A defining paragragh
Rote-learning
is a learning technique that often involves little or no explicit understanding of the material that is learned (Ormrod, 2001). The material is memorized by repetition, which means that no transformation of the knowledge is required and the person simply tries to remember the material learned without context or a view to apply the knowledge to other situations.
By contrast, meaningful learning refers to a learning technique in which the learning material is learned consciously and fully nderstood. Meaningful learning leads to knowledge acquisition that enables the application of this information to novel situations.
Sadly we see too often in this forum the desire to 'nail the questions' rather than learn the subject with frequent reference to database inadequacy.
I always thought examinations were intended to establsh a
level of knowledge and therefore I welcome any moves that ensure the subjects are 'meaningfully' learned.
However it does require that a RELEVANT syllabus be established, taking cognisance of the advance of technology. We no longer need to know the speed of a gyro or the like.
HWB