Bring It In | The Future of Work, Jobs, and Education #7: Peter Brown — Author of “Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning”
Aug 28, 2020
Peter Brown, former management consultant and co-author of Make It Stick, explains why most learning does not last. He discusses productive struggle, retrieval practice, spacing, and mixed practice. He critiques passive methods like lectures and cramming, and offers a practical tip for managers on prompting struggle with clear goals and feedback.
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How Make It Stick Was Born
- Peter Brown teamed with cognitive scientists Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel to translate counterintuitive research into stories for a general audience.
- The trio used anecdote-rich writing to make a decade of research on learning accessible in Make It Stick.
Struggle And Retrieval Make Learning Stick
- Durable learning requires struggle and retrieval practice rather than easy exposure.
- Peter Brown explains that spacing, retrieval, and connecting new ideas to prior knowledge create lasting neural links, not passive rereading.
Break Up Passive Onboarding Sessions
- Avoid long passive sessions like multi-hour lectures or Zoom onboarding if you want knowledge to stick.
- Instead have learners hear, think, practice, retrieve, explain, and revisit material spaced over time, says Peter Brown.
