Of course you would like your kid to "understand" everything he/she is being taught at school. Unfortunately for the students, curricula compels teachers to teach dates and facts, formulas and numbers, literature and vocabulary, and many other things that cause kids to shift from actually learning a lesson to memorizing the lesson for a test.

But, is memorizing NOT learning? Is memorizing really a problem?  NO!

Memory is critical to humans and all other living organisms; kids need both the material and the memorization. As educators have known for centuries, these exercises deliver unique cognitive benefits (benefits that are of special importance for kids who come from homes where books are scarce and the level of literacy low).

Memory and learning are very closely related, and the terms used to describe one process are often used to describe the other. After all, information is learned only when it can be recalled later, and retrieval of information cannot occur unless the information was learned.

There are ways to memorize that can enhance the learning process as well as improve memory at the same time.

1. Don't try to memorize everything, unless you want to win an award for most pages you can recite from a book. To be ready for a Calculus test, you don't have to memorize all the formulas, but you can memorize smaller, easier equations that will help you understand the steps for solving a more difficult equation while using the same mathematical techniques.

2. Use mnemonic devices and other memorization techniques that can make it easier to recall more difficult problems, vocabulary, events in history, etc...

3. Put things in your own words, so information is understood on your own terms.

4. Repetition, repetition, repetition. If you want to memorize Perfect Squares and their Roots up through 2,500, write them down many times.

"Memorization" is just another way we can help ourselves "learn" things we want or need to understand.