BOOK SUMMARY 124 Make it Stick
·
Summary written by: Matt Tod
"For the most part, we are going about
learning in the wrong ways, and we are giving poor advice to those who are
coming up behind us."
- Make it Stick, page 21
Make
it Stick is about learning.
Rather,
it’s about revisiting what we’ve been taught about learning, looking at the
science and research of learning, and suggesting new ways for us to learn
better, more effectively, and in a way that sticks.
It
covers topics such as learning design (the section on testing will rock your
world if you’re a teacher or trainer), as well as how to make the most of your learning.
The Golden Egg
If you want to make learning stick, you’ve got to put in
the effort
"No
matter what you may set your sights on doing or becoming, if you want to be a
contender, it’s mastering the ability to learn that will get you in the game
and keep you there."- Make it Stick, page 200
Generally,
we seem to misunderstand learning. We’ve been taught and lead to believe that
learning should just happen, that it should be easy, or that it doesn’t take
effort.
The
research suggests it does.
The
authors help us understand that rereading text and massed practice (of a skill
or new knowledge) seem to be the preferred strategy to study, they are also the
least productive.
Did
you get that?
For a
lot of us, we’ve spent our whole academic lives rereading textbooks and
cramming for long hours at a time with the false belief that it will improve
our learning and retention of that information or skill.
And
though the brain isn’t a muscle that gets stronger with exercise, we do
increase our neural pathways when memories are retrieved and learning is
practiced.
Where
we can often fall short is in how we practice and retrieve
those memories.
Gem #1
Use testing as a tool for learning, not a way to measure
it
"A
fear of failure can poison learning by creating aversions to the kinds of
experimentation and risk-taking that characterize striving, or by diminishing
performance under pressure, as in a test setting."- Make it Stick, page 90
Ok,
this one’s going to be a little bit hard for some of us to swallow. The authors
address this right in the beginning. There’s been a growing focus over the
years on using (standardized) testing as a way to measure whether or not
students, teachers and school boards are meeting their educational goals. How’s
that working out?
What
if we stopped thinking about testing as a dipstick to measure learning and
starting using it as a tool for improving it?
The
authors tell us that one of the most significant research findings on this
topic is using active retrieval (testing) to strengthen memory. The findings
suggest that the more effortful the retrieval, the stronger the benefit. This
goes back to the first point: effort equals stronger learning.
So how
do we do this?
·
Quiz early, quiz
often. When we do, we make learning stick.
Psychologists call this the “testing effect”. To be most effective, retrieval
has to be repeated over and over, spaced out over a period of time so that it
becomes effortful. One study showed that when students read a passage of text
and took a test asking them to recall what they read, they retained 50% more of
the information a week later than those who read the same text but did not get
tested. 50%!!
·
Provide feedback, not
consequences. Testing doesn’t have to have marks associated
with it to be effective. In fact, the opposite might be true. A study of an 8th grade
science class showed that when students were provided with low-stakes quizzing
and feedback three times in the semester, they out performed students who only
reviewed the material (but were never quizzed).
·
Teach students how to quiz
themselves. Self-quizzing is one of the best habits a
learner can create. It immediately helps learners identify their areas of
strength and weakness with a topic and helps to create a more informed and
beneficial learning strategy. When we don’t quiz ourselves we tend to
overestimate how well we’ve mastered the material.
Move beyond learning styles and focus on mindset
"The
idea that individuals have distinct learning styles has been around long enough
to become part of the folklore of educational practice and an integral part of how
many people perceive themselves."- Make it Stick, page 131
At
some point or another we’ve all probably found ourselves telling a teacher, a
professor, or maybe a trainer, that we just don’t do well sitting in a
classroom listening to a lecture, or that we don’t retain information unless we
can review the slides after.
It’s
easy to think that we’re at a disadvantage if an instructor is presenting us
with information in a way that we don’t connect with. And though it’s true we
have preferences for how we would like to learn, the authors show us that we
don’t necessarily learn any better when the instruction lines up with those
preferences.
Rather
than being focused on learning styles, what seems to make the biggest
difference in how people learn is how you see yourself and your
abilities.
It’s
your mindset. The research by Standford professor, Carol Dweck, suggests that
most of us have one of two kinds of mindset—or how we view the external world
and our abilities in it.
Having
a “growth mindset” is really holding the belief that your intelligence is
largely within your own control.
What
we know when it comes to mindset and learning is that if you have a growth
mindset, it’s important to focus on learning goals over performance goals and
with effort and practice, you can increase your learning and your intellectual
ability.
Here’s
why: When you try hard and learn something new, the brain forms new connections
(remember those neural pathways we talked about?), and these new connections,
over time, increase your intelligence.
When
it comes to learning, mindset seems to be a difference that matters more than
others.
This,
in part, is why it’s better to focus on mindset than on learning styles.
Based
on a commissioned review to investigate this claim, a team of researchers found
that though it seems to make sense that people do better when they are provided
information in a format that aligns with their learning preference, the review
showed that there are actually very few studies that are actually designed to be
capable of testing this.
What
the review also showed is that it is more important that the mode of
instruction match the nature of the subject being taught.
This
book has the potential to be a game-changer in any formal (or informal)
learning environment.
Written
in a way that is based on science but easy enough to understand by most, this
book will easily be a regular reference for me and my team as we continue to
design learning experiences.
Perhaps
the most valuable part of the book comes at the end, where the authors provide
tips, strategies, tools and case studies for students, life-long learners,
educators and trainers.
When
it comes down to it, it’s about being more effective in our learning and
getting a greater return on investment (ROI) for our time and energy. It helps
to show that the strategies and old-school way of learning just aren’t cutting
it in the 21st century workplace or education system and what
we can do about it.
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