Does Practice Make Perfect?

New Perspectives on How We Learn

Megan Segoshi, Hiram Ramirez, & Adam Patricoski
ELPS 430 Curriculum
March 17, 2015

Introduction

Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, &

Mark A. McDaniel

Megan and Adam

How We Learn by Benedict Carey

Hiram

Pre-Test Activity

Answer the following questions on a piece of paper:

1) What type of habits matter when trying to retain what you have
learned?

A) Background noise

B) Environment

C) Change in venue

D) None of the above

E) All of the above

2) What are the best ways to study?

Pre-Test (continued)

3) Distributed Learning Theory tells us:

A) cramming is bad

B) learning takes place if you study a little every day before an exam

C) Learning happens best when you study over intervals of time before an exam

D) Learning is an accumulation of experiences in life, and application of these

experiences in learning improves understanding over time

E) None of the above

4) What is a mental model?

As we progress through the presentation, check your answers

against the presentation material!

Retention

Context Research

Oban experiment (Environment)

Background music

Internal and external cues

Change of venue

How Does Learning Actually Occur?

Encoding: Conversation of perceptions into chemical and

electrical representations (much we dont know about the
physical changes)

Consolidation: Strengthening of representations for longterm memory (occurs deep in the brain and help memories
become stable)

Retrieval: Process of making memories durable.

Requires:

Recoding and consolidation from short to long-term memory

Associating material with cues to allow for later recall

Retrieval & Reflection

Testing as retrieval vs. dipstick measure

Highlights what we do and do not know

Promotes recall and building mental connections (stronger memory)

Proven more effective than re-reading (ex. Flashcards)

Reflection also promotes retrieval and generation

Taken together, both tools:

Help to identify patterns and rules

Strengthen ability to apply knowledge in new situations (elaboration)

Testing effect/Retrieval practice

Power of forgetting

Forget to Learn theory

Practicing

Massed Practice (aka cramming)

Spaced Practice: time between practice allows for deeper

understanding (consolidation)

Interleaved practice: skipping from lesson 1 to 5 to 2 to

7

Varied Practice: bean-bag example

Discrimination: factual knowledge happens at a lower

level of learning than conceptual practice

Learning is stronger when we can relate to it!

Practicing (continued)

Fluency

Bjorks Desirable Difficulty Principle

Recitation

Distributed learning: Optimal Interval Ranges for Studying

Problem-Solving
Stages

of Control

1:

Preparation

2:

Incubation

Phase

1: Initiation

3:

Illumination

Phase

2: Gathering

4:

Verification

Phase

3: Synthesis

Maiers

Experiment

Percolation

Zeigarnik

Effect

Problematizing Learning Styles

Even though we all preferred ways to learn new material,

we dont necessarily learn better when the mode of
presentation matches our preferred style.

Research on learning styles does not validate the claim

that they really exist, and some research flatly contradicts
it.

What is important is that the method of instruction

matches up with the material being taught, regardless of
who the students are.

Creating a Mental Model

Facilitated by the EncodingConsolidationRetrieval

process

Defined as deeply entrenched and highly efficient skills,

like habits, that can be adapted and applied in varied
circumstances.

Knowledge vs. Know-How

The goal is to create a framework for active use of

knowledge. Knowledge is not static.

Tools for Calibrating your Judgment

Peer Instruction

Cues

Feedback

Working in teams

Mnemonic devices (mental models)

Some Other Thoughts

Almost every single example of learning and real-life stories
feature men in stereotypically masculine roles; only three womens
stories are featured
The authors of Make It Stick make no reference to identity in any
way race, gender, sexual orientation nothing!
This is likely to cater to a broad audience; however, by
disregarding identity and context in nearly every example, they
are defaulting White, cis-gender, male, heterosexual, Christian
(etc. etc.) norms.
Akin to taking a colorblind approach
Consider the perspectives of the authors, since both primary
authors are not researchers.

Where do we go from here?

What are the implications for the future of education?

References

Brown, P.C., Roediger III, H.L., McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Make it stick: The
science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard
University.

Carey, B. (2014). How we learn: The surprising truth about when, where, and
why it happens. New York, NY: Random House.