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"Cleary is among those professors trying to tackle that challenge with strategic interventions. Through an elective called the Science of Learning she hopes that if students read the research on memory and learning they will adopt better strategies. These desirable difficulties include strategies like testing yourself regularly on what you've learned, rather than reading the same passage over and over with a highlighter in hand. "What we're teaching people doesn't feel good," Cleary admits. And the techniques require continual practice to be effective. "It's a horrible sales pitch." Cleary also helps other faculty members figure out how to incorporate these strategies in their teaching. Students tend not to like, say, weekly quizzes. And professors often don't want to stop in the middle of a lecture to ask students to jot down what they've learned so far. It makes Cleary uncomfortable, too. "It feels like I'm not doing anything. I'm just standing there," she says. "I should be cramming more content into my lecture.""