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Learning
Principles
Description
In
1990, APA established a task force that included
educational theorists and researchers to review
and categorize the massive body of psychological
research literature into a workable knowledge
base that would be useful to educators. They
were to create evidence-based principles that
would serve as guides to educational reform
and
practice.
In
1998, the following 14 principles were established:
- Nature
of the learning process. The learning of
complex subject matter is most effective
when it is an intentional process of constructing
meaning from information and experience.
-
Goals of the learning process. The successful
learner, over time and with support and
instructional guidance, can create meaningful,
coherent representations of knowledge.
- Construction
of knowledge. The successful learner can
link new information with
existing knowledge in meaningful ways.
- Strategic
thinking. The successful learner can create
and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning
strategies to achieve complex learning goals.
- Thinking
about thinking. Higher order strategies
for selecting and monitoring mental operations
facilitate creative and critical thinking.
-
Context
of learning. Learning is influenced by
environmental factors, including culture,
technology, and instructional practices.
- Motivational
and emotional influences on learning. What
and how much is learned is influenced by
the learner’s motivation. Motivation
to learn, in turn, is influenced by the
individual’s emotional state, beliefs,
interests and goals, and habits of thinking.
- Intrinsic
motivation to learn. The learner’s
creativity, higher order thinking, and natural
curiosity all contribute to motivation to
learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated
by tasks the learner perceives to be of
optimal novelty and difficulty, relevant
to personal interests, and providing personal
choice and control.
- Effects
of motivation on effort. Acquisition of
complex knowledge and skills require extended
learner effort and guided practice. Without
learners’ motivation to learn, the
willingness to exert this effort is unlikely
without coercion.
- Developmental
influences on learning. As individuals develop,
there are different opportunities and constraints
for learning. Learning is most effective
when differential development within and
across physical, intellectual, emotional,
and social domains is taken into account.
- Social
influences on learning. Learning is influenced
by social interactions,
interpersonal relations, and communication
with others.
- Individual
differences in learning. Learners have different
strategies, approaches, and capabilities
for learning that are a function of prior
experience and heredity.
- Learning
and diversity. Learning is most effective
when differences in learners’ linguistic,
cognitive, and social backgrounds are taken
into account.
- Standards
and assessment. Setting appropriately high
and challenging standards and assessing
the learner as well as learning process—including
diagnostic, process, and outcome assessment—are
integral parts of the learning process.
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