ABSTRACT

It is no accident, therefore, that the history of pedagogy is largely a chronicle of theory and devices to promote learning of a body of content for long-term retention. As early as 46 BC Cicero listed memoria: "to secure it in one's memory," as one of the five tasks in learning the art of speaking and writing. The actual teaching procedure both in the school of the grammarian and in the higher school of the rhetor involved memorization of the definitions, classifications, and rules as embodied in text books.'