biology sucks

[NE2000]

^
I have looked through the entire course for biol, and sorry i'll have to disagree with "i don't think biology is rote learning or memorization". there are a lot of parts of biol that must be memorised, however unlike legal/psych, it does not have to be close to perfect. understanding it certainly aids in the memorisation of some parts, but others require a ROTE learned answer.

We'll agree to disagree then. I got through biol in year 11 with minimal rote learning and memorization. The only part I remember specifically rote learning were plant hormones. Although maybe we've got disparate definitions of memorization. What I'm saying is that for areas like the immune system in unit 3 or meiosis in unit 4, I remembered it all in terms of knowing every step and what occurs, but I never sat down to memorize it, rather I just watched videos/animations, made notes, read through a couple of extra biology resources and just understood it and so knew every step. Whereas for plant hormones I had to sit down and memorize the names, functions etc. and then check whether I knew everything.

I do agree that there is a lot to learn in biology though.

[shinny]

^
I have looked through the entire course for biol, and sorry i'll have to disagree with "i don't think biology is rote learning or memorization". there are a lot of parts of biol that must be memorised, however unlike legal/psych, it does not have to be close to perfect. understanding it certainly aids in the memorisation of some parts, but others require a ROTE learned answer.

We'll agree to disagree then. I got through biol in year 11 with minimal rote learning and memorization. The only part I remember specifically rote learning were plant hormones. Although maybe we've got disparate definitions of memorization. What I'm saying is that for areas like the immune system in unit 3 or meiosis in unit 4, I remembered it all in terms of knowing every step and what occurs, but I never sat down to memorize it, rather I just watched videos/animations, made notes, read through a couple of extra biology resources and just understood it and so knew every step. Whereas for plant hormones I had to sit down and memorize the names, functions etc. and then check whether I knew everything.

I do agree that there is a lot to learn in biology though.

No one understands how conceptual Biology actually is until they actually start doing VCAA exams. Same thing happened to me; took me by surprise really and I had to jump back and reinforce these concepts despite having rote learned most of what I needed in the course.

[vexx]

^ hmm i see. i guess i shouldn't comment too much about it since i haven't actually done the subject yet. but i'm hoping its much less ROTE learning than it appears to be.

[NE2000]

^
I have looked through the entire course for biol, and sorry i'll have to disagree with "i don't think biology is rote learning or memorization". there are a lot of parts of biol that must be memorised, however unlike legal/psych, it does not have to be close to perfect. understanding it certainly aids in the memorisation of some parts, but others require a ROTE learned answer.

We'll agree to disagree then. I got through biol in year 11 with minimal rote learning and memorization. The only part I remember specifically rote learning were plant hormones. Although maybe we've got disparate definitions of memorization. What I'm saying is that for areas like the immune system in unit 3 or meiosis in unit 4, I remembered it all in terms of knowing every step and what occurs, but I never sat down to memorize it, rather I just watched videos/animations, made notes, read through a couple of extra biology resources and just understood it and so knew every step. Whereas for plant hormones I had to sit down and memorize the names, functions etc. and then check whether I knew everything.

I do agree that there is a lot to learn in biology though.

No one understands how conceptual Biology actually is until they actually start doing VCAA exams. Same thing happened to me; took me by surprise really and I had to jump back and reinforce these concepts despite having rote learned most of what I needed in the course.

Yeah, there is little chance that you get through bio with a high study score if you expect to regurgitate rote learned definitions and answers in the exam. They give you all sorts of random applications, many of which are sort of going off the course, and you just have to use the concepts that you have learned and extend them to new places. It's really hard to predict what questions will appear as well, because of that variety.

[vexx]

^ yeah i guess.
i'll just try and do heaps of prac exams then after knowing everything to ensure i can apply it all correctly.

[kyzoo]

What NE said about regurgitating rote-learned answers applies to every subject. Additionally, it's much more engaging and easier to holistically understand concepts; whereas it's more stressful and monotonous to memorize tons of answers word-by-word, not to add less effective.

[shinny]

What NE said about regurgitating rote-learned answers applies to every subject.

Except Business Management.

[vexx]

What NE said about regurgitating rote-learned answers applies to every subject.

Except Business Management.

Wait, do you mean that you don't have to rote-learn for every subject?
I think you are mistaken & if so, there's no way to do even 'alright' in a subject like Psychology, Legal studies, Ect unless you sit down and rote-learn word-for-word answers......

[shinny]

What NE said about regurgitating rote-learned answers applies to every subject.

Except Business Management.

Wait, do you mean that you don't have to rote-learn for every subject?
I think you are mistaken & if so, there's no way to do even 'alright' in a subject like Psychology, Legal studies, Ect unless you sit down and rote-learn word-for-word answers......

What he meant is that you can't rely on rote-learning alone to get those scores. Every subject will have some degree if rote-learning, except possibly Maths.

[vexx]

^ oh yeah this is definitely true. but since i did psych, i know that you have to rote learn everything and then do heaps of prac exams to do well. i can't imagine for any subj memorisation being enough. practice of application and such is needed !

[Greggler]

yeah rote learning in biol will definatley only get you an A on each exam. To push for that A+ you need to be able to apply really broad and convoluted concepts to much more specific yet even more convoluted situations.

[kenhung123]

Are you sure? Hardly any textbook information (besides case studies) can be directly related to exam questions.

[Akirus]

Just for the record, I never implied that chem/bio is solely memory/"rote-learning". All I mean is there's enough that I dislike the subject.

[jejak]

I don't think the difference between chem/phys and bio is really one of rote-learning or not - that is, after all, just one method of learning, which students may use or not use as they wish. I do think, however, that bio tends to emphasise so-called "declarative knowledge" rather than "procedural knowledge" - i.e., in bio, it is more important that you _know a fact_, rather than know _how_ to solve a problem. In chemistry, I found it was distressingly the opposite - it was the method that was more important.

I think the phrase "rote learning" slightly obscures this fact, as its certainly possible to "rote-learn" chemistry to some degree - i.e., to know how to manipulate all the data to solve the problem, but have no idea what any of it actually means.

[herzy]

sorry vexx but i'll have to disagree with you. as with almost any subject, a degree of memorisation is required in order to be able to intellectually discuss the subject matter. however, in order to understand and delve into the questions asked of biology students requires a level of understanding which i feel is higher than that of, say, chemistry, which i felt was more or less completely rote, or logic, or a combination of the two.

at kyzoo, if you managed to find the small parts of biochem present in the chemistry 3/4 course interesting, i think biology 3/4 would definitely appeal to you. i thought it was great, and really interesting (unlike chemistry, which i thought was relatively straight forward, but boring)