Meaningful learning

Meaningful learning is opposed to rote learning and refers to a learning method where the new knowledge to acquire is related with previous knowledge (Ausubel 2000).

In meaningful learning, the learners are actively "integrating" new information into old information (Novak 2002). Concept mapping has been found to be a useful technique for this (Novak 2002). It allows learners to connect their existing knowledge to the subject being learned.

Within the cognitive theory of learning, based on the theory of human information processing, the 3 core processes of learning are: how knowledge is developed; how new knowledge is integrated into an existing cognitive system; and how knowledge becomes automatic.

Ausubel (1967:10) focused on meaningful learning, as "a clearly articulated and precisely differentiated conscious experience that emerges when potentially meaningful signs, symbols, concepts, or propositions are related to and incorporated within a given individual's cognitive structure" (Takač 2008, p. 26).

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