I'm fascinated by theories of learning, but I'm EXCITED by their applications for teaching, so that's where I invest most of my time. Therefore, I'm always happy to find high-quality condensations, written by experts, of research-based principles for designing effective instruction. In this website I'll often cite these two authoritative sources of reliable information, in a book and a website:
How People LearnThe highly respected book, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School, was commissioned by the National Research Council. It was edited by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, and was published by the National Academies Press in 1999 & 2000. It is now available online with full text, for free and (in paperback) for sale. A summary of key ideas from How People Learn is one of many high-quality CFT Teaching Guides offered by The Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. I.O.U. — Later, there will be links for book reviews and other commentaries. |
LearnLab — PSLC"Funded by the National Science Foundation, Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC) at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh is making groundbreaking progress in understanding and developing effective theory and technology for learning." (about PSLC) As a community, their goal is to construct "experimentally-grounded theories of how and when robust learning occurs, ... an understanding of robust learning that is both rigorous and realistic." Purpose and MissionInstructional Principles |
comparisons: Both want to make educational research available for educational application, for classroom teachers and designers of curriculum & instruction. LearnLab is a little more oriented toward research, and How People Learn toward applications. LearnLab is currently active and ongoing (with a community of researchers and many projects that include research and instructional applications) while How People Learn is a finished project. LearnLab cites How People Learn as an authority, especially for the Robust Learning (to improve long-term retention, transfer, accelerated future learning) that is an important potential benefit of using Design Process, as explained in reasons to use Design Process` and Transfers of Learning.
I.O.U. — In this website, currently How People Learn is quoted more often — especially for research-based strategies to increase transfers of learning — mainly because I discovered it first. Later, I'll explore LearnLab more thoroughly, and probably will include more ideas from it. And later there will be links to other web-resources about educational research and research-based proposals for instruction.