NRC Publishes Follow-Up on Student Learning

The National Research Council’s synthesis of the research on learning turned into an international best seller after its release six years ago. Now, the council has released a companion volume intended to help teachers convert the abstract research-based principles identified in the earlier report to effective practice.

But the report is unlikely to quell debates about which methods are best for teaching the subjects.

How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom outlines how three central tenets of learning theory might shape instruction in those subjects. Those tenets, drawn from the extensive research analysis of a committee of scholars, suggest that teachers must address students’ initial understanding and preconceptions about particular topics, provide a foundation of factual knowledge and conceptual understanding, and teach strategies to help students take...