Introduction
This paper makes the case that habits are crucial to students’ success – and that we have not given them sufficient attention. It focuses on students’ study habits, use of technology, and sleep. This paper crystallised many things I wanted to articulate in the introduction and is, in many ways, a cornerstone of the book.
If you only read one thing from this list, make it this. Switch enjoyably summarises the evidence around behavioural science, and shows how it can be applied in a range of fields. It’s both an easy and a powerful read.
Chapter 1: what should we ask students to change?
This is a great introduction to the evidence around habits, how they form, and how we can influence them, engagingly written.
This is a great summary of the current state of the evidence around habits and how to form them – with an accent on their value in improving people’s health.
Amabile, T. and Kramer, S. (2011). The Power of Small Wins. Harvard Business Review. May.
In this article, the authors explain how their research revealed the value of small goals: they give us clear direction and – as we achieve them – a feeling of success.
Chapter 2: how can we convince students to learn?
Cialdini, R. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: HarperBusiness.
This is a classic: a readable account of Bob Cialdini’s study of what influences people to do things. Cialdini both conducted research studies and spent time learning the tricks of the trade, for example, by selling second-hand cars.
This blog post introduces a simple but powerful idea: treat learning like aspirin; induce a mild headache – which introduces the value of what is to be learned – and students will happily take their aspirin.
This is a useful start when considering the role of autonomy in student learning: a discussion of the evidence around whether learners really know best.
Chapter 3: how can we help students to commit to action?
Pink, D. (2018). When: The scientific secrets of perfect timing. Edinburgh: Canongate.
Dan Pink artfully lays out the science of timing, revealing when we’re most alert, how to get over mid-project (and midlife) dips, and what makes a good ending.
The authors of this paper tested the effect of setting deadlines, giving students choice over them, and applying penalties for missing them – the result is a valuable set of guidelines about when and how to use them.
This paper offers a good example of how implementation intentions work – and a helpful discussion of the psychological influences underlying them.
This is a great example of how a teacher has taken the evidence around implementation intentions and made it work for his students.
Chapter 4: how can we encourage students to start?
This fun study looked at the effect of breaking tasks down, it suggests that helping people feel they have already started a task makes them more likely to complete it.
If you found the sections on practice interesting, this is the book for you: forty-two hard won lessons about how to make practice effective, whatever you’re hoping to improve.
Focusing on energy choices, this is a neat paper illustrating how powerful defaults can be.
Chapter 5: how can we help students to keep going?
This is one of the most thorough experiments examining the effects of rewards. The paper may seem technical in places: the most valuable part for me is Section VI, “Discussion and speculation”, where the author expands on what they learned, and what it may explain about the impact of rewards on student learning.
This is a simple, elegant and easily applicable approach to encouraging students to keep going: the authors gave students writing prompts to reflect on the value of what they had learned – this proved a powerful motivator.
Maruna, S. (2011). Reentry as a rite of passage. Punishment & Society, 13(1), 3–28.
This paper made me see rituals – and the feeling of belonging they engender – in a completely different way. It focuses on the reintegration of prisoners into society: but it offers a brilliant overview of the nature and power of ritual, the relative neglect of ritual in contemporary Western society, and the consequences.
This paper is a good introduction to Jonathan Haidt’s work on collective psychology and social belonging – and how they can advance human happiness.
Chapter 6: how can we help students to stop?
This is a valuable interview with one of the leading behavioural scientists – in the context of encouraging students to stop doing something, the discussion of “sludge” is particularly interesting.
I would also recommend revisiting Logan Fiorella’s paper on habit (referenced in the Introduction).
Chapter 7: how can we encourage teachers to change?
Reflecting on a lifetime researching teaching and learning, Graham Nuthall explains how powerful routine is for students and teachers – and how hard it makes change in classrooms.
This paper combines a clear explanation of how habits form with evidence of their influence on teachers – and a discussion of the implications for improving teaching.
Mary Kennedy offers a valuable reminder of all the factors that influence what teachers do – and all the barriers that stand between them and change.
This paper complements Kennedy’s: it suggests the value of appealing to the “jobs” teachers feel called to do as a way to make change feel worthwhile and rewarding.
This blog post is interesting both for the discussion of the author’s work helping students to change and for her reflections on changing her own practice.