Pedagogical Discussions: Lessons from Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

“Professor My Brain is Full”
Lessons from Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
Pedagogical Discussion
Thursday, September 20, 2018
3:00 – 4:00pm
GT, PK 170
Facilitator: Tom Cantu

You may recall the famous Far Side cartoon, “Mr. Osborne, may I be excused? My brain is full.” The authors of Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, state “If you’re just engaging in mechanical repetition, it’s true, you quickly hit the limit of what you can keep in mind. However, if you practice elaboration there is no known limit to how much you can learn. Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know.”

You may know students whose study skills can improve. They read, but struggle to retain. They take notes, but study ineffectively. We will discuss numerous ways to help your students become better learners.

Outcomes

1. Describe three ideas from the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning that you can use in your teaching.
2. Describe one idea you can begin using immediately.

Here are two book summaries:

ReadinGraphics.com provides a concise overview of the key ideas at https://readingraphics.com/book-summary-make-it-stick/

Jennifer Gonzalez at https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/stick/  presents a summary along with

• her video reflections as she read the book and
• an interview with Make It Stick author Peter Brown (21 minutes)

The full-text e-book is available through MC Libraries at https://bit.ly/2mvFlWj