Further Reading: Chapter 33

Annotated Bibliography for Teaching Others

On the Protégé Effect and Learning by Teaching

Fiorella, L., & Mayer, R. E. (2014). The role of expectations and explanations in learning by teaching. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 39(2), 75–85.

A follow-up to Fiorella and Mayer's earlier work, specifically distinguishing the "teaching expectancy" effect (preparing to teach) from the "learning by teaching" effect (actually teaching). Both help; the preparation effect is surprisingly large. This paper is the best direct empirical support for the claim that expecting to teach changes how you encode information.

Nestojko, J. F., Bui, D. C., Kornell, N., & Bjork, E. L. (2014). Expecting to teach enhances learning and organization of knowledge in free recall of text passages. Memory & Cognition, 42(7), 1038–1048.

The Washington University study referenced at the chapter's opening. Methodologically clean, with the key insight that the "teach" group outperformed the "test" group even when both groups were tested — controlling for the possibility that teaching itself (not the expectation) was producing the benefit.

On Tutoring Effects

Bloom, B. S. (1984). The 2 sigma problem: The search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational Researcher, 13(6), 4–16.

The original paper reporting the two-sigma finding. Bloom presents both the striking finding and his research program to identify classroom-based instructional methods that might close the gap. The paper is short, readable, and still one of the most important pieces of educational research ever published.

Cohen, P. A., Kulik, J. A., & Kulik, C. C. (1982). Educational outcomes of tutoring: A meta-analysis of findings. American Educational Research Journal, 19(2), 237–248.

A meta-analysis of peer tutoring research showing benefits for both tutors and tutees. The finding that tutors benefit as much as or more than tutees is directly relevant to the argument in this chapter and has been replicated across multiple subsequent meta-analyses.

On Clear Explanation and Communication

Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Random House.

The Heath brothers' accessible treatment of why some explanations and ideas stick while others don't. The "curse of knowledge" concept comes from this book. The SUCCESs framework (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories) provides a practical guide to constructing explanations that are both clear and memorable.

Feynman, R. P. (1985). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! W. W. Norton & Company.

Not an educational psychology textbook — Feynman's memoir and anecdotes. But the sections on his approach to learning and explanation reveal the mindset behind the Feynman technique: a genuine insistence on understanding rather than vocabulary, and a willingness to admit confusion and work through it rather than paper it over. Enormously entertaining.

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Harvard University Press.

Particularly relevant here: the chapter on "generation" — the principle that generating knowledge (including through explanation) produces more durable learning than receiving it. The book provides a readable synthesis of the learning science that underpins the chapter's recommendations.

On the Socratic Method

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). The Art of Socratic Questioning. Foundation for Critical Thinking.

A practical guide to Socratic questioning in educational settings. The specific question types — clarifying questions, probing assumptions, seeking evidence, exploring implications — provide a toolkit for implementing the Socratic approach in study groups, tutoring, and self-directed learning.

Collins, A., & Stevens, A. L. (1982). Goals and strategies of inquiry teachers. In R. Glaser (Ed.), Advances in Instructional Psychology, Vol. 2 (pp. 65–119). Erlbaum.

A detailed analysis of expert inquiry teachers who use Socratic-style questioning in science instruction. The strategies — creating counterexamples, posing questions that expose assumptions, requiring students to commit to answers before revealing outcomes — are directly applicable to study group and tutoring practice.

On Writing as Learning

Klein, P. D. (1999). Reopening inquiry into cognitive processes in writing-to-learn. Educational Psychology Review, 11(3), 203–270.

A thorough review of research on writing as a learning tool. The "knowledge transforming" model — where writing genuinely transforms what you know, not just records it — is directly relevant to why writing about what you've learned differs from reading about it. Accessible and comprehensive.