Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

by Peter C. Brown

want to hone their skills so as to stay in the game. While much remains to be known about learning and its neural underpinnings, a large body of research has yielded principles and practical strategies that can be put to work immediately, at no cost, and to great effect. 1

Trying to solve a problem before being taught the solution leads to better learning, even when errors are made in the attempt.

“one cannot apply what one knows in a practical manner if one does not know anything to apply.”

Reflection can involve several cognitive activities that lead to stronger learning: retrieving knowledge and earlier training from memory, connecting these to new experiences, and visualizing and mentally rehearsing what you might do differently next time.

To be most effective, retrieval must be repeated again and again, in spaced out sessions so that the recall, rather than becoming a mindless recitation, requires some cognitive effort.

If memorization is irrelevant to complex problem solving, don’t tell your neurosurgeon.

After a test, students spend more time restudying the material they missed, and they learn more from it than do their peers who restudy the material without having been tested.

We’re easily seduced into believing that learning is better when it’s easier, but the research shows the opposite: when the mind has to work, learning sticks better. The greater the effort to retrieve learning, provided that you succeed, the more that learning is strengthened by retrieval.

you have to keep practicing the fundamentals from time to time, forever, so you keep them sharp, otherwise you’re cooked,

It’s one thing to feel confident of your knowledge; it’s something else to demonstrate mastery.

the easier knowledge or a skill is for you to retrieve, the less your retrieval practice will benefit your retention of it. Conversely, the more effort you have to expend to retrieve knowledge or skill, the more the practice of retrieval will entrench it.

Our understanding of the world is shaped by a hunger for narrative that rises out of our discomfort with ambiguity and arbitrary events.