3 ms·
Memorizing arbitrary words for a study is a terrible proxy for meaningful learning.
by xenophanes 15y ago
Memorizing arbitrary words for a study is a terrible proxy for meaningful learning.
- gruseom 15y agoThat reminds me of the creativity studies that get promoted in the press these days, most prominently in Jonah Lehrer's new book. They all assume they know how to measure creativity!
- xenophanes 15y agoDavid Deutsch criticizes this stuff in his recent book. You might like it. http://beginningofinfinity.com/ http://beginningofinfinity.com/
- wowoc 15y agoMemorizing arbitrary words is a good proxy for learning new languages, where the hardest part is actually memorizing arbitrary words.
- obtu 15y agoThe trick to learning vocabulary would be to make these words meaningful and not arbitrary, for example by learning words related to an activity or a theme (which happens naturally when you spend time in a foreign country). Meaningless words are more reliably remembered by making up a story about them, even though that technically adds to the quantity of information to remember; if the subjects had been encouraged to use those strategies the gains might drown the before-sleep effect.