by Melvin Palmer

Created on: December 02, 2009

Picture two children performing a difficult addition problem. One has memorized the addition facts; the other uses fingers or a chart to calculate the answers. The first individual is finished quickly. The second goes from fingers to the problem.

The brain can handle a finite number of activities at once. Using a finger or a chart to find answers tie the brain up with activities that could be memorized. The chart/finger method disables the brain from other cognitive activities

When facts are memorized the student is able to accomplish more. In the example above the student who has memorized the facts will be able to accomplish more with math problems. Building on this experience the student develops an awareness of math that is at a higher level. A way of imaging this concept is what I call 'building a snow man'. You start out with a tiny ball of snow and as you roll it, it grows. The larger it gets the more snow it picks up. That first small snowball is memorizing facts.

Memory helps higher thinking processes because it promotes speed. Speed is important not only because more is accomplished in a shorter time, but also the information is received in larger chunks. This means that a reader is able to visualize the story easier. The math student is able to visualize larger solutions to math problems.

The recognition of patterns and forms in math leads to a higher level of thinking. With enough practice students begin to see that answers don't look right. They self correct. Unfortunately for the student that is using fingers, mundane activity may be a life sentence.

Take the above math example and extrapolate it to other areas. Reading is a skill that depends on phonemic awareness. The memorization of sounds represented by symbols facilitates reading. Again the knowledge of those sounds eventually frees up the student to read faster, read more and understand more. The brain becomes free to think about what it is reading because it is so familiar with the foundation of decoding.

The problem with memory is that it is an attribute. Like any other attribute some of us have a photographic memory and others have to practice to master facts. In a classroom there are varying degrees of this attribute, memory. Some students will take thousands of successful answers to learn one fact, others will need only a few hundred. It isn't easy for teachers but all students can memorize facts.

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