Learning Beyond Facts | Conceptual Knowledge, Procedural Knowledge, and More

After many years in school, it's easy to get the impression that learning is mostly about facts. But there's a whole diverse world of different kinds of knowledge out there. Let's explore it!
00:00 Introduction
00:17 The fact
1:11 The look-up table
2:12 Conceptual knowledge - how is a concept different than a fact?
3:30 How we learn concepts
4:12 The benefits of concepts
5:18 Procedural knowledge and skill
5:43 The difference between conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge
6:27 Unbalanced knowledge
7:30 Bare association
8:18 The ability to recognize something
8:54 I shouldn't talk about this one
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REFERENCES
On the interaction of procedural and conceptual knowledge, see:
Rittle-Johnson, B., Schneider, M., & Star, J. R. (2015). Not a one-way street: Bidirectional relations between procedural and conceptual knowledge of mathematics. Educational Psychology Review, 27(4), 587-597. www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb... (Math)
Schauble, L. (1996). The development of scientific reasoning in knowledge-rich contexts. Developmental Psychology, 32(1), 102. www.researchgate.net/profile/... (Science)
For a more complicated, great take on knowledge in problem solving, see:
De Jong, T., & Ferguson-Hessler, M. G. (1996). Types and qualities of knowledge. Educational psychologist, 31(2), 105-113. ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/64015...
For the difference between varieties of recall and recognition, see:
Richardson-Klavehn, A., & Bjork, R. A. (1988). Measures of memory. Annual review of psychology, 39(1), 475-543. www.researchgate.net/profile/...
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The gravity demonstration comes from this video: • Gravity Visualized .
However, there are plenty of good arguments as to why this isn't a terribly helpful analogy: newsletter.oapt.ca/files/gener...

[@zianemuller3928]

This gives a pretty good insight on learning. I'm on my journey of learning how to learn, I have seen tremendous progress/results by just really trying to understand concepts and applying these concepts or practice tests. This video gave me comfort knowing that I am on the right track.

[@lawrencelazaro8400]

Was watching this on an online college class page. Came to the actual site to leave a like, thanks man!

[@abcdefg-hv2ks]

Same, Jack westin sent me here.

[@abhinavupadhyay3669]

this channel is a goldmine!!

[@UmesShrestha]

One of the biggest problems I see in education (esp in school education) is that many educators believe this: students don't need to memorize facts, them can google them, but we need to teach them critical thinking. I think this misunderstanding comes from articles and videos where "memorizing facts" are demonized. To be able to move towards conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge, one can not simply fact-memorizing and learning part.

[@BetterChessTraining]

How do you move from factual to conceptual and procedural? One way are asking "why?" regarding the fact to get at the conceptual. As related to chess training for example, there might be an opening move that is made (the fact), then the "why" is the strategic reason for the move. I'm guessing the procedural skill is being able to produce that move when appropriate in a game (which can be improved by practice).

[@benjaminkeep]

I think that's a very fair application to the chess context! Asking "why?" (and developing self-explanations more generally) is often associated with gains in conceptual understanding. You might think of the "fact" as you defined it as kind of the bare move without any understanding of the context. If you saw the exact same board state and you had memorized that move, it would come in handy. But you're probably not going to confront the exact same board state. It's the conceptual understanding that helps you grapple with context (and understand the meaning of the move more deeply). The procedural skill doesn't necessarily require conscious conceptual knowledge (it may have started as explicit knowledge that has become so automatic that you don't think about the reasons behind things anymore or you have seen and played so many different games that you never had a coherent conceptual understanding, but just know that in this context, X works and in that context, Y works).

[@A1paper]

I know that the "island of appreciation" was mostly there to promote the channel but it got me thinking that it may actually be an island. Instead, it could be called the "island of purpose." My rationale being that clearly defining reasons & things you want to do would in turn make you appreciate the related knowledge even more. In addition, seeing how it's on the border line between the islands of isolated & connected knowledge, the island is also what help secures the connection between them all. Although looking back at it now, I might've just described conceptual knowlege in a different way. Thanks for the great video nonetheless!

[@captainzork6109]

I think you're on to something. But rather than appreciation per se, I'd rather think in terms of valuation One piece of the puzzle might lie in the realization that emotion tends to attract the functioning of one's faculties (such as attention), the extent of which depends on intensity. Of course, you can imagine how intense emotion can affect someone's thinking and behaviour in a radical way (whether for good or for bad). However, emotion probably also plays a role in more nuanced situations, such as when solving an intellectual problem. When you get to a solution which seems to be right, it feels satisfying. When you get to a solution which seems wrong, you're repelled from accepting it An aspect of emotion which may explain this is that it seems to be inherently meaningful. It points to what seems to have positive and what has negative value. And in terms of memory consolidation, there is also a lot of evidence which suggests emotional events are processed much more deeply. One such phenomenon is flashbulb memories, which is when someone has an extremely vivid memory of something intense happening during their life. So, emotions also have influence on the mind besides guiding your current decisions and behaviour

[@jimmyvo1667]

I love your videos. You're like the only person that is addressing these topics. Your videos are also short and to the point. Sometimes I get lost in long videos.

[@ABC-jq7ve]

Ahh “procedural knowledge!” This is the word I was looking for. It’s the actual “taking the derivate” as opposed to understanding what it means or where the steps come from. I tend to suck at the procedural knowledge part. Thank you for the video!

[@ABC-jq7ve]

Ohh and you’re supposed to bounce between the two. That’s why I sucked! Gotcha, thanks!

[@cherylwade264]

@@ABC-jq7ve Perfect practice makes perfect product. I also like the way he explains in simple terms.

[@Daniel-vu7pi]

This was an excellent video! I really appreciated the distinction between conceptual and procedural knowledge, because I've often found myself having the conceptual knowledge, but not being able to do the procedure. How you emphasize moving between the two is a very good insight into how to learn better. Thanks!

[@shimrrashai-rc8fq]

For me, as someone who completely skipped K-12 school, I'm pretty much exactly the opposite way around: I find these types of knowledge the easiest, and I feel very, very behind (and dispirited) when it comes to facts. How do you even muster the discipline to eat sawdust that it seems is required to get those things to stick? Or more accurately, how do you move from conceptual / procedural knowledge to factual knowledge?

[@shimrrashai-rc8fq]

@House of Syn I suppose that "make observations" can/should also include looking at/for what observations were already made, right (e.g. you absolutely aren't going to make Higgs Bosons at home, for example)? How though do you come up with the questions?

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

THANK YOU!!!!! YOURE A GOD!!!!! I even feel a bit guilty, like i need to be able to retribute somehow one day cause im discombobulated by how much of a life savior you are (even tho i cant even help myself lol). Really, thank you so much. Underrated masterpieces, i hope you're being rewarded for this.

[@vrhiggs5412]

Best one so far! Just noticed your videos tend to include both conceptual and procedural knowledge. Although, it does seem that you have all the procedural skill (whereas for us lot, its still a question mark to be answered 😂)

[@humaymehdi9628]

As a teacher, I found this video very helpful⭐ Thank you!

[@gothparadigm]

watching your content after studying is so enriching. 🧠✨ it's supplementary brain food for my next sessions.

[@pavithraselvaraj4]

Thanks a lot for making this, I really appreciate the islands aesthetic!

[@DrCramPhD]

Outstanding video! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! I had a question regarding the formation of a concept from facts. What is the concrete process by which we manipulate multiple facts to construct a concept and how can we implement it, say when trying to learn fact-dense information in the medical field? I think some of your videos may have already hinted at that idea, the most striking example to me being your explanation of how we tend to see information in „clusters“ after multiple rounds of free-recall sessions. From what I understand, I also suspect that constructing concepts out of plain facts might also include connecting these facts into some form of structure. But I’m not sure and would love to read your take on that.

[@MasterBrain182]

Benjamin you are awesome and your content is great 👍👍👍

[@alexwa9959]

I've would love some kind of caption for the both different categories of knowledge (maybe shallow understandung necessary and deeper understandging necessary?)

[@stageconvention2298]

Perfect video

[@JJZzZzZzZ]

the presentation, impressive

[@GiovannaChukwuma]

As a pre-med student, this video is helpful bc I now know that I have to find ways to implement practical knowledge of a subject independently. One example would be watching videos of a cadaver dissection for anatomy instead of just reading the textbook.

[@RayyanBen-wm6nr]

In my opinion, the density of information in textbooks makes them more useful when searching for elaboration on a fact that you learn through experience or from a lecture. This always helps me in my undergraduate lecture courses, so textbooks are definitely not things to ditch lol. Best of luck to you on your pre-med journey!

[@stageconvention2298]

Thanks

[@manamsetty2664]

Maybe change the title to how to get the most out of self help books and focus on the conceptual and procedural knowledge aise Na lot of people who read just self help books without any practice so this may get more views like that. Thanks dude the best advice I needed to hear I usually used to read a lot of books but I guess I need to develop lot of procedural knowledge to to really help with my life thank you for putting out such a massive helpful resource.

[@AFGautonompunk]

please make more videos :D

[@Nelson-Cs]

I just visited the island of appreciation

[@benjaminkeep]

Thanks for your thoughts!

[@xiongbenjamin]

Can people stop sourcing their comments from Justin Sung?

[@Xavier-es4gi]

Interesting video that could be illustrated with chat gpt abilities

[@Rajmanov]

what's the system to learn machine learning?

[@tarunarachmad3976]

5:44

[@NicholasDunbar]

Is there a correlation between low working memory in people who have ADHD and those people being really good at conceptual knowledge but not good at memorizing facts? Could it be that because they don't have great working memory they have to commit everything they learn to long term memory and to do that they have to engage in a lot of associative memory strategies which tend to be more conceptual in nature?

[@captainzork6109]

Why does conceptual knowledge not seem to appear amongst the canonical categories of memory types? (E.g., explicit vs implicit long term memory.) Or is "knowledge" research different from "memory" research? To my mind knowledge and memory are very similar

[@barcoemilio296]

Doc. You play GO ?

[@checosa777]

the change in the voice for the capital of Mongolia LUL

[@rarogcmex]

Finally, what is the capital of Kazakhstan?

[@benjaminkeep]

Hmm, had to look that one up, but I won't spoil it for others. : ) Seems like it's had a lot of names!

[@danialtoor2958]

Astana ?

[@lamp2208]

Genghis Khan

[@AbhishekRaj-vf5db]

Just now I came to know ….I can type this comment without consciously seeing the keyboard and I think so that’s procedural knowledge ……🤯🤯

[@iam_kxylee]

Justin Sung calls “ conceptual knowledge “ declarative knowledge

[@benjaminkeep]

Yep - another term that's used. There are some subtle differences (or there can be, depending on how you're defining the terms), but I think for our purposes we can consider them to be the same.

[@cherylwade264]

Idea. Design. Build. Employ.

[@cherylwade264]

This is a helpful video for parents teaching their children household tasks and homework. Explaining the subtle differences in process of learning by rote or understanding a lesson is enlightening. and

[@xiongbenjamin]

Can people stop sourcing their comments from Justin Sung?

[@ishrakmujibift4269]

​@@xiongbenjamin well, there aren't a lot of creators that really know deeply about cognitive psychology. And people aren't dedicated enough to learn these things from a book.

[@Spacelubber]

actually, the capital of Mongolia is “M” I’ve learned nothing 😂

[@asimian8500]

Many of these statements are based on verbal thinkers who think in terms of words. Words are not a privileged way of thinking or the only kind of thinking modality. It's not. This is a very Western thing and most Asians think visually. And it's certainly not true for visual thinkers or intuitive thinkers. When I think of Ulaanbaatar, I don't think in terms of sounds like a verbal thinker. I think in terms of pictures and I can visualize Ulaanbaatar. Sounds be damned. However, I do have to translate my visual thoughts into words as the final chain of thinking to communicate with mostly Western verbal thinkers.

[@jcvp2493]

There are no visual or verbal thinkers, we all have the same goddam BRAIN, what you have is a learning preference and part of schooling is to develop this learnings preferences holistically.

[@abcdefg-hv2ks]

There's no difference between western and eastern people, we all have the same brain. Also all humans (except in some neurodivergent cases), are visual thinkers. It's why everyone remembers a company's logo, but not their moto.

[@iNeFFaBLeSaPiEN]

Thanks