Retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and the science of retention.
The concepts below are paraphrased from Make It Stick; no book wording is reused. Each concept carries provenance pointers back to the chapter or section of the source.
Concepts drawn from this book (40)
- Analogy and Transfer : Comprehension & Depth
Analogy is the process of mapping a familiar situation onto a new one in order to bootstrap understanding when direct experience is missing. - Beyond Learning Styles : Learning Style & Aptitude
The popular claim that matching instruction to a learner's preferred style (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) improves learning is not supported by evidence; using multiple modalities works better. - Calibration : Metacognition & Self-Regulation
Calibration is the alignment between how confident you feel that you know something and whether you can actually perform under retrieval. - Chunking : Comprehension & Depth
Chunking is the process of binding individual pieces of information into a single meaningful unit so that the unit, not its parts, occupies working memory. - Code Review and Testing as Learning : Programming & Skill Acquisition
Code review and testing are feedback mechanisms that surface mistakes, share idioms, and make invisible reasoning visible to the learner. - Comfort with Failure : Motivation & Emotion
Comfort with failure is the willingness to make errors in practice because errors are the most informative signal for learning, not a verdict on ability. - Deep Encoding Strategies : Memory & Encoding
Encoding strategies are the techniques learners use to give new material meaning at the moment of study: connecting it to prior knowledge, imagery, emotion, or action. - Deep Processing : Comprehension & Depth
Deep processing is engaging with material at the level of meaning and connection rather than at the level of surface features or rote repetition. - Defining Learning : Foundations of Learning
Learning is the durable change in knowledge or skill that lets you respond to situations you could not handle before, and that survives time away from the material. - Deliberate Practice : Motivation & Emotion
Deliberate practice is structured, focused effort aimed at improving a specific aspect of performance, with immediate feedback and progressive difficulty. - Deliberate Practice in Code : Programming & Skill Acquisition
Deliberate practice in code means picking specific weaknesses (algorithm patterns, language idioms, debugging skills) and practising them with feedback beyond your current level. - Desirable Difficulties : Productive Struggle & Difficulty
Desirable difficulties are learning conditions that feel harder in the moment but produce stronger, more durable, more flexible learning than easy conditions. - Dual Coding : Memory & Encoding
Dual coding is the practice of representing new information in two complementary forms (verbal and visual) so that both channels support memory. - Elaboration : Comprehension & Depth
Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it to what you already know. - Feedback Loops : Project-Based Learning
A feedback loop is any signal that tells you whether what you just did worked, so that the next attempt can be adjusted. - Flashcard Systems : Recall & Retrieval
A flashcard system pairs a prompt with a recall task, so that every review is an act of retrieval rather than recognition. - Formative Assessment : Test & Assessment
Formative assessment is the ongoing measurement of learning during the learning process, used to adjust instruction rather than to certify outcomes. - Free Recall : Recall & Retrieval
Free recall is the practice of reproducing what you remember about a topic without prompts, lists, or cues. - Frustration Tolerance : Productive Struggle & Difficulty
Frustration tolerance is the ability to remain engaged with a hard task without switching to avoidance or anger, so that productive struggle can do its work. - Illusions of Knowing : Metacognition & Self-Regulation
Illusions of knowing are the false confidence that comes from familiar re-encounter with material; you feel you have learned because you recognise the words, but you cannot retrieve or apply the content. - Interleaving : Practice & Spacing
Interleaving is the practice of mixing different but related topics or problem types within a single study session, instead of blocking practice on one type at a time. - Learning Is a Skill : Foundations of Learning
Learning is the deliberate construction of knowledge and skill so it becomes readily available from memory when you face new problems and opportunities. - Learning Journal : Metacognition & Self-Regulation
A learning journal is a written record of what you studied, what you tested yourself on, what you failed to retrieve, and what you plan to do next. - Long-Term Memory : Memory & Encoding
Long-term memory is the brain's high-capacity store of schemas, concepts, and procedures that persist over days, months, and years when they are revisited and connected. - Low-Stakes Testing : Test & Assessment
Low-stakes testing is the practice of giving frequent, low-pressure retrieval tests that exist to drive learning rather than to grade it. - Massed Practice : Practice & Spacing
Massed practice is single-minded, rapid-fire repetition of something in a single session: the classic 'practice-practice-practice' approach. - Mental Models : Comprehension & Depth
A mental model is a mental representation of some external reality that captures the key features and relationships needed to reason about it. - Metacognition : Metacognition & Self-Regulation
Metacognition is the awareness of and control over your own learning: knowing what you know, knowing what you do not know, and planning accordingly. - Multiple Aptitudes : Learning Style & Aptitude
Learners bring multiple forms of intelligence (analytical, creative, practical, social, kinesthetic) to bear on a problem, and they learn better when they draw on more than one. - Pretesting : Test & Assessment
Pretesting is the practice of attempting to answer questions about new material before it has been taught, even when errors are expected. - Prior Knowledge as Foundation : Foundations of Learning
All new learning rests on what you already know; richer, more accurate prior knowledge makes subsequent learning faster, deeper, and more transferable. - Productive Struggle : Productive Struggle & Difficulty
Productive struggle is effortful engagement with material at the edge of current ability, with feedback available to correct mistakes along the way. - Retrieval Practice : Recall & Retrieval
Retrieval practice is the deliberate act of pulling information out of memory (by self-testing, flashcards, or free recall) instead of passively re-exposing yourself to it. - Self-Explanation : Metacognition & Self-Regulation
Self-explanation is the practice of explaining to yourself, step by step, why a problem or concept works the way it does. - Self-Testing Rituals : Metacognition & Self-Regulation
Self-testing rituals are the small, repeatable habits of retrieving knowledge from memory at predictable moments: start of class, end of week, before sleep. - Spaced Repetition : Practice & Spacing
Spaced repetition is the practice of reviewing material at increasing intervals so that each review happens just as the memory is about to fade. - Testing Effect : Recall & Retrieval
The testing effect is the empirical finding that retrieving information from memory produces stronger learning than re-exposing yourself to that information for an equal amount of time. - Transfer of Learning : Career & Lifelong Learning
Transfer is the ability to apply what you have learned in one context to a different context (the goal of most learning beyond passing a test). - Varied Practice : Practice & Spacing
Varied practice means practising the same underlying skill across a range of contexts and conditions, so the skill transfers beyond the examples used during study. - Working Memory Limits : Memory & Encoding
Working memory holds only a small number of items in active focus at once, and is easily overwhelmed when learners try to handle too many novel pieces of information simultaneously.