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March 29, 2024, 04:46:32 am

Author Topic: The difference between knowledge, understanding and memorising  (Read 852 times)  Share 

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JR_StudyEd

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You know something, but do you truly understand it? I suppose that's what exams are designed to test - understanding rather than knowledge. I do know that understanding of a concept is more difficult to achieve than knowledge of a concept. And I do know that understanding something will hold you in much better stead in an exam situation than memorisation.

How can we ensure that we understand more than we memorise? What's your view on this? I think it's something many students get confused about when it comes to revising for a major test or exam.
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lm21074

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Re: The difference between knowledge, understanding and memorising
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2019, 07:29:20 pm »
+3
Great questions, JR! 8)

The exams are indeed moving towards including higher order thinking questions (e.g. questions with the stem word 'evaluate'), but I'm sure there will inevitably be some memorising to do! :P There are different techniques involved in understanding and memorising.

Memorising is, in a nutshell, storing something in your head and retrieving it word for word. I think knowing is the same thing - if you know, you'll be able to regurgitate the knowledge. Simply memorising a definition word for word or regurgitating a concept straight from the textbook does not prove that you understood it. This alone will not be enough to answer a 'to what extent' question. Keep in mind that there are some subjects where rote learning is pretty much necessary like knowing all the steps of a process in science or quotes in English (but understanding what they mean is just as important).

Understanding is being able to grasp the meaning of a concept, and applying that knowledge to questions.

So, how can we ensure that we're understanding a concept rather than memorising?

Once you are able to thoroughly grasp the meaning of a concept (i.e. by reading notes, hearing it in a class setting), you could do something like writing out / summarising a concept in your own words, teaching it to someone else or doing a practice question with a stem word asking you to use higher order thinking skills.


Just my thoughts and opinions.

Hope this helps. :)






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smamsmo22

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Re: The difference between knowledge, understanding and memorising
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2019, 12:01:04 am »
+1
Personally, I think understanding is best demonstrated through application of knowledge in different contexts and problem-solving situations. I also think that some subjects test this a lot better than others.
For example, for a subject where there is plenty of problem-solving (i.e. methods) I think there is a greater emphasis on understanding theory rather than just memorisation; as memorising a bunch of formulas is useless unless you can apply said formulas to the wide range of problems in assessments. On the other hand, a subject such as HHD where there's a greater emphasis on re-stating specific definitions, one can rely a lot more on memorisation. I'm not saying one is harder than the other, but that's just how I've always perceived it.
Personally, I found chemistry to have quite a balance of these two aspects of knowledge. For an aspect of the 3/4 course such as fuels, some of the key knowledge was focused a lot more on memorising content (such as information about different fuel types), but then there were also a lot of equations related to fuels (working out enthalpy etc), which thorough understanding of concepts and a confidence in applying a bunch of formulas to heaps of different problems. I quite liked the balance, tbh.
That's just my 2c, I wonder how everyone else sees it (:
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brothanathan

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Re: The difference between knowledge, understanding and memorising
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2019, 12:18:02 am »
+1
Give this a try you won't regret it  :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBXnxlLR0PY