Learning
Edition 09 | September 2025
Bookmarked
Discover thought-provoking book recommendations tailored for educators. Each pick includes
a concise synopsis and actionable takeaways to inspire and enrich teaching practices.
Overview:
Make It Stick overturns many of our assumptions about how learning works. We often believe that
the best teaching should make learning easy and tailored to ‘learning styles’. The authors challenge
these ideas, showing instead, that effective learning is often a deliberate and effortful process.
Drawing on decades of cognitive psychology research, they demonstrate that strategies such as
rereading, highlighting, and cramming create only the illusion of mastery.
Real learning happens when memory is actively engaged—through retrieval, spacing, and varied practice. These ‘desirable difficulties’ feel harder in the moment but produce deeper understanding and longer-lasting retention. The book bridges science and practice, demonstrating how teachers, students, and lifelong learners can move away from short-term performance and towards durable knowledge that transfers to new situations.
Real learning happens when memory is actively engaged—through retrieval, spacing, and varied practice. These ‘desirable difficulties’ feel harder in the moment but produce deeper understanding and longer-lasting retention. The book bridges science and practice, demonstrating how teachers, students, and lifelong learners can move away from short-term performance and towards durable knowledge that transfers to new situations.
Why Teachers Will Find This Useful:
Teachers will see immediate classroom applications in this book. It offers research-backed
strategies that strengthen learning without requiring big changes in curriculum:
- Retrieval Practice: Incorporate recall activities into lessons so students actively retrieve information from memory.
- Spacing: Spread review sessions over time to make forgetting work for, not against, students.
- Interleaving:Mix problem types or topics to develop flexible thinking.
- Desirable Difficulties: Use manageable challenges to deepen mastery rather than smooth repetition.
Why We Recommend It:
This book is powerful because it reframes struggle as a positive force. What feels difficult is often
the very thing that cements learning. For teachers, this is a call to move away from practices that
comfort students in the short term but leave gaps later. Make It Stick is not just about study
techniques—it is about rethinking how classrooms cultivate resilience, adaptability, and real
understanding.
At a time when exams still dominate how students measure success, this book is a reminder that true learning is about more than immediate performance. It is about preparing students to apply knowledge to new challenges long after they leave school.
At a time when exams still dominate how students measure success, this book is a reminder that true learning is about more than immediate performance. It is about preparing students to apply knowledge to new challenges long after they leave school.
Interesting and Actionable Takeaways:
- Easy learning is often shallow; effortful learning leads to durable knowledge.
- Frequent retrieval practice strengthens memory more than re-reading.
- Mixing subjects or problem types helps students transfer knowledge across contexts
- Waiting until some forgetting occurs before revisiting material deepens retention.
Zoom-in Excerpts:
“Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand,
here today and gone tomorrow.”
— Brown, Roediger, McDaniel, Make It Stick
Explanation:
This quote captures the core argument: that teachers should not equate smooth performance with
true understanding. By designing lessons that require recall, revisiting older material after a gap,
and combining topics in varied ways, teachers help students build knowledge that lasts. The
temporary discomfort of effort signals that real learning is happening.
Key strategies teachers can take from this:
- Replace highlighting and rote revision with regular retrieval tasks such as low-stakes quizzes.
- Space review sessions across days or weeks to strengthen long-term memory.
- Mix problem types in homework and assessments to build transfer and adaptability.
- Reframe struggle in the classroom as a sign of progress rather than a setback.
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