While catching sight recently of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, I was thinking about the take-away's for education. According to this morning's interview I watched with the authors on the Today Show, they said that in the span of history, ideas that 'stick' had a few things in common:
- Great stories
- Provoke emotion
- Unexpected
I loved that the authors talked about PowerPoint presentations generally lacking anything that pulls off even a single one of those factors. And then this -- of course -- leads me to wonder how much of what we as educators do in the classroom (or in our curriculum mapping exercises) comes close to using these 3 principles to help create learning experiences that 'stick' for our students.
This is not to remove the need for authentic, learner-centered, experiential, hands-on education, but to say that IF we are going to lecture and ask kids to take notes, that we consider the 'sticky' value of what we say/share/show/tell.
Good time to mention a hint to re-visit 'stickyness' with Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin and PowerPoint advice from ZenPresentation and Cliff Attkinson's great work at Beyond Bullets. All are great assets to help you consider your next 'lesson' or avoiding the PowerPoint presen-droneonandon-tation that typically occurs in schools and boardrooms everywhere.
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