Learning of Facts

I. Fact Learning

Fact learning can seem mundane and restrictive with respect the real world application of facts but humans excel at it. Moreover, facts have practical importance for humans, so there are many reasons for learning them. Facts can be communicated efficiently through language and result in immediate behavior change, for instance. Sometimes, a single exposure to a fact can be sufficient for people to learn and recall them.

However, the best way to learn facts is not through a single exposure or direct communication about them. Most facts and accurate generalizations are not often learned in a single instance. It is helpful if learners already have prior knowledge connected to subject areas of the facts being taught. Additionally, memorization plays an important part in the fact learning process. The more opportunities students have to retrieve facts over time, different locations, and contexts, the more their memorization capacity is strengthened.

Teachers need not teach fact learning through rote though. Fact learning takes place when students can connect the information to be learned with knowledge they already posses. When we connect facts through meaning, students are better able to retain them. For example, if we connect Christopher Columbus’ birth in 1451 to events taking place just before the fall of Constantinople and end of the Byzantine empire in 1453, we would be able to remember the birth date better. Thus, we can remember items more effectively if we organize them in related groups, form strong mental images of information, and place them into meaningful structures rather than trying to memorize them in isolated or disconnected ways.

II. Best Ways to Teach Fact Learning

Teaching the most research-proven ways of learning facts is important for middle school and high school teachers because many disciplines ranging from the social sciences, mathematics and science require students to store facts in their long term memory. Students can then perform more challenging activities and learn more complex concepts using their working memory once facts are securely deposited in their long-term memory.

Here are some helpful tips for teachers about teaching facts:

• • • The best means of teaching facts is not by rote memorization, single exposure or direct communication.

• • • Connecting facts to already learned information and background knowledge enables students to store facts better in their long term memory.

• • • Students can memorize facts better if they organize them in related groups. For example, if we require high school students to know the three branches of the US government, we can organize our teaching around the necessity of having checks and balances in the system of representative democracy.

• • • Having students form strong mental images of information can also enhance their learning of facts. In this case, asking middle school students to make a collage of the hydrologic cycle for science fact learning can help them remember the processes involved in evaporation, condensation and precipitation, for instance.

• • • Placing facts in meaningful structures rather than having students memorize them in isolation also helps in their retention in long term memory. For example, teaching students that Christopher Columbus’ voyages to the New World were only made possible after the end of the Spanish Reconquista (the defeat of the Moors and unification of Spain in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella) would enable students to better recall the timeframe and socio-political circumstances of the Columbian expeditions.