Teaching That Sticks:

Enhancing Student Retention

of Course Materials
Dr. Mick La Lopa
La Lopa Teaching and Learning Initiative
Presented to:
College of Agricultural Sciences
Southern Illinois University
January 15, 2015

Made to Stick
Chip

& Dan Heath

Why

some ideas
survive & others die?

How

to communicate
your ideas effectively

How

do we retain our
students after we
worked hard at getting
them into our program

Youre in the Sticky

Business
A sticky idea
is an idea
thats
remembered,
and changes
something
(opinions,
values,
behaviors)!

The Essence of Stickiness

1.

Why does this stick?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=kMIklROj3ZU&feature=relmfu

The 6 Sticky Principles

SIMPLE
UNEXPECTE

D
CONCRETE

CREDIBLE
EMOTIONAL
STORY

Sticky Principle

Simplicity

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

1.
2.
3.
4.

What do you know about

Southwest Air?
The inverted pyramid in journalism
Jimmy Johns It!
Stop, drop, and roll!

Simple

Core

Determine
what is in and
what is out of
each lesson!
My HR class is
great example.

Find the Core of the Idea

Making My HR Class
Simple

Figure 1.1
1-9

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

In other words:

You cannot possibly teach all you have seen or

know about what you teach to those who have
varying degrees of knowledge, skills, abilities.
Practice KISS. No, that does not mean to
dumb down the class.
The students get dumber every year, dont
they?!

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

For example
I taught a class on restaurant management
with novice students.
Have to make transition from kitchen at
home to a commercial kitchen.
We used simplicity to make the students
successful.

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

1.

2.

http://instagram.com/p/wiWMItKZ
2H/?
modal=true
https://www.facebook.com/Purdue
JPR/photos/a.334912903209770.86
594.249146698453058/33491371320
9689/?
type=1&theater

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

How did we do it?
1.

We Jimmy Johns It!

a) Two items per station.
b) Turn the salmon once on the grill.
c) Bread, spread, protein, garnish
d) Two bites and check back.

Sticky Ideas: Simplicity

Sticky Activity
1.

Think of something you are trying to teach,

especially abstract topics, that could be
distilled and simplified and easier grasped
and retained by students.

Sticky Principle

Unexpected

Sticky Ideas: Unexpected

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Sure, why not

You know what, lets try something
different today.
Take out a sheet of paper.
How long is 2 minutes?
Didnt see that coming:
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkAwh4cbgI

Tease Factor

Keep Them Guessing

Is she running?
right after
the break.
Later in the
programTen
ways puppies
can be lethal to
their owners!

The Gap Theory of Curiosity

Sticky Ideas: Unexpected

As it relates to my teaching:
1. Day one of the HR class. Take out
a sheet of paper and finish the
following sentence, the best class I
have taken at Purdue to date was
taught in the following manner.
2. The 499 class when I first came to
Purdue.

What stuck for you?

Stop

and think for a moment.

Think back to something that
happened unexpectedly when you were
a student or intern that you will never
forget? What do you recall?
How can you create those moments in
your classes?