Make It Stick the single best work I have encountered on the subject.

“Many educators are interested in making use of recent findings about the human brain and how we learn. This is a rich and resonant book and a pleasurable read that will leave you pondering the processes through which you, and your students, acquire new knowledge and skills.” ― Hazel Christie, Times Higher Education Over the course of the book, the authors weave together stories from an array of learners―surgeons, pilots, gardeners, and school and university students―to illustrate their arguments about how successful learning takes place. Make It Stick benefits greatly from its use of stories about people who have achieved mastery of complex knowledge and skills. “If you want to read a lively and engaging book on the science of learning, this is a must. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes, Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement. More complex and durable learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Grappling with the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention of what was learned. New insights into how memory is encoded, consolidated, and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn. Memory plays a central role in our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks, such as applying knowledge to problems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners. Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head.

Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier. To most of us, learning something 'the hard way' implies wasted time and effort.

Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown