Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

A vocabulary flashcard deck defining ten central cognitive and educational concepts from Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.

Retrieval Practice

The act of recalling facts, concepts, or events from memory, which interrupts forgetting and strengthens neural pathways far more effectively than rereading.

Massed Practice

The single-minded, rapid-fire repetition of a specific skill or topic (such as cramming), which produces fast but fleeting gains rooted in short-term memory.

Spaced Practice

Studying or practicing in separate sessions over time with intervals in between, allowing a little forgetting to set in so that reconstructing the memory requires more effort.

Interleaved Practice

Mixing the study or practice of two or more distinct but related topics or problem types, improving discrimination skills and long-term retention compared to blocked practice.

Elaboration

The process of giving new material additional layers of meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with prior knowledge and concrete examples.

Desirable Difficulties

Short-term impediments during learning—such as spacing, interleaving, and varied practice—that require more cognitive effort and slow apparent gains, but produce stronger and more durable retention.

Mental Model

A mental representation of an external reality that fuses a complex set of interrelated ideas or motor skills into a cohesive, highly efficient structure adaptable to varied situations.

Generation

The act of attempting to answer a question or solve a problem before being provided with the answer or solution, which primes the mind to encode the correct information more deeply.

Consolidation

The neurological process taking place over hours or days in which the brain stabilizes and reorganizes memory traces, giving them meaning and integrating them into long-term storage.

Metacognition

The monitoring of one's own thinking and knowledge, specifically referring to what a learner knows about what they know and their ability to accurately judge their own competence.