Mia McDavid <mia_mcdavid at attbi.com> writes: > SKZB wrote: > > >I believe that the learning of a skill > >involves (in part) learning the language associated with that skill. > That > >was my point. > > This ties in nicely with a thought that occurred to me once while I was > studying biology. > > A *huge* (but not, admittedly, total) portion of a doctor's knowledge > and skill lies in terminology. If she can name every part of the human > body, she therefore knows (at least in terms of existence and location) > about every part of the body. If she can name the hormones, enzymes, > glands, etc., this too is essential medical knowledge. Vocabulary is > the bulk of the skill. The rest is observation--learning to recognize > the vocabulary "in the flesh". Even here, the memory skills necessary > to hook the pieces of knowledge together--yellow sclera means bile > buildup; check liver functions--will greatly assist the doctor in making > good use of clinical experience. Which is one reason I never was tempted to be a doctor. I've always *hated* memorization, and argue that it's a horrible way to learn most things. Stuff I actually need I'll end up learning by repeated use. Stuff I memorize will depart shortly after the test. There are obvious examples, medicine being one of the best, and foreign languages also featuring prominently, where specifically memorizing things clearly *is* relevant. And I even took two foreign languages, voluntarily (german and russian). And memorizing vocabulary didn't bother me that much -- it was so obviously relevant. But mostly, memorization gives me hives. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / New TMDA anti-spam in test John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Book log: http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/Ouroboros/booknotes/ New Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info