The usual arguments against inquiry-based learning, particularly when it comes to math education, is that practice and repeated drilling of basic concepts are necessary for a deep and durable education in math. I asked Strogatz about this tension, and he acknowledged that drilling is important, too. “I want my students to memorize and know basic facts, and I want them to understand what those facts mean, why they're important, where they come up in the real world. I want it all and I think students want it all too.” He added : If we only teach conceptual approaches to math without developing skill at actually solving math problems, students will feel weak. Their mathematical powers will be flimsy. And if they don't memorize anything, if they don't know the basic facts of addition and multiplication or, later, geometry or still later, calculus, it becomes impossible for them to be creative. It's like in music. You need to have technique before you can create a composition of your own. But if all we do is teach technique, no one will want to play music at all.