Learning. (2017, March 23). Rote Learning vs. Meaningful Learning. https://www.oxfordlearning.com/difference-rote-learning-meaningful-learning/

Simply Psychology. (2024, February 1). Constructivism Learning Theory & Philosophy of Education. https://www.simplypsychology.org/constructivism.html#:~:text=Constructivism%20is%20'an%20approach%20to,256).

UNC-Chapel Hill Learning Center. (2024, February 19). Memorization Strategies – Learning Center. Learning Center. https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/enhancing-your-memory/

Xu, J., Wu, A., Filip, C., Patel, Z., Bernstein, S. R., Tanveer, R., Syed, H., & Kotroczo, T. (2024). Active recall strategies associated with academic achievement in young adults: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 354, 191–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2024.03.010