Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel

Overview

The international bestseller that has helped millions of students, teachers, and lifelong learners use proven approaches to learn better and remember longer.

“We have made Make It Stick a touchstone for our instructors … to gain a real advantage for our learners as they tackle some of the toughest work in the world.” —Carl Czech, former Senior Instructional Systems Specialist/Advisor, US Navy SEALs

Are you tired of forgetting what you learn? This groundbreaking book, based on the latest research in cognitive science, offers powerful strategies to boost memory and learning.

To most of us, learning something “the hard way” means wasted time and effort. Good teaching, many believe, should be 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 a ten-year collaboration among some of the world’s leading experts on human learning and memory, the authors explain what really drives successful learning. With clear, real-world examples, they show how we can confidently hone our skills and learn more effectively.

Many common study habits simply don’t work. Underlining, highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. Science shows that more durable learning comes from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has occurred, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Make It Stick breaks down these proven approaches in compelling ways and offers concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners.

Full of eye-opening and inspiring stories for students, educators, and parents, Make It Stick is an indispensable guide for all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674729018
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	04/14/2014
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

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

Editorial Reviews

The authors have provided a great service for educators by capturing the important lessons from decades of research in the learning sciences…It should be highly recommended reading for anyone in the teaching, learning, and training professions.

Robert H. Bruininks

It is surprising to me [that] we have such highly educated people coming to medical school who haven’t thought that deeply about learning. I feel like we are teaching the gospel of Make it Stick during our first weeks with the students…With the immense time pressure you have as a medical student, the importance of these principles becomes very clear to them.

Randall King

This is a quite remarkable book. It describes important research findings with startling implications for how we can improve our own learning, teaching, and coaching. Even more, it shows us how more positive attitudes toward our own abilities—and the willingness to tackle the hard stuff—enables us to achieve our goals. The compelling stories bring the ideas out of the lab and into the real world.

Robert Bjork

Learning is essential and life-long. Yet as these authors argue convincingly, people often use exactly the wrong strategies and don't appreciate the ones that work. We’ve learned a lot in the last decade about applying cognitive science to real-world learning, and this book combines everyday examples with clear explanations of the research. It’s easy to read—and should be easy to learn from, too!

Daniel L. Schacter

If you want to read a lively and engaging book on the science of learning, this is a must… Make It Stick benefits greatly from its use of stories about people who have achieved mastery of complex knowledge and skills. Over the course of the book, the authors weave together stories from an array of learners—surgeons, pilots, gardeners, and school and university students—to illustrate their arguments about how successful learning takes place… This is a rich and resonant book and a pleasurable read that will leave you pondering the processes through which you, and your students, acquire new knowledge and skills.

Times Higher Education - Hazel Christie

Aimed primarily at students, parents, and teachers, Make It Stick also offers practical advice for learners of all ages, at all stages of life… With its credible challenge to conventional wisdom, Make It Stick does point the way forward, with a very real prospect of tangible and enduring benefits.

Psychology Today - Glenn C. Altschuler

If I could, I would assign all professors charged with teaching undergraduates one book: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning… It lays out what we know about the science of learning in clear, accessible prose. Every educator—and parent, and student, and professional—ought to have it on their own personal syllabus.

Annie Murphy Paul

It’s an illuminating read…Learning ability is probably the most important skill you can have. Unfortunately, lots of the techniques for learning that we pick up in school don't help with long-term recall — like cramming or highlighting… For a deeper dig into the science of learning, make sure to pick up Make It Stick.

Business Insider - Drake Baer

Many educators are interested in making use of recent findings about the human brain and how we learn… Make It Stick [is] the single best work I have encountered on the subject. Anyone with an interest in teaching or learning will benefit from reading this book, which not only presents thoroughly grounded research but does so in an eminently readable way that is accessible even to students.

Chronicle of Higher Education - James M. Lang

Anyone who teaches anything would benefit from reading this book: coaches, tutors, classroom teachers, parents, even corporate trainers. Instead of doing what we’ve always done and wondering why some learners just don’t get it, we can take a different approach that’s based on research, even if it seems counterintuitive.

Cult of Pedagogy - Jennifer Gonzales

We have made Make It Stick a touchstone for our instructors…to gain a real advantage for our learners as they tackle some of the toughest work in the world.

Carl Czech

Make It Stick will help you become a much more productive learner. [It] presents a compelling case for why we are attracted to the wrong strategies for learning and teaching―and what we can do to remedy our approaches… In clear language, Make It Stick explains the science underlying how people learn. But the authors don’t simply recite the research; they show readers how it is applied in real-life learning scenarios, with engaging stories of real people in academic, professional, and sports environments… The learning strategies proposed in this book can be implemented immediately, at no cost, and to great effect.

TD Magazine - Stephanie Castellano

If you want to read a lively and engaging book on the science of learning, this is a must… Make It Stick benefits greatly from its use of stories about people who have achieved mastery of complex knowledge and skills. Over the course of the book, the authors weave together stories from an array of learners—surgeons, pilots, gardeners, and school and university students—to illustrate their arguments about how successful learning takes place… This is a rich and resonant book and a pleasurable read that will leave you pondering the processes through which you, and your students, acquire new knowledge and skills.
— Hazel Christie Times Higher Education

Many educators are interested in making use of recent findings about the human brain and how we learn… Make It Stick [is] the single best work I have encountered on the subject. Anyone with an interest in teaching or learning will benefit from reading this book, which not only presents thoroughly grounded research but does so in an eminently readable way that is accessible even to students.
— James M. Lang Chronicle of Higher Education

We have made Make It Stick a touchstone for our instructors…to gain a real advantage for our learners as they tackle some of the toughest work in the world.
— Carl Czech, former Senior Instructional Systems Specialist/Advisor, US Navy SEALs

It is surprising to me [that] we have such highly educated people coming to medical school who haven’t thought that deeply about learning. I feel like we are teaching the gospel of Make it Stick during our first weeks with the students…With the immense time pressure you have as a medical student, the importance of these principles becomes very clear to them.
— Randall King, Harry C. McKenzie Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School

It’s an illuminating read…Learning ability is probably the most important skill you can have. Unfortunately, lots of the techniques for learning that we pick up in school don't help with long-term recall — like cramming or highlighting… For a deeper dig into the science of learning, make sure to pick up Make It Stick.
— Drake Baer Business Insider

Aimed primarily at students, parents, and teachers, Make It Stick also offers practical advice for learners of all ages, at all stages of life… With its credible challenge to conventional wisdom, Make It Stick does point the way forward, with a very real prospect of tangible and enduring benefits.
— Glenn C. Altschuler Psychology Today

Make It Stick will help you become a much more productive learner. [It] presents a compelling case for why we are attracted to the wrong strategies for learning and teaching―and what we can do to remedy our approaches… In clear language, Make It Stick explains the science underlying how people learn. But the authors don’t simply recite the research; they show readers how it is applied in real-life learning scenarios, with engaging stories of real people in academic, professional, and sports environments… The learning strategies proposed in this book can be implemented immediately, at no cost, and to great effect.
— Stephanie Castellano TD Magazine

If I could, I would assign all professors charged with teaching undergraduates one book: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning… It lays out what we know about the science of learning in clear, accessible prose. Every educator—and parent, and student, and professional—ought to have it on their own personal syllabus.
— Annie Murphy Paul, author of The Extended Mind

The authors have provided a great service for educators by capturing the important lessons from decades of research in the learning sciences…It should be highly recommended reading for anyone in the teaching, learning, and training professions.
— Robert H. Bruininks, Professor and President Emeritus, University of Minnesota

This is a quite remarkable book. It describes important research findings with startling implications for how we can improve our own learning, teaching, and coaching. Even more, it shows us how more positive attitudes toward our own abilities—and the willingness to tackle the hard stuff—enables us to achieve our goals. The compelling stories bring the ideas out of the lab and into the real world.
— Robert Bjork, University of California, Los Angeles

Learning is essential and life-long. Yet as these authors argue convincingly, people often use exactly the wrong strategies and don't appreciate the ones that work. We’ve learned a lot in the last decade about applying cognitive science to real-world learning, and this book combines everyday examples with clear explanations of the research. It’s easy to read—and should be easy to learn from, too!
— Daniel L. Schacter, author of The Seven Sins of Memory

Anyone who teaches anything would benefit from reading this book: coaches, tutors, classroom teachers, parents, even corporate trainers. Instead of doing what we’ve always done and wondering why some learners just don’t get it, we can take a different approach that’s based on research, even if it seems counterintuitive.
— Jennifer Gonzales Cult of Pedagogy

From the Publisher

A highly engaging and accessible text that neatly provides the reader with both a thorough grounding in the empirical and theoretical work on durable learning, while also offering specific, actionable recommendations for immediate implementation.

Currents in Teaching and Learning - Kathryn E. Frazier

A lot of what we think we know about learning is wrong, according to 10 years of research carried out by a team of 11 cognitive psychologists. Written by a professional storyteller, this audiobook flows with melodic sentences that are made even more appealing to hear by narrator Qarie Marshall. His effortless-sounding articulation and broad phrasing palette make this a production that listeners can warm up to while they’re absorbing what science tells us about optimal learning. Among the findings is that retention is higher when repetition is deliberate and spaced, and when new information is offered in a variety of contexts and interspersed among lessons on disparate topics. More than aphoristic tips, these are powerful strategies, sometimes counterintuitive, that are already revolutionizing training and education in a variety of realms. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

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