Jacob Wang Week 15: Mindless Memory
I was studying for a math test yesterday. What stood out to me was the obscene amount of memorization that was going into studying. Now that I think about it, a whole lot of what we learn in math class is memorizing how to do specific tasks rather than developing problem solving skills. After all, if we already know exactly what questions that we are getting tested on, that we are supposed to review, that the teacher shows in class, it incentivizes just memorizing things. If it's going to be the same task on the test just with different arbitrary numbers, why not memorize anyways?
And then we get students who immediately forget everything. Throughout my class this year, I often found myself in situations where I realized that yes, I have done this before, but I forgot the formula. Just like this article says, "our current education system frequently prioritizes short-term memorization over deep understanding." Teachers frequently give you a formula without explaining its origins or how to even come up with it then expect you to remember. For me, I find that my memory sticks far better when I take the effort beyond the class to understand rather than remember topics, and over the years those have been the ones that I recall most easily.
This doesn't only apply to one singular class. In physics, test questions are often just copies of what we have already covered just, once again, with the numbers replaced. So rather than testing for understanding, it just tests how well you are able to memorize. I have done physics olympiad stuff before and, apart from the difficulty difference, in my opinion the biggest difference in competition problems is their unique-ness rather than being typical "cookie-cutter" problems.
Hey Jacob! Your concern with memorization in math is something that I complain to my family about all the time. I personally believe that Calculus as a subject is purely a test of short term memory over actual application of knowledge, but the more that I have read into how the course is taught, it seems that it is actually just our curriculum that forces this type of learning. Often developing a deeper understanding of complex information like calculus or physics is tedious and requires hours of practice and training, something which is not promoted in the American education system due to the necessity of also focusing on extra curricular activities and academics being only a part of the experience. Your perspective on the value of competitive olympiads is something that I relate to personally, as I have also done olympiads in the past and have found that by truly putting in effort to learn a set of specific content, the skills you develop last much longer than just memorizing for monthly tests like we do in high school. I found your approach to developing this argument very engaging as it gave me the opportunity to learn from credible resources while also reflecting on my own perspectives and biases.
ReplyDeleteHey Jacob, I think as teenagers in highschool we can all relate to your story that teachers often prioritize short-term memories over long term applications to problems. What angers me the most though, is when teachers teach us surface level information, like a formula and its simple application, but when the test comes around we are served real world and complex applications of things that were never taught. These sorts of things hurt students on a deeper level as well as those who don’t do well feel as though they aren’t meant for the subject. Believing so, those students rarely ever pursue a deeper understanding of the subject because they feel discouraged. While I don’t believe it is entirely the teachers fault if they can’t capture the minds of all students or if the students don’t put in the effort, I do still believe that teachers have a duty to try and inspire their students to find love in the subject. That’s why I believe teachers should spend time reviewing and reteaching material to really drill concepts and applications into their student’s heads. Thank you for sharing your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Jacob! Your concern with how education, especially in math, prioritizes short-term memory and how they don't actually consider doing an application of knowledge and deep origin learning really connected with me. I always complain about how the education system in school, especially in physics, doesn't really apply to me and it obsession with short-term memory based problems seem useless in the face of why I am actually learning this subject. Like you, I feel that knowing the origin of the formula and how it will benefit me during the class is vital to actually learning the formula and actually applying to problems that aren't repetitive and that we don't just see that number being switched around. I really resonated with the fact that you said that it doesn't apply to just one singular class and I think it can actually be applied to all classes, but our education system just doesn't agree with it. Your blog was very engaging and allowed me to open about how I felt about short-term memory learning and I can't wait to hear more from you for the last few weeks of the school year.
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