Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger and McDaniel - Key Points

Make it Stick is a book about effective learning strategies, It is based on the latest findings of various research studies into how Cognitive Psychology can best be applied to Education and is written by experts in this field.

The central thesis of this book is that the most effective learning strategies are simple but often counter-intuitive. The key points can be summarised as follows:

1. Learning requires effort: some kinds of difficulties ("desirable difficulties") during learning help to make the learning stronger and better remembered;  When learning is easy, it is often superficial and soon forgotten. Don't confuse fluency/familiarity with learning
2. Learning is better when you wrestle with new problems before being given the solution, rather than the other way round.
3. Retrival practice (= self-quizzing) - recalling facts or concepts or events from memory - makes learning stick. This can be best done by regular testing as part of the learning process either in class or individually. Thus testing is formative - a means to the end - which is learning. 
4. Practice that is spaced out, interleaved with other learning and varied produces better mastery, longer retention and greater versatility. Cramming and chunking are NOT effective learning methods.
5. Mastery moves from knowledge to know-how. When learning, distill the underlying principles, look for patterns, make connections. "Knowledge is not know-how until you understanding the underlying principles at work and can fit them together into a structure larger than the sum of the parts." (p.158)

Interestingly, the authors criticise pandering to individual learning styles:

"We acknowledge that everyone has learning preferences, but we are not persuaded that you learn better when the manner of instruction fits those preferences." (p.132)

Departing from the main theme of the book, there is an interesting chapter (7) on how to 'Increase your Abilities', which explains neuroplasticity and how IQ can be improved, before launching into a number of memory techniques.

The final chapter (8) distills out the book's principles with tip for different user groups: students, life-longer learners, teachers and trainers.

Make it Stick is an important book for students (of all ages) and teachers alike (particularly in the secondary and tertiary age phases). It challenges many traditional methods of learning and does so with a weight of research behind it. Schools would do well to take on board its central points. Teachers might like to review their schemes of work considering how they will incorporate more testing, spaced interleaved and varied learning into their programmes.
For more information go to makeitstick.net, where there is an chapter by chapter summary of the book.

I must say that I found the book's (somewhat apologetic/defensive) tone and style intensely irritating throughout. It was a dry read and it was repetitive - I can only think that the authors decided to model the concept of "desirable difficulty" and "spaced learning"! 

How technology is changing education in our independent schools - An overview

Introduction 

Great claims have been made over the past twenty years about the impact that ICT would have on teaching and learning, most of which only succeeded in disappointing. However, at long last, the combination of reliable ICT networks, affordable equipment, innovative educational software and an increasingly ICT-literate body of teachers means that we are beginning to see ICT making a real difference to the day-to-day education in independent schools. The impact of new technologies is being seen in every area of school life: academic, pastoral, co-curricular and in school administration.

Academic 

Martini Learning. Widespread access to new technologies has been one of the most important catalysts of the shift in emphasis from classrooms being about teaching, to them being about learning. Pupils now have access to web-based to learning resources at school, at home and on the move. Learning is no longer confined to the classroom or to the prep room, it happens “anytime, anyplace, anywhere”: we are in the age of “Martini learning”. Most Independent senior schools now have the necessary WIFI infrastructure in place to support mobile learning and this is likely to be greatest area of growth over the coming years.

Online Apps and Collaboration. Some of the most innovative work that is going on in schools at the moment surrounds the use of Online Apps (such as the Google Apps suite and MS Office 365). These technologies allow pupils and teachers to collaborate online by working on the same document. Teachers are taking tasks that traditionally were set as homework (say, read and note chapter 7 of The Lord of the Flies under the following headings . . . ) and developing them into class collaborative piece of work. The result is that pupils gain a range of insights from their peers whilst practising the important life skill of working with others. Anecdotal evidence is that pupils make a greater effort when working collaboratively because of the public aspect of publishing ideas to their friends. Online collaborative working is so popular that many schools are finding that pupils find it their preferred form of independent learning, setting up shared documents to work on homework without any teacher input or encouragement at all.

Social Network CPD. Collaborative new technologies are also transforming the staff room. The rise of social media platforms (such as Twitter, online forums and blogs) has heralded an unprecedented period of collaboration and mutual support. Teachers now are able to share lesson ideas not only within the department but also with colleagues around the country. This has both facilitated the spread of ‘best practice’ and established an important vehicle for INSET.

Pastoral 

e-Safety. Independent schools pride themselves in having outstanding levels of pastoral care and devote time and money to providing it. The Internet has brought with it a number of important challenges for all schools and e-Safety now has a central place on any PSHE programme sitting firmly alongside drugs and alcohol as one of the greatest threats to young people. Whilst many of the issues are fundamentally the same ones with which schools have been dealing for years (cyber-bullying is bullying, Internet porn is pornography, cyber-safety is personal safety), there are a number of new challenges. Arguably, the greatest dangers that young people face come, not from what they can download from the Internet, but from what they are able to publish to it. Ultimately, it is impossible to control pupils’ access to the Internet and the only way forward is to educate the young people in our care to use the Internet responsibly.

Communication. One of the greatest pastoral challenges that new technologies have brought for independent schools is that pupils have immediate access to their parents; and that parents, in turn, have immediate access to teachers, houseparents, and senior leaders. Minor issues and incidents, which only ten years ago would have been dealt with in-school and forgotten before the end of the day, are blown out of all proportion, causing unnecessary anguish, management time and paper-trails.

Co-curricular 

One of exciting benefits of cheap and ready access to new technologies is that it is relatively easy for pupils to do things today that in the past would have taken hours and an enormous budget. Every pupil now has the opportunity to make a video, their smartphone the camera and their laptop the editing studio; to publish articles and to engage a world-wide audience. There is no doubt that new technologies have given a new status to creativity. In a world where YouTube videos and blogposts can go viral – the opportunity for “15 minutes of fame” is there for all. Independent schools are well placed to harness the creativity in young people in a range of co-curricular clubs and societies of which we (of a previous generation) could only dream.

School Administration 

As with all organisations, independent schools have implemented a range of new ICT initiatives to improve school administration. It is generally accepted that ICT will not save schools money (Bursars stopped asking, “when will we see a return on this investment?” years ago) but it has raised the bar. Independent schools undoubtedly hold and analyse more data on pupils than ever before. 

Communication with parents has changed beyond belief. On the positive side, almost all independent senior schools have ditched hand-written reports and moved to a database system. No longer do teachers have to queue up in the common room waiting for the ledger containing Form 3A’s reports, but they can log into the school database from the comfort of their home. Many schools are now making the move to publishing reports only online through the ‘Parent Portal’. Whilst letters home lost in school bags are a thing of the past, one of the greatest challenges caused by new technologies that schools face today is the unprecedented level of email traffic that flows between home and school. Most schools (and, indeed, parents) can’t cope. 

Many schools have even embraced biometric technologies using them for registration, library withdrawals and even to control door entry about the school site.

Conclusion

Some people talk about ICT in Schools as if it were a project that one day will be complete. That is about as wrong as asking, “When will the London skyline be finished?” Independent schools have an excellent record at harnessing new technologies for education – and we can be confident that that will be the way of the future.

An article written for the Independent Schools Show magazine

The Importance of Independent Learning

"One of the key responsibilities of any good school is to provide the context in which young people learn how to study on their own. “Learning to learn” is a complex process that entails pupils taking responsibility and playing their part within the educational process. You can see the shift in mindset when a boy or girl moves from saying “Here’s your homework, Sir” to “Here is my work.” After all, schooling is not about teachers teaching great lessons – it is about young people learning and understanding things. 

Independent Learning is important because it develops creativity and intellectual curiosity. Independent learning is about pupils being active rather than passive. It is about them working out the answers rather than being told them. It is about them wanting to study because they want to understand more, rather than taking a Utilitarian stance that I am doing this because I want to pass the examination. Independent Learning is not the easy option – it is tough. 

Here at Berkhamsted we are committed to fostering Independent learning and, parents, you can help us here – we need your support. But before I say how, let me first explain why. 

As a teacher I have a choice. If all I want to do is to get results, I can spoon-feed you. I can give you dozens of model answers and I can get out my big stick and I can make you learn them.

But if I want to educate you, I will encourage and inspire you to explore the subject, to make discoveries and set you tasks that will challenge you. There will be times when you will feel out of your depth, but as you develop new skills and greater resilience, you will begin to understand the subject and to make connections. Alongside this I will teach you the techniques so that you can answer any question that the examiner chooses to throw at you. 

The “give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish you feed him for life” principle is at work here. 

This year we have had a focus on independent learning and the teaching staff have been encouraged not to spoon-feed, but to set challenging tasks. It may sound counter-intuitive, but I have encouraged teachers to be less helpful and not to just jump straight in with the answers. For it is only by being less helpful that pupils will have the opportunity to develop the resilience and problem-solving skills that will help them rise to future challenges in life. 

And this is where you come in as parents; or more to the point, this is where you shouldn’t come in as parents. The response this year of some parents to our shift towards more independent learning has been to complain. “My daughter has been set a prep on a subject she hasn’t yet been taught.” “My son has dropped from an A grade to B – what is going wrong?” etc. 

Here at Berkhamsted we are committed to educating young people – not just cramming them for examinations. A true education is challenging. A true education will involve failure. Getting an A grade all the time is probably a bad sign.   

So, parents, bear with us.
Support us.
Encourage your children to stretch themselves.
Encourage your children to take responsibility for their own work.
Encourage your children to take risks.
And, above all, encourage to your children to learn from their mistakes."

Extract from Berkhamsted School Speech Day Address 4th. July 2013