How learning works — 7 research-based principles for smart teaching

Chap 1 Prior Knowledge
Chap 2 Organize Knowledge
Chap 3 Motivation
Chap 4 Practice and Feedback

This book focuses more on the teaching part of the learning. Ambrose introduced 7 principles for teaching based on the solid research. These principles have some overlay with the book, “Design for how people learn”, but I think that the part about knowledge of the learner is extremely useful. Ambrose pointed out that learner’s prior knowledge can help or hinder the learning. If learners have inappropriate prior knowledge, the new knowledge might be applied to wrong context. Furthermore, it is important to understand how learners organize the knowledge. Because it will highly influence how they learn and apply what they know.

In terms of everyday practice, the prior knowledge and the interconnections between knowledge are important and should be paid more attention on. If I introduce a new way of doing everyday practice, the way people react and adapt will highly depend on their previous experience in this field. While a professional chef will immediately reject a microwave in his kitchen, a student who barely cook will quickly adapt this new device into his cooking process.