Human Memory and the New Science of Learning - New Science of Learning - page 89

list is more meaningful . Meaningfulness describes the extent to which individual
elements of a schema are interconnected in long-term memory (Gagne, Yekovich,
& Yekovich, 1997). As another example, we commented at the beginning of the
chapter about Marco Polo, the Portuguese explorers, and Columbus's visit to the
new world. In our history courses we learned that Marco Polo visited the Far East
in the 1200's and wrote a best selling book about his travels. We also learned about
Portuguese explorers, such as Bartolomeu Dias, the first European known to have
sailed around the tip of Africa. And, of course we know about Columbus's discov-
ery of the new world. We most likely learned them as isolated items of information,
but they would have made more sense, and we would have remembered the indi-
vidual items more easily if we had understood the relationship among them. For
instance, interest in the Far East and the trade routes that followed were influ-
enced by Marco Polo's book, and they inspired both the Portuguese explorer's and
Columbu's interest in finding a water route as an alternative to the lengthy land
travels. And, Columbus was motivated to sail west because of the Moorish domi-
nance of the Indian Ocean. Understanding the relationships among these items of
information would have made the information more meaningful.
A long history of research indicates that meaningful learning is more effective
than rote learning or learning that involves acquiring information in isolated pieces,
most commonly through memorization (Lin, 2007; Mayer, 2002). We can illustrate
these ideas with the information about Maro Polo, the Portuguese explorers, and
Columbus as outlined in Fig. 5.5 below.

Fig. 5.5 A meaningful
schema

Marco Polo's travels The Portuguese explorers

Columbus's voyage Moorish influence

You saw earlier that the number of chunks working memory can hold is limited,
but the size and complexity of the chunks are not (Sweller et al., 1998). If we under-
stand the connections among the items of information as illustrated in Fig. 5.5, the
schema behaves like one chunk (Bransford et al., 2000), so it takes up only one slot
when we retrieve it from long-termmemory back into working memory. Because the
individual items are less connected, they take up more slots in working memory, the
cognitive load is greater, and we are more likely to forget the information. Because
a considerable amount of learning that occurs in schools is not meaningful, students
forget a great deal of what they “learned.” Some authors believe that the lack of
meaningful learning explains why many students do not like school (Willingham,
2009).
Meaningful Learning: Implications for Learners and Teachers .Topromote
meaningful learning, information should be taught as interconnected ideas rather
than isolated pieces. Isolated information imposes a heavy load on student's work-
ing memories, which helps explain why they seem to retain so little of what they are