Inform the learner of the objective. Begin by sharing the learning goals with the students, thus setting expectations and providing a map of the learning.

With a basic understanding of learning theories, we can create lessons that enhance the learning process. This understanding helps us explain our instructional choices, or the “why” behind what and how we teach. As certain learning theories resonate with us and we consciously construct lessons based on those theories, we begin to develop a personal philosophy of teaching that will guide our instructional design going forward. This chapter provides a bridge from theory to practice by providing specific examples of how the theories can be applied in the library classroom. These theories provide a foundation to guide the instructional design and reflective practices presented in the rest of this textbook. This book looks great and strikes a well-structured balance between text and useful figures throughout. This approach really helps the reader to digest all of the information that it contains. Give learners a sense of choice and control. Choice allows learners to have a stake in the class, while control helps them determine the level of risk they will take and thus increase their confidence. We can foster choice and control by allowing learners options in the types of activities and assignments they engage in, or in the topics they research. The book takes a very negative view towards what it terms “cognitivism”, discovery learning, inquiry learning, problem-based learning, grit, 21st century skills, and towards the end of the book, a focus on motivation and/or media.

Our Review Summary

Guide self-assessment. When learners accurately assess their current level of knowledge and skill, they can make reasonable predictions of the likelihood of their success with the current material. In other words, we all have a certain type of input that works best for us. For some people it’s visual, for some it’s auditory, and for others it’s kinaesthetic. In a recent survey, a rather whopping 93% of teachers said that they believe this. The only problem is that it’s…WRONG. These processes that enhance memory and recall, and thus learning, have some implications for instructors in creating an optimal environment for learning. Gagné (1985) proposed nine conditions for learning, referred to as the external conditions of learning, or the nine events of instruction:

Learning theories describe the conditions and processes through which learning occurs, providing teachers with models to develop instruction sessions that lead to better learning. These theories explain the processes that people engage in as they make sense of information, and how they integrate that information into their mental models so that it becomes new knowledge. Learning theories also examine what motivates people to learn, and what circumstances enable or hinder learning. Emphasize the relevance of the material. As outlined in the section on andragogy, learners are motivated when they see the benefits of learning and understand why the material is important. Instructors should explain how the effort individuals put into learning can help them achieve personal goals, such as getting a good grade on a paper or finding a job. While learning theories can be interesting on their own, our goal as instructors is to apply them to classroom practice. Imagine that you are a high school librarian working with a class that has just been assigned a research paper. Your goal for this session is for students to brainstorm keywords and synonyms for their topics, and to learn how to string those words together using the Boolean operators and, or, and not. You want to be sure the students understand the function of the Boolean operators and can remember how to use them for future searches. Mellon, C. A. (1986). Library anxiety: A grounded theory and its development. College & Research Libraries, 47(2), 160-165. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.76.3.276Number Three – People learn differently, depending on whether they’re left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant.This is pretty much indisputable. It’s a well-known fact that left-brainers are logical and objective, whereas right-brainers are intuitive and subjective. Which would have a huge impact on learning… if it wasn’t completely WRONG. To be honest, we can’t think of any reasons why educators or those with aspirations of becoming educators wouldn’t want to read this book. How Learning Happens superbly does what it says in the title: comprehensively covers some of the most important research finds in education and puts them into context for you. This book is perfect for those who have little time for research or who want to know even more about what research-informed teaching looks like. Who is this book for? The importance of replication in psychology is something that might not have been talked about enough in education circles. Wolff M, Evens R, Mertens LJ, et al. Learning to let go: A cognitive-behavioral model of how psychedelic therapy promotes acceptance. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:5. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00005

Their self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward a self-directed human being.Because humanists see people as autonomous beings, they believe that learning should be self-directed, meaning students should have some choice in what and how they learn. Humanistic education is often connected with student-centered pedagogical approaches such as differentiated curricula, self-paced learning, and discovery learning (Lucas, 1996). Self-directed learning can take many forms, but it generally means that the instructor acts as a guide, and learners are given the freedom to take responsibility for their own learning. Teachers will provide the materials and opportunities for learning, but students will engage with the learning on their own terms. In a library classroom, we can give students choices about the topics they will research or offer learners different types of activities to practice skills and demonstrate what they have learned.

Think of some of your own learning experiences, whether they were in a traditional classroom, through professional development training, or related to personal interests, such as dance or photography lessons. Try to identify a few examples of behaviorism from those experiences and reflect on the following questions:What is wanted is for serious conceptual explanations to be translated into tangible practical ideas, with suggestions for helping teachers to adapt to new habits in the classroom. Above all, this has to come with a pretty large dose of certainty that the change will make learning better than before, and this is where the challenge lies. It’s not difficult to understand why this would be a popular idea. All those brain cells lying dormant… imagine what a genius you’d be if one day you could get them all fired up…But sadly there is no evidence for this idea … and it can be added to the pile of things that are entirely WRONG. The papers are organized into themed sections, which was a good idea. I think there was a little bit of a missed opportunity here to synthesize papers on a particular topic in a more developed introduction or conclusion to each section. This book is the perfect resource with which to do so. I can give no higher accolade than to say that every teacher should be familiar with the research it represents, its chapters should be required reading on every teacher induction course, and no teacher should account themselves a professional until they can demonstrate its acquaintance. I wish I had read it in the infancy of my career." Daniel Willingham, Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Studies, University of Virginia