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Q: Value of knowing facts ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   7 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Value of knowing facts
Category: Reference, Education and News > Teaching and Research
Asked by: alwayscurious-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 02 Mar 2003 12:22 PST
Expires: 01 Apr 2003 12:22 PST
Question ID: 169630
I need some references that argue for the benefits of knowing facts
(the more scholarly, the better). Medical students need to memorize
thousands of terms, definitions, etc. Law students need to memorize
countless court decisions and rules of law. Constructivists (ie.
opponents of this position) would argue that learning facts in
isolation is pointless--it is "only" inert knowledge.

My background thoughts: It seems to me that factual knowledge is a
prerequisite for higher order problem solving. So why not just admit
that learning facts is useful and figure out the most efficient way to
do it?

Thanks in advance.

PS I tip for good service.  = )
Answer  
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
Answered By: easterangel-ga on 02 Mar 2003 20:14 PST
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hi! Thanks for the interesting question.

I have found the following resources, which argue regarding the
benefits of knowing and memorizing facts in the learning process. I
will provide small snippets from the articles I will cite but I highly
recommend that you read them in their entirety to get a more
comprehensive understanding.

Our first few links pertain to memorization as an important foundation
in a child’s learning.

“In fact, children need to be saturated in what is in order to proceed
on to the higher levels of thinking skills. It is the necessary first
step. We would not expect a baby to begin talking in complete
sentences when he hadn’t spent some time on the first step of
individual words. We would not expect someone to go on to professional
athletics that had not spent some time on the first step of practice
and drill.”

“Committing the facts they are learning to memory has important
advantages. When something has been memorized, it is owned. It becomes
theirs. It can be recalled at will, whenever the need for that
information arises. Even most modern educationalists see the value of
memorization with math facts (although that is changing).”

“Overview of the Grammar Stage”
Christine Miller
http://www.classicalhomeschooling.org/grammar/overview.html 

“’In some schools, with some kids that may be a good thing,’ he adds.
When students don't have a solid grounding in a certain amount of
factual information, he says, it's hard to engage in other methods
such as teaching through discussion.”

“Rather than inhibiting more creative learning, Mr. Beck argues,
memorization frees students to do different kinds of work with more
speed and enjoyment. ‘A student of creative writing shouldn't have to
sit there and struggle over the spelling of the word 'beautiful' until
he loses his train of thought,’ says Beck. Memorization, he insists,
leads to greater "fluency" in academic tasks.”

“By rhyme or reason? The debate over memorization”
http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/2000/04/04/p21s1.htm 

The method of rote memorization has been heavily criticized the past
decades or so but it clearly has is benefits as well.

“The value lies in concentration. While writing the same thing fails,
of itself, to integrate data, it does cause one's mind to focus on the
particular matter for one cannot write with a pen or pencil and
daydream at the same time. Each entry in the task is slightly
different than the former and a mistake requires a rewrite ... and ...
the work was actually checked for authenticity (spot checked). Though
I tried to automate the process,”

“Another effect of rote memorization is the freeing up of mental CPU
cycles to do other tasks. If I know some equations, say the
trigonometric functions, from rote memory, I needn't spend time
thinking about that aspect of a given mathematical problem. If the
context is known from memory, one can focus on the relevant
particulars at hand.”

“On the Value of Rote Memorization”
http://www.ebtx.com/math/rotemem.htm 

The Twin Data Stream theory meanwhile fully approves of stock
knowledge as an aide to learning.

“Multiplication tables, for example, if known by heart will endow the
entire mind with an additional data processing dimension that can
never be duplicated by consulting calculators or looking up tables. By
memorizing poetry, a human being does not so much get to 'know' the
works of a particular poet but in due degree actually becomes that
poet. The memorizer's own mind will henceforth be fused with the mind
of the poet and the latter will provide continual illumination, and
enhanced powers of verbalization, throughout life.”

“The Twin-Data-Stream Theory thus endorses the validity of the
classical, pre-modern view of the mind as being, at birth, virtually a
'tabula rasa'. The human mind needs to be stocked with knowledge in
order to become 'knowledgeable'. However, the new theory differs from
the conventional 'tabula rasa' belief in that it states that the mind
is not only capable of being stocked but that the knowledge with which
it is stocked will actually become a constituent of the individual
human being.”

“How the Brain Tells 'the Story of Me'”
By Paul Ableman
http://www.ahiddenplace.co.uk/twindatastream/chapter10.htm 

An example of the importance of readily knowing the facts in memory
intensive subjects such as history is discussed in our next article.

“One of these higher benefits may be described as that of training the
critical faculty, through the effort to test the evidence for and
against particular historical facts, or what are alleged to be such.
Perhaps the very hardest thing to get at in this world is the truth,
the very truth, especially the very truth concerning the past
transactions of the human race. From this point of view, it is plain
that the study of history is something more than the passive reading
of certain finished and fascinating books, like Livy, for instance, or
Gibbon, or Thiers, or Macaulay, or Prescott, or Parkman; it is indeed,
the resolute and attentive application of the whole mind to an immense
and complicated subject, -- a process which cannot be carried on very
long without our running up against questions of disputed fact.”

“The Educational Value of the Study of History”
Moses Coit Tyler
http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/tyler.htm 

I have found this interesting article on the value of retaining memory
of certain facts in the field of anatomy and applying it in the study
of exercise physiology.

“It is entirely untrue that the power invested in memorization is
meaningless or a waste of time.  To remember facts of diverse
dimensions, a person must have an excellent memory.  All students (and
their professors for that matter) memorize bits and pieces of
different subject matter everyday.  Remembering origins, insertions,
and functions are as important as remembering physiological
calculations to understand oxygen consumption or mean arterial
pressure.  Is there any more sense of importance in remembering the
solution to a cardiac output calculation versus remembering the origin
of the pectoralis major.  What about recalling the insertion of the
muscle or the role it plays in inward rotation?  If a person should
know the right information about each question, what is the role of
recall?  In short, being able to recall the “lateral lip of the
bicipital groove and the fact that the pectoralis major assists in
inward rotation bears directly on one’s ability to remember the
information."

“Anatomy: The Forgotten Piece of the Beginning”
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP, EPC
http://www.css.edu/users/tboone2/asep/ANATOMYandExercisePhysiologists.html

Search terms used:             
Memorization value facts 
        
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
            
Thanks for visiting us.            
            
Regards,            
Easterangel-ga            
Google Answers Researcher

Request for Answer Clarification by alwayscurious-ga on 04 Mar 2003 14:49 PST
Thank you for your efforts to answer this question. A few of the
articles you found had some interesting perspectives. Only one,
however, I would consider to be from a scholarly source--"Anatomy: The
Forgotten Piece of the Beginning".

I am willing to close out this question, pay you the $10 fee, and give
you a 4 stars out of 5.

If you would like a $5.00 tip and 5 out of 5, I would request at least
three more references from more scholarly sources.

I hope that seems fair to you.

Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 04 Mar 2003 15:52 PST
Hi again alwayscurious-ga! Thanks for asking a clarification before
making a rating.

Your offer is indeed fair and practical under the circumstances.
Thanks for the kindness.

Before posting my answers above, I tried hard to find as much sources
specially academic on the isue you raised in your question.

Upon viewing your clarification request, I tried to find further
information using different strategies. It's a pity and I apologze
since I wasn't able to locate another one that would satisfy your
requirements. I would have love to have the 5 stars and the tip.

I did however (although not the types you require) found some more
articles regarding the benefits of memorization.

"The Difference Between Thinking and Knowing"
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/300cczpb.asp

"Memorization Plays Important Role in Quranic Preschools, Researcher
Finds"
http://www2.edc.org/newsroom/features/quranicpreschools.asp

Again I hope that you maybe able to use any of the sources I provided
both in my answer and clarification.

Best Regards,
Easterangel-ga
alwayscurious-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $2.50
easterangel did a good job tracking down a number of resources that
addressed my question. Five stars is awarded for speed, quality of
response, and positive spirit--he/she went back after clarification
and performed more work with a positive attitude.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
From: jdog-ga on 02 Mar 2003 14:01 PST
 
I have to both agree and disagree with you. Obviously, memorization
plays a large role in both every-day task and academics. However, I
would say that "higher order" thinking is a prerequisite for the
constructive application of the facts, not the other way around. In
the end, the written page is as good a vehicle for fact as is the
human mind; we need to harbor reasoning and creativity ourselves.
Still, it's not very practical to have to refer to something external
every time we need to do a small task, so we have to find a good
balance between the two.
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
From: alwayscurious-ga on 02 Mar 2003 14:56 PST
 
Jdog,

I appreciate your comments. I too believe that there must be a balance
between factual knowledge and creativity/reasoning. In my opinion,
facts are the fuel that feed the engine of creativity.

I'm not sure that most would agree with you, though, that memorization
"obviously" plays a role in everyday tasks and academics. In fact,
almost every (current) scholarly paper I read on the topic disparages
memorization of factual information. Hence, the question I posed...

Thanks again for your input.
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
From: martinjay-ga on 02 Mar 2003 16:02 PST
 
Depends on the depth and understanding, plus
in what context you will be required to apply them.
For some occupations, having a massive library
or the net at your fingertips and knowing how to
find stuff beats becoming a library.  For others,
like Doctors or Pilots, they are required to draw
against their own knowledge in critical decision
making.  

Alwayscurious, I liked your 'fuel' comment, never
thought of it that way.
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
From: alwayscurious-ga on 02 Mar 2003 18:28 PST
 
Martinjay,

You make an interesting point that differentiates facts you need to
know -now- from those that you can look up. I believe that for many
professions and vocations (two of which you name: pilots and doctors),
the practitioner must have a large body of factual knowledge available
at the level of automaticity. By that I mean they must have immediate
access to the information without the delay of "remembering" or
reconstruction.

What I find interesting is that although the volume of factual
information required is relatively large for most professions that I
can think of, its value (at least as measured by the quantity of
literature associated with it) is relatively small. This is where I
need help... Where are the studies/reports that discuss the value of
-knowing- a lot of facts?

Thank for sharing your ideas.
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
From: martinjay-ga on 02 Mar 2003 22:38 PST
 
Can't help you on reports, never seen any.
I would do something like this:
Create an evaluation template like:
Level of depth of knowledge required to enter field
Ability to access resource databases and books doing 'work'
Degree of risk in making mistakes and their impacts
Frequency of needing 'facts' in head due to
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
From: martinjay-ga on 02 Mar 2003 22:41 PST
 
Sorry, hit enter:
Frequency of needing 'facts' in head due to work demands
Breadth of topics required to perform occupation......
Then assess the level for specific occupations,
and how these people are both forced to prepare.
You can also look at:
1 - Risk of people not knowing the right 'facts' in 
     the course of doing their jobs
2 - The impacts of their failures
3 - The controls society or their profession puts
     on them to ensure performance.

This is a good subject, best of luck.
Subject: Re: Value of knowing facts
From: easterangel-ga on 06 Mar 2003 16:34 PST
 
Thanks for the kind words, the nice rating and for the tip!

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