The National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine have released How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures. This is a 350 page report based on decades of research. Below are, word for word, four (out of a total of 17) conclusions in the report, which can be purchased or accessed as PDF here.
If you are interested in education, you have to read this book.
CONCLUSION 2-1: Each learner develops a unique array of knowledge and cognitive resources in the course of life that are molded by the interplay of that learner’s cultural, social, cognitive, and biological contexts. Understanding the developmental, cultural, contextual, and historical diversity of learners is central to understanding how people learn.
CONCLUSION 4-1: Successful learning requires coordination of multiple cognitive processes that involve different networks in the brain. In order to coordinate these processes, an individual needs to be able to monitor and regulate his own learning. The ability to monitor and regulate learning changes over the life span and can be improved through interventions.
CONCLUSION 6-2: Educators may support learners’ motivation by attending to their engagement, persistence, and performance by:
- helping them to set desired learning goals and appropriately challenging goals for performance;
- creating learning experiences that they value;
- supporting their sense of control and autonomy;
- developing their sense of competency by helping them to recognize, monitor, and strategize about their learning progress; and
- creating an emotionally supportive and nonthreatening learning environment where learners feel safe and valued.
CONCLUSION 8-2: Effective use of technologies in formal education and training requires careful planning for implementation that addresses factors known to affect learning. These factors include alignment of the technology with learning goals, provision of professional development and other supports for instructors and learners, and equitable access to the technology. Ongoing assessment of student learning and evaluation of implementation are critical to ensuring that a particular use of technology is optimal and to identifying needed improvements.
The research and conclusions from this book are right in line with our online discussion December 17: A Brief History of the Future of Education, led by FETC speaker Ryan Schaaf. Please register and join us.