We ask our kids to memorize a good many facts. We ask much less than previous eras, and we talk a lot about other facets of learning: creativity, problem solving, independent learning. But there are few weeks in my office when I don’t hear about troubles with arithmetic facts, weekly spelling tests, and multiple-choice exams with “right” answers.

I’m talking only about the kind of facts that require no more than straightforward recall. There is a right answer, and a computer can say if the answer is correct or not. How much is 9 times 7? What is the capitol of New Mexico? How do you spell “antidisestablishmentarianism"? These are facts we say we “know by heart,” by which we mean both that they are firmly in long-term memory, and that they can be easily accessed on demand.

I can see only one convincing reason to learn a specific fact: It is needed as a stage in a higher-level process, and if it isn’t available automatically, it overloads working memory and prevents higher-level processing. It’s difficult to comprehend what you’re reading until decoding is automatic; your energy is all going to sounding out the words. It may be that you can’t understand what’s going on in long division until your subtraction facts come easily.

Not many facts meet that criterion. Yet somehow I doubt we’re ready for schools that don’t attempt to teach lots of facts.

So here’s a suggestion…

OK, My thought was that when we feel a body of facts must be learned by rote (the multiplication table, for example) we look for creative routes to teach it. There’s reason to think the learning would be more effective, and we might get two-for-one benefits: both the acquisition of the essential facts and some good habits.

But the longer I muddle it over, the less sure I am that’s a useful direction. And I feel out of touch with how much rote memory is still involved in the curriculum – maybe the facts are being taught mostly through discovery processes nowadays?

Does anyone out there have help to offer? How much “by heart” learning are we asking kids to do? What should be the role of rote memory today? How do we decide what facts are worth teaching? How can we best teach them?