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

Ambrose,

Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, Marie K. Norman, with a Foreword

by Richard E. Mayer. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Xxii + 301 pages. ISBN: 978-0-470-

48410-4. $38.00.

College and university faculty members are practiced and confident authorities in their respective

disciplines, but often know little or nothing about how to teach (see xiv). How Learning Works is

a collection of essays “developing seven principles, each of which crystallizes a key aspect of

student learning” (2). From these principles emerges “a model of student learning that enables

[faculty members] to make sound teaching decisions” (1-2) and become more effective teachers.

The authors assert that learning is “a process that leads to change, which occurs as a

result of experience and increases the potential for improved performance and future learning”

(3; authors’ emphasis). Learning, however, is not “something done to students, but rather

something students themselves do” as a result of how they interpret and respond to their

experiences (3; authors’ emphasis). Consistent with their developmental and holistic viewpoint,

the authors identify seven individual principles which “highlight particular issues pertaining to

student learning” (4). While they address the principles individually, the authors insist that the

seven are “all at work in real learning situations and are functionally inseparable” (4).

Chapter one, principle one: “Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning”

(13). Hindrances include prior knowledge which may be accurate but insufficient to support

learning new material (18); inappropriate for the specific class, thus distorting comprehension of

new material (20); or, completely inaccurate, resulting in a predisposition among students to

“ignore, discount, or resist evidence” in conflict with their prior knowledge (24).

Chapter two, principle two: “How students organize knowledge influences how they

learn and apply what they know” (44). Generally, people organize knowledge “as a function of

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their experience, the nature of their knowledge, and the role that that knowledge plays in their

lives” (47). Thus, knowledge organizations develop “to support the tasks beings performed”

(49). The goal of the instructor is to “foster ways of organizing knowledge that will promote

students’ learning and performance” (49). Recognizing the disparity between novice and expert

requires instructors to “provide students with appropriate organizing schemes or teach them how

to abstract the relevant principles from what they are learning” (58).

Chapter three, principle three: “Students’ motivation generates, directs, and sustains

what they do to learn.” The authors define motivation as “the personal investment that an

individual has in reaching a desired state or outcome” (68) and identify two core concepts for

understanding motivation: 1) the subjective value of a goal and 2) the expectancies for

successfully reaching the goal (69). The authors insist that “if a goal is valued and expectancies

for success are positive and the environment is perceived to be supportive, motivation will be

highest” (79-80; authors’ emphasis).

Chapter four, principle four: “To develop mastery, students must acquire component

skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.” Mastery

refers to “the attainment of a high degree of competence with a particular area” (95) and may be

either beneficial or detrimental in the classroom. It is detrimental when the instructor/master

develops an “expert blind spot” (99), failing to see the learning needs of students/novices.

Chapter five, principle five: “Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback are

critical to learning” (125). Learning and performance are advanced when students employ a

methodology that focuses on a specific performance goal, pinpoints a suitable level of challenge

relative to students’ current performance, and is in an amount and frequency sufficient to meet

the performance criteria (127). Success depends on targeted instructor feedback communicating
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where students stand relative to course goals and how they may make the most use of the

information provided, especially in terms of “additional practice opportunities (143).

Chapter six, principle six: “Students’ current level of development interacts with the

social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning” (158). The authors

maintain that “student-centered teaching requires us to teach students, not content” (158). They

reference Chickering’s seven dimensions or vectors of student development calling attention to

their “profound implications for learning” (162), but focus their own work on two aspects:

intellectual development (163-166) and social identity development (166-169).

Chapter seven, principle seven: “To become self-directed learners, students must learn to

assess the demands of the task, evaluate their own knowledge and skills, plan their approach,

monitor their progress, and adjust their strategies as needed” (191). This principle relates to

metacognition, or “the process of reflecting on and directing one’s own thinking” (190). Students

develop metacognitive skills by learning to assess the task at hand, evaluate their own strengths

and weaknesses, plan appropriate approaches to complete the task, and apply strategies to

monitor their performance, while making adjustments to the selected approach (204-212).

This book is a cogent reminder that the seven principles call for an epistemological

humility on the part of instructors who, although experts in an academic discipline, are possibly

novices when it comes to pedagogy. The authors motivate us to understand our students and how

they develop intellectually and socially, to stay current in our respective disciplines and related

technology, and be willing to adapt constantly to the widening frontiers of the educational

enterprise. But, they do not abandon us to pedagogical theory. The appendices (225-259) are a

storehouse of valuable and practical information on how to integrate the principles into practice.

A particularly useful one relates to using “exam wrappers” (251), allowing student performance

analysis following exams.

How Learning Works is an uncomplicated, realistic, and functional book describing the

essentials of the learning process. At heart, however, it is about good teaching. It is a “must

read.” We all will be wiser and better teachers if we do.

Ben D. Craver

Wayland Baptist University, Albuquerque Campus