40 pages • 1 hour read
Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDanielMake It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Enduring Learning Requires Effort
No matter which strategies learners employ to absorb and retain knowledge, the process should be active, difficult, and effortful. The authors emphasize this point throughout the book as they discuss different tenets of effective learning, acknowledging its counterintuitive nature. People tend to think that if the learning process is a struggle, they must not be doing it correctly or productively. Learning that feels easier seems more productive—but according to research, “when the mind has to work, learning sticks better” (43).
The authors cite studies that demonstrate this principle in different contexts. In Chapter 2, the authors advocate testing as an effective learning tool. Testing is useful when integrated into a larger process of information synthesis and recall. When tests (in any form, ranging from self-testing with flashcards to in-class quizzes) are spaced out rather than experienced in quick succession, learners have to work harder to retrieve information they might have started to forget. This scenario is especially beneficial for long-term learning.
Chapter 4 further elaborates on the benefits of “desirable difficulties,” a psychological term comprising “short-term impediments that make for stronger learning” in the long-term (68). Difficulty of this sort aids both cognitive learning and motor skills (like those utilized in sports).
The most effective learners apply effort and meet setbacks to work toward new strategies and solutions. Those unwilling to put in effort miss out on valuable learning opportunities.
Learning Is Cumulative and Malleable
One of the central goals of Make It Stick is to entice readers to work toward efficient learning. In explaining how learning and memory function in the brain, the authors prove that efficient, effortful learning produces immeasurable long-term benefits and is a worthy undertaking in any field.
“Learning always builds on a store of prior knowledge,” they explain; “We interpret and remember events by building connections to what we already know” (99). This cognitive function makes humans’ learning capacity essentially limitless. The more a person knows, the broader base they have for understanding new information that may develop or intersect with prior knowledge. The more one knows, the more one can know.
Even information that seems long-forgotten can be recalled if a person encounters or utilizes the proper cues. The authors mention sounds and scents that “[bring] back a memory in full force, even some episode you have not thought about in years” (79). In such cases, information long committed to long-term memory can be accessed under the right circumstances via relevant connections.
Though these connections remain intact, people often need to amend cues and do some relearning should they encounter new applications of their knowledge. When the brain recalls information and puts it to use, it then reconsolidates this information back into long-term memory. Reconsolidating allows for revision. The authors explain, “Effortful retrieval both strengthens […] memory but also makes the learning pliable again” (100). Pliability allows memories to be updated and made meaningful in new contexts.
The brain’s functions allow people to be lifelong learners. A functional brain can continually take in new information and access its archive of preexisting, stored information for revision and growth (i.e., neuroplasticity).
Metacognition Aids Cognition
At various points in the book, the authors discuss metacognition, which can be defined as thinking about thinking. This self-awareness can be helpful because it forces people to take stock of their progress and train themselves in new behaviors (like utilizing more effective learning strategies). The authors explain, “Learning to be accurate self-observers helps us to stay out of blind alleys, make good decisions, and reflect on how we might do better next time” (102). However, perceptions and opinions can easily deceive; people are not necessarily good judges of their own abilities and limitations.
Chapter 5 discusses these “illusions of knowing”—different cognitive functions that distort information as people attempt to learn it, or otherwise hinder learning by convincing people of false mastery. The authors elaborate on a phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect, named after the psychologists who studied it. Their work proved that incompetent people (at any given task) were very likely to overestimate their abilities and “[fail] to sense a mismatch between their performance and what is desirable, [and] see no need to try to improve” (121). This work also revealed that overestimation of competence is reversible: Participants who initially misjudged their level of competence received logic training, after which they more accurately assessed their performances. With accurate metacognition, a person can track their areas of improvement and take the necessary steps toward mastery by redirecting their efforts accordingly.
Make It Stick invites readers to be metacognitive, to consider different aspects of learning and memory. Readers are asked to think about thinking.
