What We Know About How Students Learn

What has recent research in cognitive science and neuropsychology taught us about how students learn? And what are the implications of this research for creating successful learning environments?

1. That students have different learning styles, and learn best if instructors communicate in multiple ways.

We have learned that students have different ways of processing and assimilating information. In other words, they have different "learning styles."

Some learn visually; others, through auditory channels. Some learn inductively and others deductively. There are at least a dozen such classification schemes by which educational theorists have attempted to define and categorize students (probably the most famous of which is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator).

Research on learning styles teaches us that we should present material in multiple ways: with visual aids--such as charts, graphs, tables, film clips, and illustrations-demonstrations, hands-on activities, small group discussions, and simulations.

2. That students come to class with prior knowledge as well as many presumptions and misconceptions.

Students arrive in the classroom with various presumptions, some of which are correct but many of which are incorrect or overly simplistic. One task of an instructor involves introducing the student to new concepts and information that challenges these preconceptions and misunderstandings.

3. That learning involves a process of discovery and a process of mastery.

The process of discovery involves formulating explanations, making predictions, and solving problems. It also involves understanding and organizing facts in the context of a conceptual framework.

The process of mastery involves developing a foundation of factual knowledge and making certain skills automatic.

The process of mastery generally requires practice, repetition, and memorization. The process of discovery involves exploration, inquiry, and investigation. Both processes are essential, as is reflection on the very process of learning.

4. That students need to develop skills that will allow them to pursue learning on their own and critically assess their own performance.

Life-long learning depends on students' ability to learn on their own, to transfer skills to unfamiliar situations, and to critically evaluate their performance. They need, in short, to take charge of their own learning and to internalize high standards.

Frequent and timely feed-back can be crucial in helping students develop critical standards for assessing their work.

5. That learning is most successful when it is an active and self-conscious process.

Learning involves much more than a process in which a student receives and assimilates information passively. Rather, it is an active process in which a student must process information, by extracting, analyzing, evaluating, organizing, and synthesizing information, so that it can be readily retrieved and used in problem solving.

Many cognitive learning theories emphasize the importance of "metacognition": a student's conscious reflections upon the learning process. Metacognition might lead a student to develop ways to enhance memory, for example, by reflecting on the interrelationships among that certain ideas and concepts. From a cognitive perspective, opportunities for structured inquiry and problem solving are an essential part of the learning process, since this gives students a chance to formulate "knowledge structures."