Making it Stick
Chapters 1 and 2
Learning Objectives
|
After completing this unit, learners will be able to:
1. Define the three components of learning. 2. Describe three methods of instruction that are active learning. 3. Formulate a plan for studying for your next test that does not involve rereading and/or highlighting text. 4. List three benefits of frequent testing. 5. Describe two ways that you can make your learning more durable. |
|
Weekly Content Summaries
Chapter 1- Learning is Misunderstood
In Chapter 1 of Making it Stick, Brown, Roediger and McDaniel (2014) contradict what most students have learned about learning. They define learning as the ability to acquire new knowledge and skills, the ability to recall this information and the ability to apply and use it at a future date. Students have always been taught that the more they practice the better they will get at learning and retaining new information. Brown et al (2014) says that this gives a student a false sense of security and results in learning information that rapidly degrades in memory over time. Instead they suggest that spaced recall is the right way to learn with two or more other subjects interleaved between the recall attempts. Tests should not be thought of as exercises in memorization, but instead as retrieval practice. The more effort that is put into learning something the more durable the memory. If students just reread and highlight, it gives them a false sense of security because they can recall the words more easily and fluency increases, but the underlying concepts are not practiced. In order to learn the concepts they need to recall the material, make a mental model of it and tie it to a foundation of information that they have already learned (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel, 2014).
Chapter 2- To Learn, Retrieve
Brown, Roediger and McDaniel (2014) stress that retrieval of information is essential for retaining information long-term. Testing in the classroom can provide this retrieval practice. Frequent low-stakes quizzes instead of high stakes tests can decrease test anxiety, are more efficient than cramming and inform instructors of weaknesses in class comprehension. This testing benefit is even more beneficial if it is spaced out and feedback is provided to get rid of inaccuracies. Each test interrupts forgetting. (Brown et al, 2014). This testing effect has been studied in both the laboratory and in the classroom. (Roediger, 2014) Testing and reflecting give the same benefits whether teacher initiated or student initiated. For best results use a test format that requires a student to supply an answer instead of just recognizing it. Many people feel that creativity is higher order and more desired than memorization, but learning the information provides the needed base for creative thinking.
Connections to Field and/or Discipline
|
In medical training there has been a push to move away from lectures. In the past, medical students sat in a lecture hall for eight hours taking notes and then went home to memorize the material. The Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) now requires that no more than 50% of the material be delivered in a lecture format (Hark, Deen and Morrison, 2015). Most medical curriculum has been updated to three methods of active learning: team based learning, peer instruction and group learning. Students are responsible for their own learning and are given immediate feedback from their professors, other students, clicker questions and frequent quizzes and tests.
|
Suggestions for Implementation
|
Medical education is expected to continue to move from the lecture format. Suggested classroom techniques include: peer instruction, team based learning and problem based learning. With peer instruction, the student studies the material before class. Clicker questions are presented in class. If the class scores above a certain threshold, no further class time is spent on the topic. If the score is less than the threshold, the students discuss in groups for several minutes and then the question is repeated. If the class still scores below the threshold, the material is retaught. In team based learning the students complete an individual quiz first and then work together to complete a group quiz. In problem based learning a clinical case or scenario is presented to students and there is a period of unstructured learning facilitated by an instructor.
|
|
Formative Assessment
Please use the ten flash cards below to help you master the material.
REFERENCES
Brown, P., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. (2014) Make it stick; The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA : The Belknap
Press of Harvard University.
Roediger, H. (2014, April 14) How people learn. Cognitive enhancement of education: From lab to the classroom. [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tz8gVPHhFE
L. Hark, D. Deen, and G. Morrison, “Learner-Directed Nutrition Content for Medical Schools to Meet LCME Standards,” Journal of
Biomedical Education, vol. 2015, Article ID 469351, 12 pages, 2015. doi:10.1155/2015/469351
Brown, P., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. (2014) Make it stick; The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA : The Belknap
Press of Harvard University.
Roediger, H. (2014, April 14) How people learn. Cognitive enhancement of education: From lab to the classroom. [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tz8gVPHhFE
L. Hark, D. Deen, and G. Morrison, “Learner-Directed Nutrition Content for Medical Schools to Meet LCME Standards,” Journal of
Biomedical Education, vol. 2015, Article ID 469351, 12 pages, 2015. doi:10.1155/2015/469351
