Is repetition the key to learning?

Question

The more you look it over the more you remember?

Answer 1

The key to learning is actually understanding the material and information you are given. Memorization will only last for so long.

Answer 2

No! You have to distinguish between "memorisation" and "learning". Repetition is the key to memorisation, not the key to learning. Remembering a fact is not the same as knowing how to apply it, or how to relate it to other things you know.

Learning is about understanding - it's about how you get new things you encounter to fit into your model of the world, which is always, continuously, being built in your head. The new things you learn are built on the foundations of your previous experiences, so that they "make sense". Educators call this "constructivism" - the idea that your understanding of the world is constructed, like a house, from the bottom up.

If you don't build new knowledge on top of what you already know, then all you've really done is memorised something. It has no relationship with any of your previous understanding, and thus, it is almost impossible to apply or use that knowledge.

Many educators also believe that a social context is vital for learning. Basically, you can build your understanding of something, but it's really important that you talk to other people about it as you build it, so that your idea of the world corresponds with the modesl of the world being built by other people, and doesn't go off on some wild tangent.

To some extent, this is true; but on the other hand, I've always thought that the *really big* ideas, that have changed the world, have happened because someone came along with a totally new way of looking at things, and didn't build their model on the say-so of anyone else. I personally think that independant thought is vital for revolutionary creativity such as this, but this is just my opinion. :)

Answer 3

Not for everyone...everyone needs to find a technique that works best for themselves.

There are several techniques to memorizing, or remembering information. Most will find that repetition works to some extent, but the important factor would be how a person retains the information he or she is repeditively exposed to...

For example, I have a daughter who can read something over and over again, but never remember it for any length of time...she may retain it long enough to take a test, and pass it with flying colors, but when finals come around, she's having to study it all over again. What she finds works best for her is repetition, but by reviewing the information over and over again in different ways each time. She may read it the first time, take Cornell notes the second, rewrite it in her own words the third and explain it orally to me the last time...she knows that if she follows this type of repetitive pattern, then she will know the information inside and out. She will understand not only the concept, but she's able to teach it to someone else if necessary.

Answer 4

Absolutely not! This teaching technique is, in my opinion, one of the reasons why students arrive at University and flounder. They never learned how to learn, they think memorization is learning.

The key to *learning* is understanding. Gaining understanding is managed by some students by repetition, sure, but other students understand by teaching others, by watching-helping-doing, by being told the why and how behind what they're learning, by categorizing and forming associations.

Even the idea of 'the more you look it over the more you remember' doesn't quite work. Ever hear those motivational-type speakers who promise you'll be able to memorize lists of 100 items by the end of their seminar? It's not through reading it over twentyfive times. It's by categorizing and associating.

Answer 5

It depends. There are several different learning styles. Some people can indeed learn just by looking at it over and over. Some, like me, have to write it. Others are visual and respond to graphs and pictures. Some, the lucky ones, can just sit in class and listen carefully and they retain the information. The key is to try different types of studying and figure out which one works for you.

Answer 6

It's one key. Another of the really good ones is to write things down in little short phrases. That locks them into long term memory with a key for getting them out again....... There's a lot of others. Another really good one is to remember that we can't just learn from books- it's about 10 times easier to be taught by a tutor...... There's loads more...... But, you've got a lot there. Now remember to jot a note down for each one or else there will be no key to bring them out of long term memory.

Answer 7

Yes, the exact key is 7, marketer's have discovered that we remember 7 of something, be it seeing the commercial seven times, or a number Phone number 7, it is no coincidence

Answer 8

Who stated it? It shows that stupids also study! in straightforward words repetition of oneself is an illustration of stupidity! Repetition of others is named a citation or expertise! they say, 'historic previous repeats itself'! If repetition is an illustration of stupidity, do you recommend to assert all Histories & Historians are stupid! No way!

Answer 9

No. Everyone has a different style of learning. I had good grades with the drill and kill method, but I do prefer hands on. I can not learn when someone simply lectures. One is unable to learn when one is asleep and lectures always make me snoozy...even my own!! :)

Answer 10

For me, yes that is the case. Also, making it situational, like a scenario or story (word problems are a good example)