Daniel Willingham--Science & Education
Hypothesis non fingo
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Practice, drilling, memorization

7/17/2012

 
(I'm writing this blog posting in answer to a question posed to me on Twitter.)

What's the difference between practice, drilling, and memorization?

In the psychological literature Practice has a formal definition, which I know through Anders Ericsson; I think it originates with him but am not certain. Practice includes feedback on performance, and it's executed for the purpose of improvement. The distinction is important because it differentiates practice from performance (which is done for the pleasure of others) or play (which is done for one's own pleasure) or the routine execution of a task (which is done to achieve a goal).

Thus, if I practice guitar I'm trying to improve, and I'm monitoring my performance for the sake of noting errors and thinking of new ways to do it. Performance and play of the guitar differ in obvious ways. Routine execution might apply to a task like handwriting. My handwriting is pretty bad, despite thousands of hours of execution, because during all of that time I wasn't practicing. I was just writing to get something on paper.

Drilling and memorization don't, so far as I know, have definitions that have been carefully thought through to draw important distinctions.

To me, "drilling" connotes repetition for the purpose of automaticity, using the technique of thoughtless repetition.

"Memorization" connotes the goal of something ending up in long-term memory with ready access. . . but the word does not imply anything about the technique one uses to achieve that goal.

Thus, students are unlikely to practice the multiplication table, but they would practice the violin, or writing an evocative description of a scene.

Students might drill in an effort to learn the multiplication table, but I hope they would not. As I've defined it, it's hard to think many school-related tasks that would be well-served by drill. Perhaps a very basic motor skill, like a particular run when playing the guitar? Again, this would be repetition without thought.

Much more common would be memorization: activities undertaken in the desire to commit something to memory so that it is readily accessed. This would include deep processing (i.e., thinking about meaning), generating cues for oneself, etc. A student who wants to memorize a poem, for example, could try to do so by drill, but it's a terrible way to learn something. Much better to think about the meaning of whatever it is you're trying to remember, and tie it to things you already know.

Again, let me repeat that practice does have an accepted definition, but I've made up my own for drill and memorization.
Logan Fiorella
7/17/2012 10:15:34 am

This is a helpful distinction. Just to add on a minor detail, it seems like Ericsson was careful to call it *deliberate* practice, presumably to help clear up the confusion between practice and drilling. For example, some people would consider hitting golf balls on the driving range as practice, though for most people it's really more like drilling. Deliberate practice, on the other hand, would involve consciously analyzing mistakes, making corrections, getting feedback from a coach, etc.

Mike G
7/23/2012 01:42:24 am

Good, provocative blog.

Why would you hope that students wouldn't drill to learn multiplication? If I'm following you correctly, it means you believe flashcards et al are counterproductive.

But this randomized trial of flash cards (done via computer) seemed to show efficacy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2682421/

Dan Willingham
7/23/2012 02:42:17 am

By my definition "drilling" means very shallow processing. . . so flashcards might be useful, but better for students to think about the answers and why they are true.

Mike G
7/23/2012 07:30:16 am

Thank you.

Victor K.
7/29/2012 01:04:49 pm

Does writing things down (i.e., note-taking) aid in memorization? Does it depend on how much processing takes place (e.g., straight copying from the board versus re-organizing in some way)?

karen w.
8/3/2012 05:58:52 pm

thank you, Daniel. your tumblr and blog posts are very helpful to me. I have been applying your methods to my studies at my university and have found them to be quite successful. I look forward to your future posts!

Gary
8/15/2012 12:37:34 pm

I've followed this distinction in some of your other writing, which I agree. So here's a practical problem I face as a teacher of beginning writers--not inexperienced with writing (cf, your handwriting example), but inexperienced with recognizing how writers "make" writing.

We know from research what the most frequent errors freshmen make in writing. The typical method is to teach what these are by showing students the error and a range of correct edits. The problem with this method is that there is frequent confusion between the error sentence and the correct one, what each is called, and finally, how to apply this knowledge in their own writing. Students claim this instruction and the semester-long, intervaled practice is helpful, but as their instructor, I see even more errors than before. I'm thinking of only showing corrected sentences and forgetting about teaching error. Your thoughts?

Dan Willingham
8/17/2012 11:48:21 pm

@Gary It's hard to know w/o knowing more of the details. . . but when you note that "there is frequent confusion between the error sentence and the correct one" that sounds like the beginning of trouble right there, no? If they don't get that idea, nothing else will follow. More time on the distinction, more examples?

Tracy W
9/2/2012 11:43:38 pm

Is repetition that terrible a way to learn something? I've used it a lot, not just for things like poems that I want to get word-perfect, but also in maths, engineering and economics where I didn't understand the explanation of why something worked. For example, for calculus, I didn't really understand why differentiating an equation and setting it to zero worked for my first two years, even though our teacher carefully explained it. I memorised the rule, memorised the explanation, regurgitated the explanation onto tests when asked, and about 2 years later, it suddenly clicked.


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