LEARNING HOW TO LEARN

One of my pet peeves about teaching in college is that many of my students do not know much about efficient learning.  They are smart individuals, but their learning techniques can be rather primitive.  They want to learn and understand the material, but in middle school and high school they were able to succeed with little more than memorization and cramming.  When that strategy fails to work in college, they grow frustrated.  They sometimes seem like talented athletes who have never been taught proper form and, therefore, struggle even in matches that they should win easily. 

For that reason, I bribe (er, I mean, “give extra credit to”) my students in hopes that they will spend their summer months learning how to be better learners.  My classes will be so much more successful if they arrive back on campus next fall as efficient learners.  If that happens, I can challenge them to analyze deeper and more complex issues.

Here is an email (slightly edited) that I sent out this past Monday to my students for the coming semester.  I won’t get 100 percent participation from them, but I suspect I will get close to 50 percent.  Nothing ever pleases me more during a semester than when one of my students admits, “I’ve become a much better student because of that book you convinced us to read over the break.” 

**

To:   My Students for the Fall Semester

From:  JH 

I hope your summer break is off to a great start.  I am hoping to travel across the country and also to Europe before I see you in the fall.  It’s a great chance to see the world outside of Virginia.

Chance for Extra Credit 

Several years ago, I read the book Make It Stick – The Science of Successful Learning, by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel.  As you might imagine, I am deeply interested in how to help students learn more effectively.  I found this book to be quite insightful.  For example, one of the things the authors say frequently is that reading material repeatedly is not really helpful in getting knowledge into your memory. 

According to Make It Stick, it is the mental retrieval of information that really solidifies learning and that is something we work on every day in class.  If you want to learn something, pull it out of your memory over and over, and your knowledge will get stronger and stronger.  As they say in the book, “One of the best habits a learner can instill in herself is regular self-quizzing to recalibrate her understanding of what she does and does not know.”    

They even have a chapter titled “To Learn, Retrieve.”    

I have taken tai chi for about 5 years and my teacher very much follows that same pattern.  The first 20-50 times you do a move in tai chi you get it wrong, but if you are persistent, eventually it becomes easy (or at least doable). With enough practice, what seems impossible becomes fairly easy.

We will do a lot of retrieval in our class this semester.   One of my mottoes is, “We will do it until you can do it.”  I like that thought (write it down). 

** 

This past semester I read Outsmart Your Brain, by Daniel Willingham, another outstanding book about learning.  In fact, the book’s subtitle is, “Why Learning Is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy.”  This book goes into dozens of tips on becoming a better learner.  Although I did not agree with every one of those tips, I certainly believed strongly in a lot of them. 

** 

The semester after I read Make It Stick, I offered my students three bonus points on the first test of the semester if they would read this book during their break.  Several did read it and those students all talked about how useful the information was and how the book helped them to understand what I was trying to accomplish in class.  I have been making this same offer every semester since that time.   

This semester, I am going to add Outsmart Your Brain to this list.  Read either book and you will get three bonus points on our first test.  (You can read both books, if you wish, but the offer is only for a total of three bonus points.) 

Both books are available on Amazon and used copies are fairly cheap.  I honestly believe my previous students have gained much more than three bonus points from the ideas and tips provided by their reading.  I have always been surprised by how very little some smart students understand about the learning process.  In high school, it can be easy to be successful just by using memorization without ever learning how to learn.  In college, or at least in my class, you need to be more efficient. 

Here are some of the things that two students told me about Make It Stick. 

“During high school, often times the material that you study is easy enough to cram in the night before an exam. When I started off at Richmond, I was overwhelmed with the amount of cramming I would have to do in order to make high grades. During my freshman and sophomore year at Richmond I decided to study a couple days in advance. After reading this book and seeing the results of students who study in advance and continue to look over what you learn, by the time of the test I often feel ready to go. This book has definitely had an impact on my semester, as I may be increasing my study times per day but by the day before the test, I don’t feel as stressed out and overwhelmed.” 

“I think reading Make is Stick has reminded me of how to best study and learn material. After being abroad last semester, I was craving work but the book gave me a sense of mind when it came to the best ways to study. I liked it because it didn't just plainly state how to memorize things efficiently. It provides evident and demonstrates why it works better. For example, sometimes when I don't feel like doing my homework or a practice problem, I think about how the more you actually do a problem the better you will know it. It is reinforcement such as that which gives sometimes seemingly repetitive and exhausting work purpose.” 

** 

Okay, I could include dozens of quotes like these, but I am sure you get the point. 

I will make the same deal with you as I have with my classes in the past.  If you read either Make It Stick or Outsmart Your Brain prior to the first test in the coming semester, I will give you three bonus points.  This is not a class requirement.  There is no penalty if you choose not to read one of the books.  I think it is a good offer.  I expect you to tell me the truth.  Don’t ever lie to me.  That is the only way I will get upset with you.  You are my students, and I expect you to be truthful with me.  Read either book and get three extra points on the first test.  

Let me know if you have already read both of these books (that is not likely but it is not impossible) and I will provide you with an alternative book to read.   There are a number of good possibilities. 

**

I am looking forward to having the opportunity of working with you in the fall.  If you and I both do our part of the work with enthusiasm and ambition, you will be amazed by how much you have learned by the end of next semester.  In fact, here are two important promises: 

--You will understand more about the subject matter than you could ever have thought possible.   

--You will be more confident in your ability to succeed in the real world after graduation.