Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

“Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in the sand, here today and gone tomorrow.”

The authors stress effort because many normalized learning strategies are fairly passive (for example, rereading for the sake of memorization). The education science discussed in the book calls for more active and difficult approaches to learning, which the authors claim make learned material more thoroughly embedded.

“We are poor judges of when we are learning well and when we’re not.”

The authors continually explain that the best learning practices are counterintuitive and go against common practice in Western education systems. As individuals are subjective when it comes to gauging their own learning, they often mistake a struggle to remember information as a sign that learning isn’t working instead of understanding effort as an integral part of the process. Important Quotes 1-2 intersect: People are poor judges of learning because they misunderstand learning.

“Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know. The more you can explain about the way your new learning relates to your prior knowledge, the stronger your grasp of the new learning will be, and the more connections you create that will help you remember it later.”

A suggested learning strategy, elaborating on new material—explaining it in one’s own words and making connections with prior knowledge—is both effortful and productive. Another key takeaway from this quote is “meaning”—as learning requires meaningful engagement. If information does not seem important, it is much harder to learn. Elaboration is one strategy that learners can use to imbue new content with meaning and relevance.