Memorization Matters

Remember your childhood phone number? If you are over 30 you probably do. At the time Bell Telephone decided upon that 7-digit number (later requiring the area code as we began calling across the country) research about memorization found that a string of seven numbers is the brain’s capacity for mastery. Chunking those seven numbers into 3s and 4s made it even simpler. This concept of chunking is still a worthwhile tool for memorization of necessary information. When we group larger bodies of information into bite-sized pieces the task of memorization becomes easier.

One might ask, ”With the advent of the calculator, the internet, Google, and now handheld devices, does memorization hold purpose today?” If we can calculate anything we need to figure mathematically with a device, why must we accomplish the tedious task of memorizing our times tables. If we are able to Google the capital of New Jersey, why must we memorize that Trenton is the correct answer? For this matter, couldn’t we use facial recognition of friends and family so we don’t have to retain those names over time? Clearly, this last scenario is meant to be humorously hyperbolic. But it highlights an essential mental capacity that is part of being human. Certain information retention is necessary for meaningful interaction on an intimate level.

So what about the states on the map? In some ways, yes, learning one’s 50 states and their capitals may be unnecessary if the only reason is to pass a test of mastery of one’s states and capitals. However, knowledge doesn’t work that way and neither does the brain. The brain/mind is a meaning-seeking device. Memorization, when done with intentionality and awareness both strengthens the structure of the brain while connecting abstract knowledge together. Imagine your child masters her 50 states geographically on the United States map when she is 6. She continues to sing the song in the subsequent years until in 5th grade and 8th grade her teacher teaches about the movements of the armies in the Civil war. The geographical knowledge of where the states reside enables her to make greater meaning of those military movements. Does this body of memorized information bring greater enjoyment as this new knowledge grows? If curiosity is still present in the child, yes!

Secondly, memorization requires focused attention, what Daniel Coyle calls “deep practice.” Deep practice is a learning skill that has been shown to increase learning speed by up to 10 times the brain’s normal capacity. The reason is that within the brain something mysterious is taking place. A substance called myelin is developing around the axons that send signals between parts of brain and throughout the body. This myelin is similar to the rubber coating around an electrical wire. When the axon is well-coated by this myelin sheath, the signal flows more directly, more quickly, and more fluidly from one axon to the next. So, when memorization is used as a purposeful discipline, it has the capacity to connect circuits in the brain, making one’s thinking more efficient and effective.

Children who memorize create connected knowledge and develop a greater capacity for future learning. Brain health is established early and purposefully. When memorization is supported visually and musically, bi-hemispheric connection is also strengthened leading to an academically creative learner.