Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Drawing on cognitive psychology and other fields, Make It Stick offers techniques for becoming more productivelearners and cautions against study habits and practice routines that turn out to be counterproductive. The bookspeaks to students, teachers, trainers, athletes and all those interested in lifelong learning and self-improvement.To most of us, learning something "the hard way" implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, shouldbe 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 psychologyand 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 toproblems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. New insights into howmemory is encoded, consolidated and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn. Grapplingwith the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention ofwhat 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 restudynew 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 interestedin the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.