Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

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Harvard University Press, Apr 14, 2014 - Psychology - 329 pages

To most of us, learning something "the hard way" implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier. Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head. Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners.

Memory plays a central role in our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks, such as applying knowledge to problems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. New insights into how memory is encoded, consolidated, and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn. Grappling with the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention of what was learned.

Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. More complex and durable learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes, Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.

 

Contents

1 Learning Is Misunderstood
1
2 To Learn Retrieve
23
3 Mix Up Your Practice
46
4 Embrace Difficulties
67
5 Avoid Illusions of Knowing
102
6 Get Beyond Learning Styles
131
7 Increase Your Abilities
162
8 Make It Stick
200
Notes
257
Suggested Reading
285
Acknowledgments
289
Index
295
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About the author (2014)

Peter C. Brown is a writer and former management consultant. Henry L. Roediger III is James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. Mark A. McDaniel is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE) at Washington University in St. Louis.

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