How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching

Written by Susan A. Ambrose, Michael W. Bridges, Marsha C. Lovett and 2 more

Narrated by Chelsea Stephens

Any conversation about effective teaching must begin with a consideration of how students learn. However, instructors may find a gap between resources that focus on the technical research on learning and those that provide practical classroom strategies. How Learning Works provides the bridge for such a gap.

Distilling the research literature and translating the scientific approach into language relevant to a college or university teacher, this book introduces seven general principles of how students learn. The authors have drawn on research from a breadth of perspectives (cognitive, developmental, and social psychology; educational research; anthropology; demographics; organizational behavior) to identify a set of key principles underlying learning, from how effective organization enhances retrieval and use of information to what impacts motivation. Integrating theory with real-classroom examples in practice, this book helps faculty to apply cognitive science advances to improve their own teaching.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Oct 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781541437517

Reviews for How Learning Works

[aevaughn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is full of examples of how things can go wrong in the classroom or how things go differently than what a teacher expects when using an approach. It also offers a variety of techniques for how to teach effectively and cites a variety of research to further inform me should I decide to use that approach.

[pw0327 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is a part of a series from Jossy-Bass Higher and Adult Education series. I bought it on the recommendation of the learning resources center staff. They presented parts of the material during their new staff orientation. I had two intentions, one was to have some resources at my disposal for the latest pedagogical theories to help my teaching and I also wanted to learn about these research based principles to help my coaching. The structure of the book is straightforward, the introduction laid out the seven principles and stated their purpose: to bridge the research and teaching practices. The succeeding seven chapters laid out the seven principles, gave scenarios for the readers to digest and analyze. They discussed the theory and experimental results that supports each argument within the principles. The last section is a conclusion that reiterates the principles to close out the book. They have also included the eight tools that they have cited in the body of the book in the appendices to help the reader learn more about the implementation and pitfalls associated with these tools.I found the presentations workmanlike, which is as intended. The idea is to present the principles cogently and logically, even though the topics that are covered are anything but coldly rational. I was personally very interested in how students develop mastery and how they can become self-directed learners. Those two chapters drew me in when I first looked at the table of contents. As I read the book in the sequences presented by the author I was drawn into other principles, specifically, the chapters on how the student’s prior knowledge affected their learning and how they organized their knowledge made them look at the knowledge that they are accruing really made me think about those topics. I knew that those topics affect the students learning but I was not clever enough to see how teachers can incorporate tools to help the students deal with their lack of prior knowledge and how much the knowledge organization affect their learning process. Indeed, I started to think about my own learning process, and how ineffective some of my learning habits are, and yet I continue to persist in pursuing the same methods. I am changing my ways in response to that lesson.The chapter on how the practice and the kind of feedback help the student to learn is enlightening because it gives me ideas on how to change my usual teaching tools to make the experience more productive for my students. The feedback topic is an important one and it is here that I received a lot of reassurance that the feedback skills that I have employed in my teaching and coaching are good practices and that my instincts were good ones. I did also profit from gaining more understanding of how feedback can be used.The chapter on motivation and course climate were difficult ones for me, I took for granted that the motivation for the students are their responsibilities, that they were taking the class or playing on a team for a reason, that they were thusly motivated and I would have something to do with that, but not a lot. I am still a bit skeptical. I feel that motivation should be a personal decision, while I, as the teacher, can help them get more motivated by being a great teacher and being fair in my assessment of their abilities, I didn’t feel that I can make that much difference in how they are motivated. I am still dubious.On the topic of the course climate, I can see where this chapter would be very useful and very pertinent in a social science class. I am in engineering so that we don’t have too much social discussions. I do see where the social climate of a class can make or break the classroom success of the students by how the class interacts socially and the kind of expectations that they the students and me the teacher would have due to the social constructs, societal norms and stereotypes that are realities in our society. Those issues really speak to the kind of person the teachers are and how their root beliefs guide them in their daily interaction with the students. Knowing that the effect on the students is an important part of opening the teacher’s eyes to the reality that they face but I m dubious about how they can transform their teaching according to this principle without completely changing their world view.I will be referring back to this book often as I go forth in continuation of my teaching career. The principles are somewhat commonsensical, which makes it so much more acceptable. The no-nonsense layout of the arguments and methods are very welcome. The magical thing about the book is that it gives practical advice while also providing the readers with enough untethered hooks to hang onto intellectually so that they are challenged. This gives the readers some degrees of freedom to reflect on the ideas and allows them to progress the principles forward in their own ways.

[winterdragon-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not entirely sure if this book seemed repetitive because of the great teachers I have had at my undergrad and graduate institutions or the fact that I grew up around teachers and all they talked about was teaching. Either way, this book was a little repetitive, for me personally. One great thing about the book I want to point out is the writing and the organization. I thought how they wrote the book was very approachable and simple to understand and implement into the classroom. Also, the appendixes (appendices?) are a great jumping off point for teachers to use these ideas in their own classroom. As I said, the book was mostly repetitive, but some of these ideas were helpful to remind myself and to keep on the back burner when I am teaching. The two areas that jumped out at me that I need to keep in mind when I am teaching were the different ways students organize knowledge and what kind of practice and feedback enhance learning. I have heard of these ideas before but I sometimes get tunnel vision when and forget that not everyone's thinks or learns like I do, so keeping that in mind is imperative when I am teaching. Overall, I think this is a great book for people who have not had any (or only a little) training or classes in pedagogy.

[readhanded · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I know this book will not be for everyone, but as a soon-to-be EdD student, I loved it. Ambrose and the rest of the gang from the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University lay out seven teaching principles backed by research and show how they work and how to apply them in the classroom. Written for higher education, the principles can surely be applied to other levels of learning as well.