Partial profile · Book Profile — full narrative profile planned
How Learning Works Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching
Distills decades of learning-science research into seven evidence-based principles that explain how students actually learn and how instructors can design teaching to support that learning.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
How Learning Works bridges the gap between technical research on learning and practical classroom strategies, offering college instructors (and educators at all levels) seven research-grounded principles that explain the mechanisms of student learning: the role of prior knowledge, knowledge organization, motivation, mastery development, practice and feedback, student development and course climate, and metacognition. Drawing on cognitive, developmental, and social psychology, education, and anthropology—plus twenty-seven years of faculty consultation at Carnegie Mellon's Eberly Center—the authors pair each principle with the evidence behind it, illustrative teaching scenarios, and concrete, actionable strategies. The result is a readable, domain-independent, cross-culturally relevant model of learning that lets instructors diagnose why teaching approaches succeed or fail and design instruction that more effectively fosters durable, transferable learning.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A college instructor (or educator at any level) who is an expert in their field but has little formal training in pedagogy and wants to improve their students' learning.
- The problem
- Students fail to learn, apply, or retain material despite the instructor's apparent effort and reasonable teaching approaches. The instructor feels frustrated, baffled, and sometimes tempted to blame students as lazy or immature, unsure why their teaching isn't working.
- The plan
- Understand the seven research-based principles of how learning works.
- Diagnose why particular teaching approaches are or are not supporting student learning.
- Apply targeted, principle-based strategies to design or refine instruction for your specific context.
- Transfer and adapt these principles to new courses, students, and situations over time.
- The payoff
- Instruction that is aligned with how students actually learn, producing deeper and more transferable learning. · The ability to troubleshoot teaching problems and refine approaches with confidence rather than frustration. · Students who are more motivated, self-directed, and successful.