For many students, much of the process of studying comes down to rote memorization. For them, to study is to remember, and it is a process that relies on sheer repetition of lists and facts, poring over the same paragraphs time and time again, vacuuming out those useful bits of information and storing them away in memory, hoping desperately that they will still be up there when it comes time to take the test.
When one thinks of the kind of studying that relies heaviest on memory, one can begin early, with our practice of getting grade-schoolers to memorize the names and order of American Presidents, or of state capitals. Educators will introduce mnemonic devices to help these students study more effectively with their memory. Likewise, these grade schoolers who decide to grow up and pursue medicine will find themselves memorizing the names of organic chemical compounds, and the entire human anatomical system. Clearly, these are places where memory plays a massive role in studying. For these students, and adults in similar professional situations, eating right, exercising, and finding the right mixture of herbal supplements to aide memory is very important.
In other fields, however, studying is an entirely different beast, one which doesn’t adhere so closely to the study-equals-memory mold. In these fields, importance is placed less on the acquisition and retention of words and numbers, and much more on a certain skill or way of thinking. Take, for instance, the field of philosophy. Here, while studying does mean memorizing, perhaps, different philosophers and what they said, to study philosophy focuses mainly on the act of thinking logically and taking an argument and understanding it enough to come up with a counter argument. In this case, to study is more than to use your memory.
For many students, much of the process of studying comes down to rote memorization. For them, to study is to remember, and it is a process that relies on sheer repetition of lists and facts, poring over the same paragraphs time and time again, vacuuming out those useful bits of information and storing them away in memory, hoping desperately that they will still be up there when it comes time to take the test.
When one thinks of the kind of studying that relies heaviest on memory, one can begin early, with our practice of getting grade-schoolers to memorize the names and order of American Presidents, or of state capitals. Educators will introduce mnemonic devices to help these students study more effectively with their memory. Likewise, these grade schoolers who decide to grow up and pursue medicine will find themselves memorizing the names of organic chemical compounds, and the entire human anatomical system. Clearly, these are places where memory plays a massive role in studying. For these students, and adults in similar professional situations, eating right, exercising, and finding the right mixture of herbal supplements to aide memory is very important.
In other fields, however, studying is an entirely different beast, one which doesn’t adhere so closely to the study-equals-memory mold. In these fields, importance is placed less on the acquisition and retention of words and numbers, and much more on a certain skill or way of thinking. Take, for instance, the field of philosophy. Here, while studying does mean memorizing, perhaps, different philosophers and what they said, to study philosophy focuses mainly on the act of thinking logically and taking an argument and understanding it enough to come up with a counter argument. In this case, to study is more than to use your memory.
