How can we best harness the fruits of multiple disciplinary labors to cultivate learning? The science of learning encompasses a wide array of disciplines, researchers, and practitioners. Over the last 20 years in particular, educators have had access to a wide realm of research findings all aimed to optimize how instructors teach and students learn. Unfortunately, there is often a large divide between the classroom and the research laboratory. Theory is theory and practice is practice and as in Kipling’s Ballad of East and West, the twain seemed destined never to meet. That has changed as a growing corpus of pedagogical researchers both employs cognitive theory in the classroom but also utilize classroom-based research to inform hypothesizing and theorizing. Consequently, there now exists a large number of pragmatic innovations educators can employ in the classroom to enhance learning. This opening plenary provides a useful heuristic to guide educators as they work to help students learn. I take the best results from a variety of disparate fields and provide a roadmap for effective course design capitalizing on evidence-based practices.
14 окт 2024
