Rote memory

While this was not memorization in the sense of being able to correctly reproduce the equations from memory, it was memorization in the sense of rote or non-meaningfiil learning (24), because the students did not really understand the physical significance to the equations. 

Minimize the amount of material you memorize. Limit memorization to the basic facts and principles from which you can reason the solutions of the problems. Know this smallish amount of factual material really well then concentrate on how to use it in a logical, effective way. Too many students try to undertake chemistry with only a rote-memory approach it can be fatal. 

Principle 9 We have at least two ways of organizing memory—spatial memory and rote learning. When information is merely memorized, without being rooted in experience, the information is soon forgotten. CTL encourages students to seek connections between information and experience. 

This notion of construction is important and has several far-reaching implications. An individual does not commit a schema to memory in the same way that he or she may memorize a formula or definition. One difference is that the latter may easily be done by rote with little or no understanding of what the memorized piece means. The schema demands understanding. A second difference is that such rote memorization frequently engenders isolated bits of knowledge that are unconnected to any other knowledge and that can only be accessed in memory by a direct probe. A third is that no construction is required of the individual who memorizes a formula. One does not memorize just one or two symbols and then construct the rest of the formula at a later time. The entire formula is learned as a fixed and relatively rigid unit. 

Schema assessment places a different demand on the student. The call to a schema is not a rote process. To be sure, students must access their schema knowledge in long-term memory, and to some extent the access itself is a look-up procedure, but the students must do something with the knowledge that is retrieved. Each schema instantiation will be slightly different, depending upon the student s prior knowledge and the details of the situation that are perceived. All or only a part of the schema knowledge may be activated, varying in accordance with the circumstances of the test situation. Other schemas may be needed, and the student must determine which ones are useful and which are not. From the stored schema knowledge, the student constructs his or her response to a well-formed item of schema assessment.

Examination In this Eklavaya Experience the examination is not based on rote memory or recall etc. Independent observation, data collection, data analysis and drawing conclusions have been given due weightage. It also seeks to test the extent of a pupil s readiness to innovate through physical experimentation. 

Simple experimental procedure that leads to memorization by repetition or rote learning as the evaluation was mainly memory-based... 

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