How People Learn II

Learners, Contexts,
and Cultures

Committee on How People Learn II:
The Science and Practice of Learning

Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences

Board on Science Education

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

A Consensus Study Report of

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

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This activity was supported by grants and awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Grant No. 2014-3-06), the American Educational Research Association (unnumbered award), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant No. OPP1110470), the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education (Grant No. R305U150005), the Teagle Foundation (unnumbered award), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Grant No. 2014-1118), with additional support from the National Academy of Sciences’ W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fund and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Presidents’ Circle Fund. Support for the work of the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences is provided primarily by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Award No. BCS-1729167). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-45964-8
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-45964-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957415
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/24783

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Printed in the United States of America

Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/24783.

COMMITTEE ON HOW PEOPLE LEARN II: THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF LEARNING

CORA BAGLEY MARRETT (Chair), Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin–Madison

PATRICIA J. BAUER, Department of Psychology, Emory University

CYNTHIA BEALL (NAS), Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve

MARGARET E. BEIER, Department of Psychology, Rice University

DAVID B. DANIEL, Department of Psychology, James Madison University

ROBERT L. GOLDSTONE, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University

ARTHUR C. GRAESSER, Department of Psychology and Institute of Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis

MARY HELEN IMMORDINO-YANG, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

RUTH KANFER, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology

JEFFREY D. KARPICKE, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University

BARBARA M. MEANS, Learning Sciences Research, Digital Promise

DOUGLAS L. MEDIN (NAS), Department of Psychology, Northwestern University

LINDA NATHAN, Center for Artistry and Scholarship

ANNEMARIE SULLIVAN PALINCSAR, School of Education, University of Michigan

DANIEL L. SCHWARTZ, School of Education, Stanford University

ZEWELANJI N. SERPELL, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University

SUJEETA BHATT, Study Director

TINA WINTERS, Associate Program Officer

RENÉE L. WILSON GAINES, Senior Program Assistant

HEIDI SCHWEINGRUBER, Director, Board on Science Education

BARBARA A. WANCHISEN, Director, Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences

BOARD ON BEHAVIORAL, COGNITIVE, AND SENSORY SCIENCES

SUSAN T. FISKE (Chair), Department of Psychology and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

JOHN BAUGH, Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis

LAURA L. CARSTENSEN, Department of Psychology, Stanford University

JUDY DUBNO, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina

JENNIFER EBERHARDT, Department of Psychology, Stanford University

ROBERT L. GOLDSTONE, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University

DANIEL R. ILGEN, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University

NANCY G. KANWISHER, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

JANICE KIECOLT-GLASER, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

BILL MAURER, School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine

STEVEN E. PETERSEN, Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, School of Medicine, Washington University Medical School

DANA M. SMALL, Department of Psychiatry, Yale Medical School

TIMOTHY J. STRAUMAN, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University

JEREMY M. WOLFE, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Departments of Ophthalmology and Radiology, Harvard Medical School

BARBARA A. WANCHISEN, Director

BOARD ON SCIENCE EDUCATION

ADAM GAMORAN (Chair), William T. Grant Foundation, New York, NY

GEORGE BOGGS, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA (emeritus)

MELANIE COOPER, Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University

RODOLFO DIRZO, Department of Biology, Stanford University

JACQUELYNNE ECCLES, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan

JOSEPH FRANCISCO, Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska

MARGARET A. HONEY, New York Hall of Science, New York City

MATTHEW KREHBIEL, Kansas State Department of Education, Topeka

MICHAEL LACH, Urban Education Institute, University of Chicago

LYNN S. LIBEN, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University

CATHY MANDUCA, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College

JOHN MATHER, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

BRIAN REISER, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University

MARSHALL “MIKE” SMITH, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, CA

ROBERTA TANNER, Thompson School District, Loveland, CO

SUZANNE WILSON, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut

YU XIE, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan

HEIDI SCHWEINGRUBER, Director

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Acknowledgments

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has substantially expanded understanding of brain processes and what they mean for individual learning, schooling, and policy. In 2000, the report How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition (National Research Council, 2000; hereafter referred to as HPL I) was published and its influence has been both wide and deep, but 20 years later the research landscape has evolved still further. How People Learn II provides a much-needed update.

This book does not presume to provide answers to specific educational dilemmas—recipes for teaching or the proverbial “what to do on Monday morning.” Instead, the committee hopes that the book will be a tool that can enrich discussions about research and practice in education and learning for people of all ages. We have tried to present the existing scientific evidence in the most straightforward, accurate, and complete way that we can, and to synthesize and interpret the findings creatively. However, the practical applications that derive from the science will never be completely straightforward because the real world is highly complicated, with many moving parts and hidden complexities. The committee therefore asks you, the reader, to think critically about the findings we present in relation to your own work, and about how the findings reviewed here square with evidence and policies used to justify educational strategies, policies, and research questions in your professional context. Only through active debates and attempts to contextualize and adapt the findings beyond the narrow settings in which they often were studied will we create significantly new understanding and better policy and practice as they relate to learning.

This report is made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the American Educational Research Association, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, the Teagle Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, with additional support from the National Academy of Sciences’ W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fund and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Presidents’ Circle Fund. We especially acknowledge Ed Dieterle (formerly with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) who provided vision and enthusiasm for making this report a reality. We are grateful for the substantive core support to the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences received from federal agencies, particularly the National Science Foundation’s Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate and the National Institute on Aging’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research, which ensured necessary oversight on the project. We also appreciate the funds provided by the American Psychological Association.

Over the course of the study, committee members benefited from discussion and presentations by the many individuals who participated in our three fact-finding meetings. At the first committee meeting, Marc Chun (Hewlett Foundation), Felice Levine (American Educational Research Association), and Daniel Goroff (Sloan Foundation) each provided valuable background information on the goals of the study’s sponsors. In addition, Marianella Casasola (Cornell University) provided an overview of the research on thought and language in the bilingual infant. Barbara Rogoff (University of California, Santa Cruz) shared reflections on understanding cultural differences that influence how, why, and where people learn; and Guinevere Eden (Georgetown University) provided a review of the most recent neuroimaging research on reading and reading disabilities. Finally, members of the HPL I authoring committee provided insights on how best to approach the study process in order to meld ideas from diverse disciplines to maximize the impact of the report for research and practice. The HPL I committee members included Barbara Means (SRI International), Jose Mestre (University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign), Linda Nathan (Boston University), Penelope Peterson (Northwestern University), and Barbara Rogoff. The Webcast audience for this first meeting included individuals from the United States and several other countries: Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, and Taiwan.

At the second meeting, three committee members (Patricia Bauer, David Daniel, and Jeff Karpicke) briefed the committee and audience on the evidence regarding cognitive and developmental factors affecting learning in context. Robert Mislevy (Educational Testing Service) provided insights on how developments in psychology and technology challenge assessment in learning contexts, and Kevin Crowley (University of Pittsburgh) provided an overview of learning in informal settings. Finally, Elizabeth Albro (Institute of Education Sciences) shared the perspectives of the sponsor with the committee. The Webcast audience included individuals from Canada and the United States.

The third committee meeting included discussions from two different panels: (1) Panel on Learning in Adulthood and the Use of Technology for Learning in Adulthood and (2) Panel on Learning Disabilities, Universal Design for Learning, and Assistive Technology. The Learning in Adulthood panelists were Philip Ackerman (Georgia Institute of Technology), Walter Boot (Florida State University), and Ursula Staudinger (Columbia University). The Learning Disabilities and Universal Design for Learning panel included Donald Compton (Florida State University), Jack Fletcher (University of Houston), and David Rose (CAST). The Webcast audience for this meeting included individuals from Brazil, Canada, and the United States.

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Daniel E. Atkins, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan (emeritus); Philip Bell, Learning Sciences and Human Development, University of Washington; John Dunlosky, Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University; Kris Gutiérrez, Educational Policy and Language, Literacy and Culture, University of California, Berkeley; Kenji Hakuta, School of Education, Stanford University; Karen R. Harris, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University; David Klahr, Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University; Kenneth R. Koedinger, Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, Carnegie Mellon University; Gloria Ladson-Billings, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education, Michigan State University; Bruce McCandliss, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University; James W. Pellegrino, Learning Sciences Research Institute, College of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago; Diana C. Pullin, Lynch School of Education, Boston College; Barbara Rogoff, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz; Lorrie A. Shepard, Laboratory of Educational Research, School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder; and Brian A. Wandell, Department of Psychology, Stanford University.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release.

The review of this report was overseen by Michael I. Posner, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon (emeritus), and Greg J. Duncan, School of Education, University of California, Irvine. They were responsible for making

certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

Thanks are also due to the project staff and staff of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE). In particular, special thanks to Tina Winters, associate program officer, who was instrumental in organizing data-gathering opportunities for the committee, agenda development, facilitation of commissioned paper selection and contracting, and invaluable assistance in the writing and development of the committee’s final report. Renée Wilson Gaines, senior program assistant, also provided critical support to the study process by managing the study’s logistical and administrative needs, making sure meetings and workshops ran efficiently and smoothly, obtaining copyright permissions, and engaging in other essential report activities. Appreciation is also extended to Barbara Wanchisen, director of the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences, and Heidi Schweingruber, director of the Board on Science Education, for their leadership, guidance, oversight of, and support for the study. We are also indebted to the National Academies consultant Robert Katt for final editing of the manuscript. We are particularly grateful to Patricia Morison and Alexandra Beatty for their support and significant assistance with improving the flow of the report. We thank the Executive Office staff of DBASSE, especially Kirsten Sampson-Snyder, who managed the review process, Yvonne Wise, who oversaw the final publication process, and Lisa Alston for financial oversight. Finally, we would like to thank the Research Center at the National Academies for their valuable support in conducting literature and data reviews, generating impact summaries, and supporting general research.

Cora Bagley Marrett, Chair
Sujeeta Bhatt, Study Director
Committee on How People Learn II:
The Science and Practice of Learning

Contents

Summary

1 Introduction

Charge to the Committee

Contributions of HPL I

Interpreting the Charge

Gathering Evidence to Address the Charge

Treatment of Evidence

Guide to This Report

2 Context and Culture

The Cultural Nature of Learning

Defining Culture

The Role of Culture in Learning and Development

Learning as Social Activity

The Dynamic Interaction of Culture, Biology, and Context

Social and Emotional Influences

Physical Influences

Conclusion

3 Types of Learning and the Developing Brain

Types of Learning

Three Learning Scenarios

Basic Types of Learning

Integrating Types of Learning

Learning and the Brain

Prenatal and Lifelong Brain Development and Maturation

Brain Adaptation in Response to Learning

Evidence of Learning-Related Changes in the Brain Throughout the Life Span

Conclusions

4 Processes That Support Learning

Orchestrating Learning

Executive Function

Self-Regulation of Learning

Memory

Reconstructing Memories

Working and Long-Term Memory

Memory for Episodes of Learning

Conclusions

5 Knowledge and Reasoning

Building a Knowledge Base

Knowledge and Expertise

Benefits of Expertise

Bias as a Natural Side Effect of Knowledge

Knowledge Integration and Reasoning

Inferential Reasoning

Age-Related Changes in Knowledge and Reasoning

Effects of Culture on Reasoning

Strategies to Support Learning

Strategies for Knowledge Retention

Strategies for Understanding and Integration

Conclusions

6 Motivation to Learn

Theoretical Perspectives

Learners’ Beliefs and Values

Self-Efficacy

Values

Interest

Intrinsic Motivation

External Rewards

Effects of Choice

The Importance of Goals

Types of Goals

Influence of Teachers on Learners’ Goals

Learning Goals and Other Goals

Future Identities and Long-Term Persistence

Social and Cultural Influences on Motivation

Cross-Cultural Differences in Learners’ Self-Construals

Social Identity and Motivation Processes

Stereotype Threat

Interventions to Improve Motivation

Conclusions

7 Implications for Learning in School

Culture and Learning in School

School and Classroom Contexts

Shifting from “Deficit” to “Asset” Models

Discipline-Specific Learning

Mathematics

Science

History

Engaging and Empowering Learners

Self-Regulated Learning

Instructional Approaches for Engaging the Learner

Assessing Learning

Providing Feedback to Learners

Connecting Assessment to Evidence about How Students Learn

Conclusions

8 Digital Technology

Aligning Technologies with Learning Goals

Affordances of Learning Technologies

Learning Through Repetition

Deeper Learning with Models

Collaborative and Cooperative Learning

Technology-Supported Self-Regulated Learning

Technologies that Stimulate Active Learning

Learning Through Game Play

Leveraging Stories and Favorite Characters

Empowering Learners as Producers and Creators

Making

Embodied Cognition

Conversational Agents

Technologies for Instruction

Linking Formal and Informal Learning

Orchestrating Instruction

Writing Instruction

Opportunities and Challenges

Digital Dashboards

Distance Learning

Mobile Personal Devices

Problematic Features of Technology

Universal Design

Technology for Learning in Later Life

The Digital Divide

A Systematic Approach to Implementation

Conclusions

9 Learning Across the Life Span

Changes That Occur with Age

Reasoning and Knowledge

Motivation for Learning

Learning Activities and Environments

Cognitive Abilities

Learning Disabilities

Causes of Learning Disabilities

Reading Disabilities

Mathematics Disabilities

Learning Disabilities in Adults

Adult Literacy

Interventions

Postsecondary Educational Experiences

Workforce Training

Determining Whether People Learn in the Workplace

Training Transfer

Autonomous Workplace Learning

Self-Regulated Learning in the Workplace

The Importance of Active Engagement

Fostering Lifelong Learning

Conclusions

10 Research Agenda

The Dynamic Nature of Learning

Research Agenda

References

Appendixes

A History of the How People Learn Studies and Their Use

B List of Relevant Reports Published by the National Academies Press

C Study Populations in Research on Learning

D Committee and Staff Biographies

Tables, Figures, and Boxes

TABLES

3-1 Models of Age-Related Change in Brain Structures That Affect Learning

6-1 Mindsets, Goals, and Their Implications for Learning

6-2 Achievement Goals and Classroom Climate

8-1 Principles of Universal Design

FIGURES

3-1 User interface for the Foldit game

3-2 Pattern recognition

3-3 The McCullough effect, part 1

3-4 The McCullough effect, part 2

3-5 Unaided pattern interpretation

3-6 Hints for pattern interpretation in previous figure

3-7 Abductive reasoning in a machine-learning system

3-8 Children’s mental models of the Earth

3-9 Mean cortical thickness across the adult life span

5-1 Depiction of memory integration

5-1-1 Mean amplitude of the neural response at the centro-parietal sites to well-known, novel, and integration facts during first and second presentation