Education & Learning · The Science of Learning

Desirable Difficulties

A topic within The Science of Learning, itself one of 12 topics in that field and part of Education & Learning.

Reading on Desirable Difficulties

2 works

Essay2011

Making Things Hard on Yourself, But in a Good Way: Creating Desirable Difficulties to Enhance Learning

Elizabeth Ligon Bjork & Robert A. Bjork

Conditions that slow performance during practice, such as spacing, varying and testing, often produce the most durable long-term learning, even though they feel like worse teaching in the moment.

link checked 17 Sept 2026

Education & Learning · The Science of Learning

FreeIntermediate

Paper2015

Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative Review

Nicholas C. Soderstrom & Robert A. Bjork

Argues that performance during practice and durable learning are frequently dissociated, so conditions that make practice feel harder and slower, such as spacing and testing, are routinely the ones that produce the most lasting learning.

24 pageslink checked 17 Sept 2026

Education & Learning · The Science of Learning

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Reading on Desirable Difficulties

Making Things Hard on Yourself, But in a Good Way: Creating Desirable Difficulties to Enhance Learning

Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative Review

Other topics in The Science of Learning