Book and Media Review pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Review of Make It Stick: The Science of Successf ul Learning Scott Smidt* Laramie County Community College, Albany County Campus, Laramie, Wyoming 82070, United States Retrieval practice requires learners to test themselves over the information; the improved ability to recall information after testing (as opposed to simply rereading a textbook or notes) is sometimes referred to as the testing effect. By practicing the retrieval of information, learners solidify its place in long-term memory, interrupt the process of forgetting, and strengthen the cues used to recall the information. However, the authors are careful to point out that they are not recommending massed practice (otherwise known as cramminglong, repetitive bouts of testing over the same material). Instead, as the authors explain, episodes of practice should be spaced apart if you are interested in more than short-term recall. As helpful as the information is about what does work, the information about what does not work is equally valuable: Why is it that massed practice seems so beneficial to students, but ends up not producing long-term learning? Why is it that rereading the textbook or notes (with the associated underlining and highlighting) can lead students to think they have learned more than they really have? These common yet less effective study habits divert students’ time away from more powerful and efficient techniques such as retrieval practice. The ability to explain to distraught students (who might have worked hard at rereading the class notes but failed to achieve the desired grade) why simply rereading the class notes is not always effective is a beneficial service we can perform for students. Make It Stick: The Science of Successf ul Learning is a wonderful summary of how to anchor information more securely in memory and recall it more assuredly. It does not contain (or pretend to contain) all that needs to be said about teaching and learning, and all of our problems as educators will not be solved by reading this one book. (For example, it says nothing about motivation, time management, or how teachers and students can optimize the initial exposure to information.) Nevertheless, it is a book worth reading and passing on to our students.
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. Belknap Press, an imprint of Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2014. 336 pp. ISBN: 9780674729018 (hardcover). $27.95.
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hatever else might be involved, I think most of us can agree that learning something implies that information has been stored in memory, and we have the ability to recall that information when needed. Another way of putting it: learning includes getting information in and getting it out. But the difficulties masked by that simple phrase are considerable, are they not? I suspect that anyone who has taught the second course in a two-semester chemistry sequence has experience with students forgetting something they learned in the first semester. Or perhaps something learned early in the semester has been forgotten by the end of the semester. What to do? For any instructor with this problem, a worthwhile first step would be a tour through the pages of the book, Make It Stick.
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Book cover from Make it Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel appears courtesy of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 2014 by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel.
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The book makes a strong, research-based case for techniques to consolidate and retrieve memories effectively (and why they work). Best of all, it accomplishes this in only eight readerfriendly chapters, in which each chapter weaves together personal stories that illustrate the principle being presented and clear descriptions of the research from which the principle springs. The annotated endnotes will aid readers wishing to consult the primary literature. The book begins with an overview of the claims the authors make, and ends with practical recommendations for students, teachers, lifelong learners, and those who provide professional training. Much of the focus of the six intervening chapters highlights one technique, retrieval practice, and factors that modulate its effectiveness as a study strategy. © 2014 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: October 21, 2014 1757
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed5006135 | J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 1757−1757
