My DD and I are both people who have a great deal of difficulty with rote memorization-- particularly of numbers.
We can't "memorize." We only gain fluency through use. It's a brain wiring quirk, I think.
I mean, clearly I can memorize-- I have most of the periodic table and all of my basic math facts, tons of neuroanatomy, etc. down cold. So can DD. But it just doesn't happen through deliberate "I'm going to memorize these things." Flashcards are pretty much useless to either one of us.
We also are both applications-oriented-- and it doesn't take a lot of repetitions before we HAVE stuff memorized if we go that particular pathway. Maybe two or three repetitions.
The answer for us as learners is to entirely skip the rote mechanical operations problems, and move straight to the kind that involve that "translation" that UM and Dude discussed above.
Spiraling is a disaster for DD and I both. We get almost nothing out of it, because it doesn't go DEEP enough to 'stick' with either one of us.
I figured I'd mention this to note that a lack of ability to work "real-world" or "word" problems does NOT necessarily come as a package deal with inability to memorize math facts. I'd always assumed the opposite, in fact, based on my family's N of 3.
