Principles of Learning
As educators, it’s essential that we have a solid foundation in the principles and practices of how learning works before we begin planning a course. Lovett, M. C. et al. (2023) offer the following set of evidence-based principles that are a useful starting point for building that foundation.
| 1 | Why do students’ identities and stages of development matter for learning? | We need to understand what students know — or think they know — coming into our courses, so we can leverage their accurate knowledge more effectively to promote learning, and also identify and fill gaps, and actively work to correct any misconceptions |
| 2 | How does students’ prior knowledge affect their learning? | There is a difference between expert and novice knowledge structures. We need to highlight to our students how we organize disciplinary knowledge and draw on it to perform particular tasks |
| 3 | How does the way students organize knowledge affect their learning? | No single variable universally determines student motivation. That said, strategies that help students see the value in any given activity and encourage them to feel like they can be successful are likely to increase some students’ motivation to learn |
| 4 | What factors motivate students to learn? | Decomposing complex tasks helps instructors pinpoint skills that students need to develop through targeted practice, along with making it easier for some students to develop those skills. However, in designing practice opportunities to reinforce component skills, we need to consider whether their learning goals are best accomplished through isolated practice, whole-task practice, or some combination of the two |
| 5 | How do students develop mastery? | To achieve the most effective learning, students need sufficient focused practice on a specific goal(s) at an appropriate level of challenge. While it’s sometimes difficult to increase students ’ practice time, there are benefits in using practice time more efficiently by focusing on what students need to learn and setting their goals for performance at a reasonable and productive level of challenge |
| 6 | What kinds of practice and feedback enhance learning? | Student-centered teaching requires us to teach students, not content. We need to bear in mind the complex set of social, emotional, and intellectual challenges that college students face |
| 7 | Why does course climate matter for student learning? | Students tend not to apply metacognitive skills as well or as often as they should, and may need instructor support in learning, refining, and effectively applying these skills |
| 8 | How do students become self-directed learners? |
For a more detailed summary with examples of teaching activities, download