Education reminds me of bland food. I would describe it as a meal that is cold and flavorless; no love was put into the school curriculum. Educators and teachers feed information to the students, expecting us to memorize the history of World War I and the quadratic formula.

School is a place where students learn. Not a place to spit out facts that someone has memorized. It seems like there's no importance of school if students aren’t able to learn with deep thought, full engagement, and understanding. It’s important that educators modify the school curriculum by implementing a conceptual-based learning system, to prevent students from learning through memorization.

Throughout my journey of being a high school student, I was educated by memorizing facts. Initially, I thought that this was the correct way to learn. If you memorize information in class, that means that you’ve learned the content of the course. However, that isn’t accurate. Memorizing facts offers short-term understanding, while learning conceptually, offers long-term understanding.

In high school, I am taking a physics course that focuses on conceptual learning. In class, there was never a yes or no answer. Physics class required me to answer the why’s. It allowed me to identify a situation, break it down and fully analyze a problem. Through this form of learning, I was able to obtain a deeper understanding of what I learned while minimizing the efforts of memorizing formulas. Through conceptual learning, I was able to remember previous lessons that were taught at the beginning of the school year.

The article “Pedagogy: Conceptual Learning vs. Memorization” published by Elephant Learning, recognizes the beneficial effects that conceptual learning has on students. Elephant Learning mentions that students who are taught in a conceptual lense “understand mathematical ideas and then transfer their understanding of these ideas to new contexts and problems.” Students who are taught conceptually are able to understand the purpose of what they are learning. They are able to learn about an idea and implement their knowledge on other topics. Conceptual learning allows the brain to exercise, allowing students to think of ways to bring unique ideas to what they learned.

I believe that physics class was the main resource that brought me into thinking conceptually. This class allowed me to open a doorway to learning in deeper thought. However, learning this way was very challenging to grasp. It took me a couple of months to develop this new way of learning.

Students who haven’t had the opportunity to learn conceptually will struggle to change their learning approach. Hugh Gourgeon wrote the article “How Conceptual Teaching Fosters Learning” which revealed that the National Assessment of Educational Progress received test results that “fewer than 40 percent of American high school seniors are ready for college-level reading and math tasks. College professors are quick to corroborate, lamenting that incoming freshmen lack the ability to think independently.” Many students who base their education on memorization, are the students who lack the ability to learn creatively without assistance from an adult. These students will have difficulty grasping the overall purpose of their class courses, which ultimately leads to less success in the classroom.

There may be some students who feel that they don't fit into the categories of going to college, however, learning conceptually still applies to them. It will be a tool that will benefit them when transitioning from post-secondary school to the real world. It will get their minds thinking when they encounter problems that may come their way.  

In order for students to become better learners, I feel that it is important for the school curriculum to apply conceptual learning in their lessons. Instead of telling students to copy down notes from a PowerPoint presentation, it would be beneficial that educators physically demonstrate an idea of a topic and slowly build up to reveal the significance of the topic they’ve intended to present. Teaching this way will allow students to be curious about their learning, and they will ultimately become better students.

Works Consulted

Gourgeon, Hugh. “How Conceptual Teaching Fosters Learning.” Challenger School, challengerschool.com/newsroom/how-conceptual-teaching-fosters-learning. Accessed 20 April 2022.

“Pedagogy: Conceptual Learning vs. Memorization.” Elephant Learning Math Academy, elephantlearning.com/knowledgebase/pedagogy-conceptual-learning-vs-memorization. Accessed 20 April 2022.