We predict that How People Learn will become one of the most influential books ever published on teaching and learning. It is based on the most important findings from the neurosciences, cognitive and social psychology, human development, processes of effective learning, environments in which learning best takes place, and emerging technologies. All of this research is leading to new understandings of how to apply science to the practices of education. These scientific achievements include a fuller understanding of memory and the structure of knowledge, problem solving and reasoning, the early foundations of learning, regulatory processes that govern learning including metacognition, and how symbolic thinking emerges from culture and community of the learner.
Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works.
If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom. The book notes that the foregoing principles have major implications for teaching and teacher preparation. Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them. Teachers must teach some subject matter in depth, providing many examples in which the same concept is at work and providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge. The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.