Learning Principles and Motivation

Source: Excerpts from a Friday SLO Talk webinar featuring Dr. Marie Norman, co-author of How Learning Works: Eight Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching.

Main Themes:

Teaching vs. Learning: Content expertise alone doesn’t ensure effective teaching. For instance, Isaac Newton, despite his brilliance, struggled to convey his knowledge through lectures."If you know a lot about something... you are then automatically qualified to teach. But... teaching has its own very specific set of skills and knowledge."
Importance of Prior Knowledge: Students bring varied knowledge, beliefs, and misconceptions to the classroom. Effective learning relies on activating, building upon, and addressing existing knowledge gaps and inaccuracies."Prior knowledge... is the single most important component in new learning." Challenges include:
- Inactive knowledge: Difficulty recognizing or applying prior knowledge.
- Gaps in knowledge: Missing foundational information.
- Inappropriate prior knowledge: Misapplying correct knowledge.
- Inaccurate prior knowledge: Holding misconceptions.
Dr. Norman’s card test illustrates this: students struggled with an abstract problem but succeeded when it was framed in a familiar context (drinking age rules).
Expert Blind Spot: Experienced instructors may overestimate students' understanding. For example, in a research methods course, a professor assumed students could apply statistical tests, overlooking the actual complexity for novice learners."It simply requires that students take a data set, select and apply... things which are actually quite complex."
Motivation as a Key Driver of Learning: Motivation fuels student effort, with two crucial aspects:
- Value: Students’ perception of relevance.
- Expectancy: Belief in their ability to succeed and in the fairness of the environment.
"Students' motivation generates, directs, and sustains what they do to learn." Strategies to foster motivation include connecting content to student interests, promoting competence and autonomy, and providing clear expectations and feedback.

Recommended Resources:

How Learning Works by Ambrose et al.
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel
Teach Like a Champion by Lemov

Conclusion: Dr. Norman underscores the value of understanding and applying learning principles. Addressing issues such as prior knowledge and motivation allows instructors to create more engaging and effective learning experiences.