How learning works : seven research-based principles for smart teaching / Susan A. Ambrose ... [et al.] ; foreword by Richard E. Mayer.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-284) and index.

Introduction: Bridging learning research and teaching practice -- How does students' prior knowledge affect their learning? -- How does the way students organize knowledge affect their learning? -- What factors motivate students to learn? -- How do students develop mastery? -- What kinds of practice and feedback enhance learning? -- Why do student development and course climate matter for student learning? -- How do students become self-directed learners? -- Conclusion: Applying the seven principles to ourselves -- Appendix A: What is student self-assessment and how can we use it? -- Appendix B: What are concept maps and how can we use them? -- Appendix C: What are rubrics and how can we use them? -- Appendix D: What are learning objectives and how can we use them? -- Appendix E: What are ground rules and how can we use them? -- Appendix F: What are exam wrappers and how can we use them? -- Appendix G: What are checklists and how can we use them? -- Appendix H: What is reader response/peer review and how can we use it?

From the Inside Flap: Any conversation about effective teaching must begin with a consideration of how students learn. However, instructors may find a gap between resources that focus on the technical research on learning and those that provide practical classroom strategies. How Learning Works provides the bridge for such a gap. In this volume, the authors introduce seven general principles of learning, distilled from the research literature as well as from twenty-seven years of experience working one-on-one with college faculty. They have drawn on research from a breadth of perspectives (cognitive, developmental, and social psychology; educational research; anthropology; demographics; and organizational behavior) to identify a set of key principles underlying learning-from how effective organization enhances retrieval and use of information to what impacts motivation. These principles provide instructors with an understanding of student learning that can help them see why certain teaching approaches are or are not supporting student learning, generate or refine teaching approaches and strategies that more effectively foster student learning in specific contexts, and transfer and apply these principles to new courses. For anyone who wants to improve his or her students' learning, it is crucial to understand how that learning works and how to best foster it. This vital resource is grounded in learning theory and based on research evidence, while being easy to understand and apply to college teaching.