Sticky learning
Do you sometimes wonder why you cannot recall all the stuff you read? Why all the learning does not STICK? Then this segment is for you and me. Reader Jairam Kulkarni recommended a book called Make it Stick. The site is called CultOfPedagogy.com where a teacher read this book in the summer of 2015 and made some notes and videos.
The book Make it Stick has some interesting ideas about how to remember what you learn - and no this is not rote learning. Rote learning is mechanically recalling what you read. This book is about retrieving information when you need to. Read more
Some ideas you can try:
Quizzes are powerful ways to make learning stick. When you teach someone something, add a quiz (not a multiple choice quiz). But it should be something where the person has to explain the idea in their own words. That is a powerful way to make learning stick. The process of trying to retrieve skills and information from memory reinforces the learning more effectively than simply reviewing it. Learning will be better if students have to try to recall the information instead of just recognising it.
Practicing the new skill regularly helps. Doing 5 math problems every day for four days is better than doing 20 of them on one day.
This teacher made videos of her reflections about the various chapters in the book. This was her reading for the summer of 2015. She made some videos about the book <watch them>
