The importance of chapter four

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"Retrieval practice that you perform at different times and in different contexts and that interleaves different learning material has the benefit of linking new associations to the material. This process builds interconnected networks of knowledge that bolster and support mastery of your field. It also multiplies the cues of retrieving and knowledge, increasing the versatility with which you can later apply it" (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014, p. 83).

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This statement is definitely a powerful awakening for me as a learner, and as someone who frequently leads and teaches others. I remember learning about test taking in college; that the way you study will lead to the way you recall studied information on test day. For example, if you always study with music on in your headphones, but you cannot use them in class, you may do worse on your test. However, if we use the research and learning for Brown et al. (2014), we know that you should be studying in different environments, using different study methods, so you don’t cage yourself into only one setting in which you can retrieve the information you need.

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This statement from our text also illuminates the methods by which a lot of experts are developed in my organization. It seems that people with varying experiences and backgrounds have more expertise than those that have had narrower experiences and exposure to fewer problems to solve. And per the research in the text, that’s true. By moving through different problems, settings, and ways in which you have to solve issues, we’re forced to use all these great learning, spacing, and retrieval methods. Each time we encounter a situation that is slightly different, we retrieve information from memory and draw upon experiences we’ve had in the past, to inform the decision. And because of the nature of work, we’re often solving problems in different contexts, using slightly different methods or tools, and creating stories around the backgrounds and paths we take to get to a solution. It’s naturally “forcing” us to use interleaving, spacing, retrieval, contextual shifts, desirable difficulties, and storytelling.

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The last thing that this paragraph reminds me of is one of my favorite college courses. It was women’s history. The professor not only taught us about women’s unmentioned and unrecognized roles in important historical events, but she also made a point of connecting events across the world. Too often you learn about a historical time period in one place, and are not taught about what else was happening at that same general time. It makes things disjointed and ethnocentric. The professor’s connection of these events was so helpful for memory retrieval. She interleaved many events into our learning, and provided us with more contextual cues to draw from and incorporate into our overall understanding.

Resource

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