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Cheaters Never Prosper
Most people would probably consider it cheating if a student used his or her mobile device to find the answer to a question on a test. Not so this teacher. This blog posting argues that we should redefine cheating, since when a student is driven to look up an answer it’s actually the teacher’s fault - for not adequately preparing the student and/or for setting an inadequate test. Classrooms, argues this teacher, should not be “so focused on memorization and instead require deep, meaningful interactions with learning”.
By extension, then, we should think it just fine if 16-year-olds are allowed to look up the answers for their driving licence test: after all, it doesn’t really matter whether or not they know offhand what that big red octagonal sign means. Similarly, airline pilots can always check the manual to discover the emergency procedures when the plane suddenly starts to nosedive and brain surgeons can go to the reference library to find out what to do when they accidentally nick an artery.
The point is - there is a lot of basic information that needs to be hard-wired into our brains, accessible for instantaneous and automatic use. To suggest that we need to choose between memorization and meaningful learning is to present a false dichotomy, since meaningful learning cannot take place in the absence of memorized basic skills and knowledge.