Make It Stick

Foundational Principles of Learning and Memory\n\n* The Definition of Learning: In the context of this scientific approach, learning is defined as acquiring knowledge and skills and having them readily available from memory so that an individual can make sense of future problems and opportunities.\n* Memory as the Core of Utility: For learning to be useful, it requires memory so that what has been learned is still available later when it is needed. Learning is an acquired skill, and the most effective strategies are often counterintuitive.\n* The Cognitive Scientists behind the Research: Much of the book is a result of a ten-year collaboration among eleven cognitive psychologists, funded in 2002 by a James S. McDonnell Foundation grant titled \"Applying Cognitive Psychology to Enhance Educational Practice,\" with Henry L. Roediger III as the principal investigator.\n* Case Study: Matt Brown (Pilot): Early in his career, Matt Brown experienced a drop in oil pressure in a twin-engine Cessna 401 at 11,000 feet. Because he had deep-seated knowledge and mental models of the plane\u2019s tolerances, he was able to follow a mental checklist, shut down the ailing right engine, and make a wide left-hand turn to maintain the necessary lift for a touchdown. This illustrates the importance of having knowledge readily available from memory in high-stakes situations.\n\n# The Fallacy of Rereading and Massed Practice\n\n* The Myth of Mastery through Exposure: Many students and teachers believe that sheer repetition or exposure leads to long-term memory (e.g., the St. Louis Post-Dispatch advice to \u201crepeat, repeat, repeat\"). However, research shows that gains achieved during \"massed practice\" (cramming) are transitory and melt away quickly.\n* The Pitfalls of Rereading: Rereading is the #1 study strategy for about 80 percent of college students. It has \"three strikes\" against it: it is time-consuming, it does not result in durable memory, and it creates a unwitting self-deception known as the \"illusion of mastery\" where familiarity with the text is mistaken for understanding the underlying concepts.\n* Empirical Evidence from Endel Tulving: In the mid-1960s, Tulving found that prior exposure to a list of nouns did not enhance later recall—the learning curves for those who had read the list previously and those who had not were statistically indistinguishable. Mere repetition without active retrieval does not lead to good long-term memory.\n* The St. Louis Middle School Science Experiment: In a study at a middle school in Columbia, Illinois, material that was quizzed resulted in students averaging an A-, while material that was only reviewed (read three times) resulted in a C+.\n\n# Retrieval Practice: The Testing Effect\n\n* The Testing Effect Defined: Also known as the retrieval-practice effect, this is the phenomenon where the act of retrieving knowledge from memory makes that knowledge easier to call up again in the future. It \"ties the knot\" for memory.\n* Aristotle and Bacon: The power of retrieval has historical roots; Aristotle wrote, \"exercise in repeatedly recalling a thing strengthens the memory,\" and Francis Bacon also noted the phenomenon.\n* The Forgetting Curve: Based on the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885), humans lose approximately 70 percent of what they hear or read in very short order, after which forgetting slows down.\n* Recitation as a Factor: A 1917 study showed that children who spent roughly 60 percent of their study time in silent recitation (looking up from the page and recalling) had significantly better retention than those who merely reread.\n* Delayed vs. Immediate Feedback: Research indicates that giving corrective feedback strengthens retention. Counterintuitively, some evidence shows that delaying feedback briefly produces better long-term learning than immediate feedback, as it allows for a period of spaced practice.\n* Transfer of Learning: Retrieval practice facilitates the transfer of knowledge to new contexts and problems, helping learners discern the underlying principles rather than just memorizing surface features.\n\n# Spacing, Interleaving, and Varied Practice\n\n* Massed vs. Spaced Practice: While massed practice (repeatedly doing one thing) shows immediate improvement, this is \"momentary strength.\" Spaced practice (leaving time between sessions) builds \"underlying habit strength\" and allows for memory consolidation.\n* Consolidation: The process where memory traces (brain representations of learning) are strengthened, given meaning, and connected to prior knowledge. This process unfolds over hours and sometimes days.\n* The Leitner Box: A system developed by Sebastian Leitner for spacing practice using flashcards. Cards missed are practiced frequently (Box 1), while cards correctly answered are moved to boxes