Noticing, Wondering with Make It Stick: the science of successful learning

I love to "see" students thinking! I love sharing the research I read this summer ... can't wait to put it in practice with them.
From some of my students ... after reading or viewing a summary of Make It Stick by Peter Brown:
What I notice:

• “Make it Stick” focuses on how the student thinks about learning and goes about learning rather than how the material is taught
• A majority of the chapters focus on how the student review or practice the content.
• Academic skill revolves more around environment and effort.
• I notice how the author mentions that cramming information before a test the next day isn’t as potent as people believe.
• I also notice how he mentions retrieval practice and how it should be more spread out.
• I believe I have experienced “the illusion of knowing” after re-reading content as a study strategy
• When I study, I notice that using the retrieval method is more difficult than other methods

What I wonder:

• Can someone pick up study skills or do they have to be developed over time?
• Do genetics still influence how well someone does academically?
• Does involvement in other non-academic activities have a positive influence on academic development?

• Is a certain type of learning more powerful/memorable than another or if it is specific to the person?

• Why does spacing out study sessions make your learning more potent causing your memory and learning to be stronger?
• I wonder why arduous effort in retaining memory is more effective than memorizing something.
• I also wonder why i’ve never been taught this before as it provides great information on how to keep your grades in superb shape.
• How were these studying strategies thought of, and how many people did they test them on?
• I wonder if there are any methods even more effective than retrieval practice?

Brown, P. (n.d.). Make it stick: The science of successful learning.