One of the most frequent comments that students make after I teach them about memory (and about why some strategies are much more powerful than others) is ‘Why didn’t we learn this sooner?’. Teaching students about memory seems like a no-brainer. Students are only human after all. As humans, we are programmed to look for shortcuts rather than think hard. As Daniel Willingham explains in Why Don’t Students Like School?, ‘Our brain serves many purposes, and thinking is not one of them.’ It is much easier to rely on what we already know (what’s in long-term memory) than to think up new ideas and solutions, especially since thinking is ‘slow’, ‘effortful’ and ‘uncertain’ (Willingham, 2010). Our students can also be wary of teachers trying to convince them of strategies that are ‘good for you’ when in fact they feel more difficult. My advice is to be honest and lay out the facts. There is bad news and there is good news.
The bad news
1. Learning takes effo
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