Teaching that sticks: Six principles for creating memorable messages that promote learning

Christina Petersen, Ph.D & David Langley, Ph.DCenter for Teaching and Learning

Based on the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Goals of Presentation

1. Introduce the SUCCESs model2. Analyze the appeal and efficacy of

this model for teaching development

3. Examine the model for alignment with current pedagogical theory

What makes these memorable?

Simple

Unexpected Concrete

Credible

Emotional

Story Success

CJ

Simple

Distill to core idea.

Identify your ideal course impact.

Create outcomes to achieve your

impact.

Align assessment

s with learning

outcomes.Activities

should prepare

students for assessment

s.

Simple

Simplicity isn’t about

dumbing down: it’s about

prioritizing ”

“

Active Processing

Choose a presentation that you will/may give in the future

Identify an important idea that your audience should remember by the end of your presentation

Create a sentence that simply describes this concept, idea or skill in SIX WORDS OR LESS!

Teaching that sticks: Six principles for creating memorable messages that promote learning.

Create memorable messages that promote learning.

Active Processing

Choose a presentation that you will/may give in the future

Identify an important idea that your audience should remember by the end of your presentation

Create a sentence that simply describes this concept, idea or skill in SIX WORDS OR LESS!

Unexpected

Gain & maintain attention.

Concrete

Can you give me an example?

Credible

See for yourself.

Emotional

Hit ‘em in the gut.

In Story format

People like stories.

Active Processing – Part II

Remember your six word concept, idea, or skill?

Design an activity that purposely incorporates emotion or story (or both!)

Discuss this with the person sitting next to you

We believe all of the components are necessary for success.

The SUCCESs model can serves as checklist AFTER designing a class or workshop.

The University of Minnesota Center for Teaching and Learning has evidence that the SUCCESs model is a useful framework for teaching development.

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The Sticky Teaching workshop was the most-attended workshop of the 2011 University-wide Teaching Enrichment series.

What is the appeal of this approach?

• Simplicity• Relief from eduspeak• Inductive approach appealing to those

without theoretical teaching framework• Validates intuitive instructor “drives”

What was the most useful aspect of this workshop?

“The ‘six principle’ checklist”

What is the appeal of this approach?

• Simplicity• Relief from eduspeak• Inductive approach appealing to those

without theoretical teaching framework• Validates intuitive instructor “drives”

“I liked the clean and to-the-point style on each topic”

What was the most useful aspect of this workshop?

What is the appeal of this approach?

• Simplicity• Relief from eduspeak• Inductive approach appealing to those

without theoretical teaching framework• Validates intuitive instructor “drives”

“People like stories”

What was the most useful aspect of this workshop?

What is the appeal of this approach?

• Simplicity• Relief from eduspeak• Inductive approach appealing to those

without theoretical teaching framework• Validates intuitive instructor “drives”

“The validation that stories are an effective

teaching technique”

What was the most useful aspect of this workshop?

We have identified pedagogical and biological correlates for all of the elements of the model.• Element• Pedagogical Correlate• S – Simple

• U – Unexpected

• C - Concrete

• C – Credible

• E – Emotion

• S – Stories

Biological

Correlates =

Learning

Pedagogical

Correlates =

Teaching

Element Biological Correlate - Learning Pedagogical Correlate – Teaching

S – Simple

Distill to core idea

U – Unexpected

Gain & maintain attention

C - Concrete

Give me an example

C – Credible

See for yourself

E – Emotion

Hit ‘em in the gut

S – Stories

People like stories

Element Biological Correlate - Learning Pedagogical Correlate – Teaching

S – Simple

Distill to core idea

Short-term memory capacity is finite - Short term vs. long term memory - Eric Kandel

U – Unexpected

Gain & maintain attention

C - Concrete

Give me an example

C – Credible

See for yourself

E – Emotion

Hit ‘em in the gut

S – Stories

People like stories

Short term vs. Long term Memory

Element Biological Correlate - Learning Pedagogical Correlate – Teaching

S – Simple

Distill to core idea

Short-term memory capacity is finite - Short term vs. long term memory - Eric Kandel

Active processing ability is finite - Cognitive Load Theory - John Sweller

U – Unexpected

Gain & maintain attention

C - Concrete

Give me an example

C – Credible

See for yourself

E – Emotion

Hit ‘em in the gut

S – Stories

People like stories

Cognitive Load Theory

Intrinsic Load

Extraneous Load

Germane Load

Total cognitive

Load

Element Biological Correlate - Learning Pedagogical Correlate – Teaching

S – Simple

Distill to core idea

Short-term memory capacity is finite - Short term vs. long term memory - Eric Kandel

Active processing ability is finite - Cognitive Load Theory - John Sweller

U – Unexpected

Gain & maintain attention

C - Concrete

Give me an example

C – Credible

See for yourself

E – Emotion

Hit ‘em in the gut

Emotion strengthens brain reaction to information - Limbic System activation – Robert Leamnson

S – Stories

People like stories

Emotion and Limbic System Activation

Element Biological Correlate - Learning Pedagogical Correlate – Teaching

S – Simple

Distill to core idea

Short-term memory capacity is finite - Short term vs. long term memory - Eric Kandel

Active processing ability is finite - Cognitive Load Theory - John Sweller

U – Unexpected

Gain & maintain attention

C - Concrete

Give me an example

C – Credible

See for yourself

E – Emotion

Hit ‘em in the gut

Emotion strengthens brain reaction to information - Limbic System activation – Robert Leamnson

Value drives motivation to learn - Motivation theories - Martin Fishbein

S – Stories

People like stories

Motivation Theories

Activities that are valued

Some expectancy of

success

StudentMotivation

Emotion

Emotion

Element Biological Correlate - Learning Pedagogical Correlate – Teaching

S – Simple

Distill to core idea

Short-term memory capacity is finite - Short term vs. long term memory - Eric Kandel

Active processing ability is finite - Cognitive Load Theory - John Sweller

U – Unexpected

Gain & maintain attention

Surprise activates arousal -Selective Attention and Arousal Theories – Jennifer Coull

Interest leads to cognitive engagement - Situational Interest – Suzanne Hidi

C - Concrete

Give me an example

Observations reactivate stored knowledge - Mirror neurons - Giacomo Rizolatti

Learning builds on pre-existing knowledge - Constructivism – John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky

C – Credible

See for yourselfCognition is encoded from sensory experience – James Zull

Direct experience validates theory -Experiential learning – David Kolb

E – Emotion

Hit ‘em in the gut

Emotion strengthens brain reaction to information - Limbic System activation – Robert Leamnson

Value drives motivation to learn - Motivation theories - Martin Fishbein

S – Stories

People like stories

Our brains are wired for story - Theory of Mind – Rebecca Saxe

Knowledge can be held in stories - Narrative Inquiry, Narrative Ways of Knowing - Jerome Bruner

What is your take-home message from this presentation?

• Try to write this in 10 words or less• Share this with the people next to you

Simple - Created succinct messages for main ideas

Unexpected – Began with stories

Concrete – Provided real examples from our work

Credible – Had you experience the workshop for yourself

Emotional – ear-cutting madness, disgust, pride

Story – Told multiple stories throughout

Success - ?