How Learning Works - The Beginning...

I was very excited to be invited by Andria Stokes into an Avila University book study. The book we are looking at is How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Ambrose, Bridges, Lovett, DiPietro, and Norman.

As an instructional designer, I know that learning theory should be considered in curriculum design, and as a part-time Advantage faculty member, understanding how students learn (especially adult learners) is important to me so that I can provide the best learning possible in my undergraduate and graduate leadership courses.

I plan to use this blog for reflections on the 7 research-based principles and how these apply in the design of my leadership courses and how I give instruction and facilitation especially in my online formats. I look forward to knowledge sharing with everyone in the book study group!

Chapter 1: How Does Students' Prior Knowledge Affect Their Learning?

To view prior posts click here.

The patterns I see in this chapter is a yin yang experience. The principle highlighted in the chapter is:

Students' prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.

It appears that the key is not that instructors, teachers, or educators activate prior knowledge but more importantly take into account the accuracy and the appropriateness of the prior knowledge. We spend a great deal of time thinking about how we can activate or stimulate students' prior learning to help continue to build content and understanding. What I forget to stop and think about at times is the quality and quantity of the knowledge is being used.

Questions I asked myself while reading were (the blue script is the continuation of the definition of learning provided in this book):

 If a student knows the content do they understand how to use it? (Knowledge vs. Doing)


What procedures have I left untaught that will change the learning for my students? (Processes and Change)


How are students using analogous information and will it deter them from my intended learning outcomes? (Thinking and Experience and Change)


What misconceptions are getting in the way that could create misinformation in future coursework? (Experience vs. Thinking)


Without taking the time to go through my content and review these questions could I be creating a learning environment that will not support all learners? I need some strategies. Thank goodness there are some at the end of each chapter! I am not crazy about starting the semester off with a diagnostic assessment. I find that kills the learning climate I am trying to establish in the course. But I do like the idea of having the students assess their own prior knowledge. I'm not sure how I would do it but I know it would have to do with technology and it would be something students could return to for refinement of learning.

I have used concept maps before and if the students know how to use them I think this could be effective. On the other hand if they need to be taught I believe they will not be used as effectively for the intended purpose of identifying prior knowledge. Students will be so concerned about the creation of the map they will lose track of the content that should be in the map.

I do watch for patterns in errors, comments, or questions to help identify what a student knows and explicitly link new material and prior knowledge during instruction. What I think I may start doing is helping students do more reflection during class. Have them ask, "Am I making assumptions based on my own cultural knowledge that may not be appropriate here? If so, What are those assumptions and where do they come from?"

I am also going to try to help my students understand discipline-specific conventions. Writing in science, writing a reflection, and writing a report are not all the same type of writing and each discipline has it's own expectations.

Introduction: Building the Bridge

The first thing on the page is a quote from Herbert A. Simon. It reads

Learning results from what the student does and thinks

and only from what the student does and thinks. The 

teacher can advance learning only by influencing what the 

student does learn.

So I thought to myself the pattern I see so far has to do with learning, doing, and thinking. The rotation of these three actions creates a pattern of knowledge and understanding. Why is a bridge necessary...as stated in the title? Shouldn't the research and the practice say the same thing? Students learn when they think and do. Students think when they learn by doing. Students do and they think and learn. The interaction of this pattern appears necessary all levels of formal learning. So, I continue to read to see how the pattern plays out in this chapter.

I see the definition of learning used in this book and the three italicized words are: process, change, and experience. So what does this definition have to do with learn, do, and think? I found my answer near the end of the introduction: The seven learning principles described in the introduction and throughout the book are domain-independent, experience-independent, and cross-cultural relevant. Student learning involves a process no matter what content is provided. When students do or participate their knowledge base begins to change from the experience. Once an experience occurs the student will think about the cultural relevance and how that caused the experience to play out.

Now that I see the pattern...connections...interplay, I understand the principles in a different way.

1. Prior knowledge helps or hinders learning (What you know changes the way you think.)
2. How knowledge is organized influences learning and application of knowledge (Thinking is changed due to the process.)
3. Motivation determines, directs, and sustains what is learned (Personal and non-personal experiences effect what is learned.) 
4. Mastery of knowledge requires acquisition, integration, and application of skills (Learning through a process requires change in understanding.)
5. Use of goals as directives along with targeted feedback enhances the quality of learning (Change agents  coupled with the learning process creates high quality learning.)
6. Interaction of current level of  development with affective, cognitive, and social domains creates the learning climate within the classroom (Experiences create types of learning.)
7. Monitoring and refining learning allows students to be self-directed learners (The learning process along with change enhances knowledge.)

This may not make sense to the reader right now, but I do see a pattern of use with the words I have identified in this blog post. We need to keep in mind- if we want quality education- that a bridge must always connect the learning process, the action of change, and the experiences in life.

Why the concept of patterns

       When I began learning about metacognition in 1992, one of the "strategies" I found that helped my students learn quicker and understand in a deeper sense was identification of patterns. I decided to tell my students to look for patterns all around them. We identified patterns in sounds, clothing, architecture, and nature. Then I told my students to look for patterns in the content I was teaching. We found that there were words that had cvc patterns, numbers multiplied in patterns, communities had neighborhoods that were created in a pattern. Soon  my students saw patterns within the world and noticed that identifying them helped us understand how things worked. They began to make connections across subject areas and parts of their lives. They saw the pattern in the moon phases, and patterns in their names. I know it sounds crazy but here I was in the middle of Kansas City, Kansas in a room full of first, second, and third grade students who were diagnosed as "educable mentally retarded" and I was watching them learn content that had taken me years to teach with previous students. The key had to be the intentional and explicit use of identification of patterns.
       Kristin Gunckel wrote about children learning science through identification and use of patterning in her article Experiences, Patterns, and Explanations. This 2010 Science and Children article discussed finding patterns in everyday experiences as a key to learning. She discussed how scientist look for patterns when comparing the outcome of experiments to help generate new laws or generalizations about the world. Gunckel also shared that the Roman's made connections between patterns of sound moving through air and waves moving away from a pebble dropped in the water. These ideas got me thinking....what if I read a new text but viewed it only from the perspective of patterns that I see in the content provided. So, that is what I intend to do in this blog.
     My goal is to look for the patterns that explain how learning works. I hope you will join in on the conversation as you read and share your ideas through the lens of a chosen concept.