Page 246 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

in teaching. Students appear to learn quickly, but as studies have shown, they forget quickly as well.
Roediger and Pyc (2012, p. 244) note: “These outcomes show why teachers and students can be fooled
into using strategies that are inefficient in the long run. When we learn we are so focused on how we are
learning, we like to adopt strategies that make learning easy and quick. Blocked or massed practice does
this. For better retention in the long run, however, we should use spaced and interleaved practice, but
while we are learning this procedure seems more arduous. Interleaving makes initial learning more
difficult, but is more desirable because long term retention is better.”
38 Rohrer et al. 2013.
39 Doug Rohrer and Harold Pashler (2010, p. 406) observe: “. . . the interleaving of different types of
practice problems (which is quite rare in math and science texts) markedly improves learning.”
40 Personal communication with the author, August 20, 2013. See also Carey 2012.
41 Longcamp et al. 2008.
42 For examples, see http://usefulshortcuts.com/alt-codes.

Chapter 5: Preventing Procrastination: Enlisting Your Habits (“Zombies”) as Helpers
1 Emsley 2005, p. 103.
2 Chu and Choi 2005; Graham 2005; Partnoy 2012.
3 Steel (2007, p. 65) notes: “Estimates indicate that 80%–95% of college students engage in
procrastination . . . approximately 75% consider themselves procrastinators . . . and almost 50%
procrastinate consistently and problematically. The absolute amount of procrastination is considerable,
with students reporting that it typically occupies over one third of their daily activities, often enacted
through sleeping, playing, or TV watching . . . Furthermore, these percentages appear to be on the
rise . . . In addition to being endemic during college, procrastination is also widespread in the general
population, chronically affecting some 15%–20% of adults.”
4 Ainslie and Haslam 1992; Steel 2007.
5 Lyons and Beilock 2012.
6 Emmett 2000.
7 See extensive discussion in Duhigg 2012, which in turn cites Weick 1984.
8 Robert Boice (1996, p. 155) noted that procrastination appears to involve a narrowing of the field of
consciousness. See also pp. 118–119.
9 Boice 1996, p. 176.
10 Tice and Baumeister 1997.
11 Boice 1996, p. 131.

Chapter 6: Zombies Everywhere: Digging Deeper to Understand the Habit of
Procrastination
1 McClain 2011; Wan et al. 2011.
2 Duhigg 2012, p. 274.
3 Steel 2010, p. 190, citing Oaten and Cheng 2006 and Oaten and Cheng 2007.
4 Baumeister and Tierney 2011, pp. 43–51.
5 Steel 2010, citing the original work of Robert Eisenberger, 1992, and others.
6 Ibid., p. 128-130, referring in turn to the work of Gabriele Oettingen.
7 Beilock 2010, pp. 34-35.
8 Ericsson et al. 2007.
9 Boice 1996, pp. 18–22.
10 Paul 2013.