Technology and Traditional Education

(Continuation of guest blog by Justin Birch)

Technology can be used to enhance traditional education methods to great effect. Many websites are available to help students memorize everything from poetry to multiplication and drill them on what they have learned.

The largest website for memorization is flashcard giant Quizlet, which features over 6 million sets of free flashcards. It's appropriate for kids in elementary school, but it really shines in its content for high school students. On the site, you'll find flashcards to quiz you in multiple languages. It features a wide variety of standardized test flashcards to help build vocabulary, and it includes flashcard sets for science, geography, literature, art, history, and even specialized terminology for careers such as medicine and law. Each flashcard set provides definitions and allows students to play games with the words to enhance memorization.

Another excellent site that allows students to up their knowledge and acquire new understanding is FreeRice.com. This site is associated with the United Nation's World Food Programme and boasts that it donates 10 grains of rice to those in need for each right answer to quiz question. Subjects include English, math, foreign languages, chemistry, the humanities, and geography. When a student gets an answer wrong, that question will continue to cycle through the game until it is mastered. Get too many answers wrong, and it knock the student back a level to redo it. This facilitates the rote memorization that is fundamental to basic learning, and it will help students build a better understanding of the world too. As they play the game, they'll also help fight hunger and learn about such important social topics as food security.

There are many websites available to help students develop their memorization skills and enhance classroom instruction by developing this foundational knowledge base. These are just two of the best. What should be remembered is that language and math, like any other skills, are best learned when they are both memorized and grasped. To know that 2 x 3 = 6 is not the same as understanding the concept that underlies multiplication, but knowing that this multiplication table is fundamental to teaching children to grasp the larger concept. The same can be said for languages, literature, and even artistic skills that are only understood through kinesthetic memorization. Using technology to enhance memorization and help students drill themselves using flashcards and games is just one way that teachers and parents can bridge the gap between progressive and traditional education and enhance the knowledge base of their students.

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