Core facts
This is how they work
Core facts are the starting points of knowledge. They place the very first fragile nodes into a new area of a learner’s cognitive schema.
Our brains encounter hundreds of core facts every day — in the supermarket, on the news, in casual conversations. Most of them vanish within seconds or minutes, because the mind has no reason to keep them. The same happens in school: when a learner hears a new fact in an unfamiliar subject, the brain treats it as just another disposable detail.
Unless something changes, it will fade.
This is why learning a brand-new topic feels so hard: the brain must be convinced that this information is worth keeping before it invests energy in building a new schema.
The good news
Our brains are not weak — they are astonishing memory machines. Every human already carries an enormous store of knowledge without ever having to cram:
- The average person recognises about 5,000 faces.
- Most adults know 20,000–40,000 words in their native language.
- We can identify thousands of places we’ve been before, from the house you live in to holiday spots.
How did we learn all this? Not through drills or tests.
We kept it because at some point the mind decided: “This is relevant, and it is worth storing.”
So when we say we have a “bad memory,” what we really mean is:
"My mind judged this piece of information as irrelevant."
The brain remembers what feels connected, useful, or meaningful. The challenge in learning is not the capacity of memory, which is extraordinary and almost unlimited, but the signal we give the mind that something is worth keeping.
A simple example
- Core fact: The Nile is a river in Africa.
On its own, this fact will not last. A week later, most learners won’t recall it.
Animation 1: A single fact
A single new fact appears in an empty schema. Without support, it disappears almost immediately.
Animation 2: Many facts with no edges
Adding more and more unconnected facts doesn’t help. Some last a little longer, but without connections they all fade.
Why this matters
Traditional schooling leans heavily on content coverage:
- A flood of disconnected core facts
- Few timely reinforcements
- Little space for enrichment or anchoring
The result is predictable: learners “cover” material but don’t keep it. Teachers feel like they are reteaching the same things every year. Parents feel like nothing ever sticks.
But the truth is simple: this is how the human mind works. Core facts are fragile by design. They only become durable when reinforced, connected, and anchored.
The Hundred starts here — but doesn’t stop here.
All knowledge starts with core facts. We plant them, and immediately strengthen them with Reinforcement, Enrichment, Anchors, and Critical Thinking.
Schema first. Content second. That’s why our learners don’t just memorise — they retain.