Book Review: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel

Summarised in one quote

“How we teach and study is largely a mix of theory, lore, and intuition. But over the last forty years and more, cognitive psychologists have been working to build a body of evidence to clarify what works and to discover the strategies that get results.” (p.8)

I liked Make It Stick‘s solid grounding in sound cognitive theory, and it succeeded in enhancing my understanding about how to utilise the mind to make facts stay put. My criticism is that the book’s narrative feels a little unfocussed and could have benefitted from being half as long.

Recommended if you want to:

• Build awareness about the best practices that have been psychologically proven to increase the effectiveness of learning
• Understand how the brain absorbs and retains information
• Gain confidence in the fact that intellectual abilities are not fixed from birth, but are ours to shape
• Appreciate that real learning is never easy

Stories to Remember

Most non-fiction books use storytelling to hit home their points. Here is a selection of my favourite anecdotes from this book, and where to find them.

The Forgotten Fire Extinguisher (p.13)

Story: A group of professors and faculty members participated in a study that asked them to identify the nearest fire extinguisher from their office. Most failed the test.

A little perturbed, one psychology professor who failed the test decided to look for the fire extinguisher closest to his office. To his surprise, he found it just inches away from his office door knob, which he has turned countless times over 25 years of work.

Meaning: Repetitive exposure does not lead to retention. Just because you look at a piece of information (or a bright red extinguisher) multiple times, doesn’t mean that information is ‘burned’ into your mind. Instead information needs context and purpose to stick.

Beanbags and Buckets (p.46)

Story: A group of eight year olds practised tossing beanbags into buckets in gym class. Half of the kids tossed into a bucket three feet away, and the other half switched between a bucket that was two and four feet away.

After twelve weeks of repeated practice, the kids were tested on their ability to throw into a bucket three feet away. The second half — the children who had been alternating their throwing between two and four feet — were far better than that those who had just practised three.

Meaning: This story debunks the myth of masses practice. In fact, by interleaving and spacing practice, you become a better practitioner.

Memories Made Are Never Forgotten (p.79)

Story: Have you ever been surprised by the memories that flood back when you connect with an object or person from your past? It could be the taste of a cake dipped in lime blossom tea your dad used to make, or meeting your best friend from primary school.

Meaning: We think of memories as being forgotten over time, but it’s often not the memories that fade away, but the path to those memories. Arguably nothing is really forgotten by the brain, the trick is establishing hooks and building context around memories that make them easily accessible when they’re needed.

Brazilian Business Children (p.119)

Story: A series of studies looked at orphaned children in Brazil who are forced to start and run street businesses if they are to survive (or thieve which can put them at risk from the death squads). These children perform the maths required to run a successful business every day, but when presented an abstract pen-and-paper maths problem at the same difficulty level, they cannot do it.

Meaning: Psychologist Robert Sternberg concludes that there are different types of intelligence: analytical, creative and practical. The kids had gained practical intelligence, yet their analytical intelligence was still under developed.

Smarts vs Hard Work (p.225)

Story: A group of fifth-graders were individually given a puzzle to solve. Some of the students who solved the puzzle were praised for being smart; the other students who solve it are praised for having worked hard. The students are then invited to choose another puzzle: either of similar difficulty or one that’s harder but they could learn from.

Those who had been praised for being smart mostly opted for a similar puzzle, whereas those commended for working hard chose the harder puzzle.

Meaning: Dweck, the researcher on this study, concluded that “emphasising natural intelligence takes it out of a child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure”.

As always, these brief anecdotes cover a small fraction of the themes explored in the full book. If you like what you’re reading, consider buying the book!

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