The Epiphany Of Learning That Was Right Under My Nose

"Memorization comes from repeated recall not repeated exposure." --Chris Williamson

We've all had experiences where we come across a concept or a new way of looking at a concept that hits us right smack in the face. The above quote by Chris Williamson (host of the Modern Wisdom Podcast, also check out his Youtube channel here) was one of these experiences. So simple and so profound and ultimately useful in everyday life.

Primary and secondary education often focuses on rigorous repetition as one of the basic platforms for learning. Repeated exposure to curriculum in the form of drilling has been believed to promote mastery. Teachers often fall victim to this way of thinking due to concerns of efficiency of delivery of the curriculum within a content area. If we use geometry as an example, teachers deliver to the students the concept they want them to learn and then offer numerous examples in the form of problems to solve as practice (or drilling). It promotes a sense of both familiarity and comfort level with the concept for the student.

This could be more than a minor oversight and/or oversimplification of learning entirely. Most often children and adult learners alike experience the most profound learning when they are not comfortable. Williamson and others of his ilk who are interested in learning theory actually look down upon this idea of comfortable learning. Real learning requires real work, and often real work is not comfortable.  There is concrete science behind the realization that repeated exposure to concepts we want to learn is not the primary driving mechanism for learning (and mastery). Recall is the real driving mechanism. It is our ability to recall the information we expose ourselves to that results in real learning.

After giving this all some real thought I realized I have been tricking myself into doing this for many years, but wasn't aware of exactly what I was really doing. I have always been terrible at remembering people's names, especially new people I meet. I could describe a person's face perfectly to a police sketch artist after a single encounter, but their name would escape me always. I knew I had to work on this because I hate those awkward moments when I would fail to introduce someone because I have forgotten. It was downright embarrassing. So I started practicing what we've all been told from time to time if we want to learn and remember someone's name: use their name frequently when we talk. For example, if you're in a group of friends and one friend introduces you to a new person to the group named "Steve," then you address Steve using his name as often as you can to learn his name. Instead of saying, "Nice to meet you," you should say, "Nice to meet you, Steve." By incorporating Steve's name while conversing you learn remember his name quicker. I thought this trick centered on repetition of the new person's name, but it was actually due to the recall of the name that made me learn and remember.

To say a person's name repeatedly is easy to do, but might not lead to you remembering that person's name in the future, especially if significant time elapses between meetings. It's not like you have a coach standing next to you saying, "repeat after me, this person's name is Steve" prompting you to say, "this person's name is Steve." That sounds a lot like drilling. But, that is not what happens when we use a person's name multiple times in conversation. When we do that we are really recalling someone's name. The more often we recall their name the more their name becomes hard-wired if you will. This is what drives the learning and remembering of that name or anything else we want to remember. Again, for many this might not seem so Earth shattering. For me, if was the jarring slap to the noggin that made me realize what was really happening through the experience. I'm sure I will take this with me to many other areas of focus I seek mastery in.

Thank you so much for reading!