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Rote learning is a memorization technique based on
repetition Repetition may refer to: *Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words * Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...
. The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, associative learning, spaced repetition and active learning.


Versus critical thinking

Rote learning is widely used in the mastery of foundational
knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is disti ...
. Examples of school topics where rote learning is frequently used include phonics in reading, the
periodic table The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the (chemical) elements, is a rows and columns arrangement of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of ...
in chemistry, multiplication tables in mathematics,
anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
in
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...
, cases or statutes in law, basic formulae in any
science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
, etc. By definition, rote learning eschews comprehension, so by itself it is an ineffective tool in mastering any complex subject at an advanced level. For instance, one illustration of rote learning can be observed in preparing quickly for exams, a technique which may be colloquially referred to as " cramming". Rote learning is sometimes disparaged with the derogative terms '' parrot fashion'', '' regurgitation'', ''cramming'', or ''mugging'' because one who engages in rote learning may give the wrong impression of having understood what they have written or said. It is strongly discouraged by many new curriculum standards. For example, science and mathematics standards in the United States specifically emphasize the importance of deep understanding over the mere recall of facts, which is seen to be less important. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics stated:
More than ever, mathematics must include the mastery of concepts instead of mere memorization and the following of procedures. More than ever, school mathematics must include an understanding of how to use technology to arrive meaningfully at solutions to problems instead of endless attention to increasingly outdated computational tedium.
However, advocates of traditional education have criticized the new American standards as slighting learning basic facts and
elementary arithmetic The operators in elementary arithmetic are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The operators can be applied on both real numbers and imaginary numbers. Each kind of number is represented on a number line designated to the ty ...
, and replacing content with process-based skills. In math and science, rote methods are often used, for example to memorize formulas. There is greater understanding if students commit a formula to memory through exercises that use the formula rather than through rote repetition of the formula. Newer standards often recommend that students derive formulas themselves to achieve the best understanding. Nothing is faster than rote learning if a formula must be learned quickly for an imminent test and rote methods can be helpful for committing an understood fact to memory. However, students who learn with understanding are able to transfer their knowledge to tasks requiring problem-solving with greater success than those who learn only by rote.... On the other side, those who disagree with the inquiry-based philosophy maintain that students must first develop computational skills before they can understand concepts of mathematics. These people would argue that time is better spent practicing skills rather than in investigations inventing alternatives, or justifying more than one correct answer or method. In this view, estimating answers is insufficient and, in fact, is considered to be dependent on strong foundational skills. Learning abstract concepts of mathematics is perceived to depend on a solid base of knowledge of the tools of the subject. Thus, these people believe that rote learning is an important part of the learning process.


In computer science

Rote learning is also used to describe a simple learning pattern used in
machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...
, although it does not involve repetition, unlike the usual meaning of rote learning. The machine is programmed to keep a history of calculations and compare new input against its history of inputs and outputs, retrieving the stored output if present. This pattern requires that the machine can be modeled as a
pure function In computer programming, a pure function is a function that has the following properties: # the function return values are identical for identical arguments (no variation with local static variables, non-local variables, mutable reference arg ...
— always producing same output for same input — and can be formally described as follows: :f(\ x_1 , x_2 , . . ., x_n) → (\ y_1 , y_2 , . . ., y_p) → store ((\ x_1 , x_2 , . . ., x_n),(\ y_1 , y_2, . . . , y_p)) Rote learning was used by Samuel's Checkers on an IBM 701, a milestone in the use of
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, moveme ...
.


Learning methods for school

The flashcard, outline, and mnemonic device are traditional tools for memorizing course material and are examples of rote learning.Schunk, Dale H. (2008). ''Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective'', Prentice Hall, .


See also

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References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rote Learning Academic pressure in East Asian culture Education reform Learning methods Memory Pedagogy