Picking up this book, the first thing that came to mind was, Is there really an easy way out?
With a major exam that will determine if I make it to the next stage of my medical career fast approaching, I was least to say, worried.
Taking the time to read through this book I sought a way to make my workload easier.
As straightforward as it is named, Make it Stick is a book that gives an evidence-based approach to learning anything.
From academic learning to learning a skill, it highlights the best proven, emphasis on "proven" ways to learn shown by several experiments on real-life people.
We learn every day and at every point in our lives. Wouldn't it be a great deal then to learn how to learn?
These are 5 major lessons from Make it Stick:
1. Retrieval
To recall from memory.
Most methods used by students to learn are often not very effective. There are better ways to go about learning. The problem is that these methods are not always intuitive.
Techniques like repeated reading feel productive but it is most times an illusion of memory.
Fluency with text, the ease with which a text is read with each repitition, gives false confidence that the subject to be learned has been committed to memory.
It may seem obvious, but so many students learn this way. This is why learning how to learn is just as important as the learning itself.
To be clear, revising, and going back to what has been read is not the problem, the method used to approach it is what makes all the difference.
Retrieval, which is the conscious effort to remember what you've read helps strengthen the memory.
Neural pathways connect the brain (ironic that I was also learning about neural pathways in school). The more effort is taken to recall information the stronger the pathway to that information in the brain.
Mere exposure to material over and over again does nothing to strengthen this pathway and even worse gives the illusion of mastery.
Try this little experiment. Rather than writing notes in your next class, write down questions and try answering them later from what you remember from class.
Don't cheat. Answer them all before checking if you got them right. You'll find that it sticks better.
2. Spaced retrieval
Reading en-masse a few weeks before exams is very common among students.
I mean, I know several brilliant students that do this and perform just fine or even excellently well.
Some are even bold enough to start reading an entire semester's worth of workload a few nights before exams.
But this practice is tricky, and gives diminishing returns in the long run.
Not everyone gets away with it. Those that do hardly remember what was learned after a few months. Also, professions like medicine and engineering require constant use of previously learned knowledge. How do you go around that?
Spaced retrieval and mass cramming are polar opposites that correspond to long-term and short-term memory respectively.
Material learned by massed practice gets stored up in short-term memory. The illusion of mastery that comes with this repeated practice is a real danger.
After a while, the knowledge that seemed so mastered is no longer retrievable. This is the pitfall of short-term memory. It's like a mirage. The pool of water you see in front of you on a journey, only for you to get to it and find nothing.
Spacing retrieval on the other hand deepens the neural connections to that knowledge with each struggle, with each effort, to remember what has been learned.
Effortful learning changes the brain. Why bother? because the effort itself extends the limit of our ability. The more we do the more we can do.
The cognitive action of the brain is why you run away from a fire and not toward it. This very basic automatic action doesn't need to be thought through. It happens by reflex.
A few examples show how spaced retieval can be your cheat code to master anything.
When learning to drive, it's a little awkward at first. Your movements are unsure and total concentration is required. With time you get better and more fluid, and you become a great driver.
However, no matter how well you've learned to drive, if you stop driving for let's say 5 years, the next time you get behind a wheel, you are sure to break a sweat.
The greatest footballers have a reputation for constant relentless practice. Lionel Messi will not refuse to practice for a game because he's already good.
A continuation of our little experiment from the first point (retrieval)
Revisit your follow up questions from your last class after 2 days. Try recalling on your own and checking for corrections afterward. Repeat after a week, then after 2.
Before you know it you would have mastered the material.
3. Interleaved practice
A group of people were put up with the task of identifying different species of birds, the characteristics of each listed out together with its image.
This group was further divided into 2 groups based on how to go about learning these various species. One group was to practice learning all the characteristics of one specific specie before moving on to the next.
The other would learn a characteristic of one specie and before they had fully mastered it that specie was switched with another and before that one was mastered it was switched again and on and on.
Which group will find the learning easier?
As you would expect, the first group appeared to fully master one specie before moving to another and had confidence in their mastery.
The second group on the other hand were frustrated because they felt they had not fully grasped any specie.
Well, the result of this little experiment showed that after a test, group 2 members were able to identify the various species better by a larger margin than group 1.
The reason for this is not far-fetched. Interleaving learning helps the brain to recognize similarities and differences better giving a fuller picture. So although tedious, it yields better results than learning one at a time.
The best learning methods are often counterintuitive. They feel effortful and uncomfortable but are better in the long run.
If you had 3 topics to read under biology. The reproductive system, respiratory system, and digestive system, it would pay more to interleave your study than learn one at a time.
There is a better understanding of the similarities and differences among these systems, strengthening your overall knowledge in the long term.
4. Generation
Any attempt to answer a question not already known strengthens neural pathways in preparation for the right answer.
As opposed to diving straight into new material, trying to generate answers first is a better alternative.
The chances of remembering your answer to an unknown question asked in class are greater than if the teacher just tells you everything you need to know.
Even when your answer is wrong, the correction given sticks better. Questions engage the brain, unlike passive listening.
A lot of students don't gain much from classes that are only lecture-based. The brain is not stimulated enough by this passive listening.
Constant questioning, generating answers beforehand and active recall keep the memory alive. Long term memory is favored over short term.
5. Mnemonics
MR NIGER D,
The popular mnemonic most of us learnt in biology. Mnemonics are a great way to learn with bonus points for being fun to make up.
Despite this so many struggle with learning with mnemonics. Why?
Mnemonics are a means to an end and not the end itself. The end being what you are trying to learn. Mnemonics serve as a switch to trigger faster recall of learned material. It only works after you've mastered the material.
When faced with a huge workload , it might be difficult to recall what you already know
because of the sheer magnitude especially in a tensed exam environment. Mnemonics help reduce your recall time.
But, you can not mnemonic yourself out of actually learning else you end up remembering the mnemonic and not the knowledge.
Use mnemonics as a means and not an end.
Conclusion.
Some of the best learning methods include:
Retrieval
Spaced retrieval
Interleaved learning
Generation
Mnemonics
You now have great weapons to make your learning stick!
Amazing🔥