Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown offers evidence-based insights on effective learning strategies, debunking myths, and exploring the cognitive science behind it.
The Illusion of Mastery
Beware the dangers of merely re-reading the material or highlighting text; these practices don’t lead to mastery but create an illusion of knowledge.
Instead, engage in active learning strategies such as self-testing and problem-solving exercises.
Make Mistakes and Create Variety
Mistakes are a crucial part of gaining knowledge.
When encountering difficulties, seek diverse problems and solutions to learn effectively.
Encourage mistakes and curiosity to foster learning resilience and lasting memory.
Avoiding the Fluency Trap
Ease of processing information shouldn’t be mistaken for mastery.
It is crucial to challenge oneself in learning to ensure long-lasting knowledge.
Diverse and complex tasks encourage genuine understanding.
Lifelong Learning
Adopt an open, flexible approach toward learning throughout life, embracing new experiences, and overcoming challenges.
Lifelong learning fuels personal development, career success, and healthy aging.
Overcoming Metacognition Limits
People often misjudge their own learning, believing they understand something when they don’t.
Actively addressing these metacognitive limitations involves testing oneself, seeking feedback, and adopting a growth mindset.
Spacing and Interleaving
Space out learning sessions and interleave different topics to enhance long-term retention.
This challenges the brain to maintain attention and enables stronger neural connections, preventing overload and enabling better recall.
Active Learning Beats Passive
Active learning is superior to passive learning.
Active learning includes self-testing, teaching others and problem-solving, whereas passive learning involves re-reading or re-watching material.
Engaging with the material leads to deeper understanding and retention.
Calibration and Feedback
Timely feedback and calibration are important components of successful learning.
Accurate self-assessment, feedback from others, and adjusting strategies are vital for growth, development, and mastery of a subject.
Elaboration and Reflection
Use elaboration and reflection to boost learning.
Delve deeper into the subject by explaining concepts, linking them to existing knowledge, and reflecting on application.
It improves understanding and fosters independent thinking.
Retrieval Practice
Testing oneself is an effective learning strategy.
Retrieval practice solidifies memories, highlighting areas of weakness, and sustaining long-term retention.
Repeated exposure reinforces neural connections and retrieval becomes easier.
