How to Study: Rote Learning Vs Conceptual Learning

By Sudhanshu Sinhal

Learning plays a vital role for each and every individual and is an important process in human behaviour. Basically, one has to learn all their living. You can compare the simple and crude ways in which a child feels and behaves, that’s when you can understand what difference learning has made to the individual. Learning depends on the complex modes of adult behaviour, skills, habits, thought, sentiments and likes. There are different types of learning of which Rote Learning and Conceptual Learning are the main ones and are also very different from each other.

What is Rote Learning?

Rote learning is memorization of information through repetition. It does not require any understanding of the data being stored. Rote learning is simply storing of data. The idea is to recall the matter quickly and the same is possible by repeating it again and again. A common rote learning technique is prepping up for a test quickly which is also known as cramming.

Where is Rote Learning useful?

Rote learning or memorization is widely used for mastering the foundational knowledge.  The main purpose is to create automaticity, so that the student will be able to recollect something without thinking much about it. Having multiplication tables, basic math facts, phonics, spelling and grammatical structures really well established will allow a student to speed up later on.

Why Conceptual Learning?

But if one doesn’t understand the concepts of multiplication, simple memorization of the multiplication tables is not going to get one very far in real life.  Mastery of concepts is a more complex thought process that uses the facts to illustrate how something actually works.  Many students know the facts but they don’t understand the concepts they illustrate, and this is the danger in over-reliance on rote memorization.

We use math every day, but day-to-day life presents us with living math word problems, not worksheets with multiplication problems on them for us to solve.  Understanding when multiplication is necessary is part of mastering the concepts of multiplication – something onewon’t get from simply memorizing the times tables.

What is Conceptual Learning?

Students must have the ability to apply their knowledge in today’s competitive environment. This is why conceptual learning is key. At its core, conceptual learning enables students to use or connect to a similar incident which they would have already experienced before in order to understand newer subject matter at its best. When they have a firm understanding of the concepts, how they are related to one another, and a few exemplars of each concept, students begin to develop their own framework that will help them draw conclusions about any situations throughout their career.

Both useful tools, but ultimately Conceptual Learning triumphs

Thus, to sum up rote learning can be a useful tool, but real, meaningful learning comes from the mastery of key concepts. As an educator, instructing students on the things they need to know must include explanations of the how’s and why’s, and not just the explicit facts, or else meaningful learning just can’t occur.

About the Author:

Sudhanshu Sinhal is an edtech entrepreneur and managing director, Sinhal Classes Pvt Ltd. He holds Dual MBA from Babson College, Massachusetts and IE Business School, Madrid. He is also a Harvard University MBA Intern alumnus.