Book Review

Book Review: How Learning Works: 7

Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching by
Susan A. Ambrose, Michael W. Bridges, Michele
DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, Marie K. Norman, and
Richard E. Mayer
Ambrose SA, Bridges MW, DiPietro M, Lovett MC, Norman MK, Mayer RE. 2010. How Learning Works: 7
Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco,
CA.: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-0-470-48410-4. 336 p.
The book How Learning Works: 7 Research-based Principles
for Smart Teaching provides an insightful discussion of 7 learning
principles that all teachers should know and practice. The authors
managed to integrate research evidence drawn from the field of
psychology, education, and cognitive science in a simple manner with practical consideration and opportunity for real world
application.
When it comes to teaching, most of us are still learning. Teaching is a
complex activity, and yet most of us have not received formal training in
pedagogy. Furthermore, teaching is a highly contextualized activity because
it is shaped by the students we have, advancements in our respective fields,
changes in technology, and so on. Therefore, our teaching must constantly
adapt to changing parameters Ambrose and others, 2010.
Constructivism, behaviorism, pedagogy, andragogy, Bloom
Taxonomy, student-centered learning. . . ? These terms or jargons
are very familiar to those teachers or faculty trained in education
but not to the majority of faculty in higher learning institutions
because they are not exposed to learning theories and pedagogical
aspects of teaching/learning. Many are trained in various fields
of food science and joined the university as a lecturer or faculty
without knowledge of how to teach the adult students! Some universities conducted induction courses and other programs for
young lecturers but these are still largely inadequate to equip them
to become good educators. They most likely end up using their
best teacher/lecturer during their school/university days as a role
model and try to emulate them.
Not having a formal training in teaching is not an excuse for
not doing anything to improve teaching skills. If teachers have a
desire to improve their teaching and enhance students learning,
it is useful to understand what research says about how learning
works and about how to foster learning. Moreover, in view of the
dynamic progress in the 21st century learning environment and
the changing needs of our students, teachers (lecturers, faculty)
should strive to seek new knowledge and skills through a con
c 2011 Institute of Food Technologists
doi: 10.1111/j.1541-4329.2011.00127.x

tinuous professional development program. According to Paulsen

(2001), teachers should possess 3 types of knowledge: (1) content
knowledgeknowledge of the facts, principles, and methods in
the discipline that is being taught; (2) pedagogical knowledge
understanding of the learning process and the conditions that facilitate and hinder it, independent of the discipline in which the
learning takes place; and (3) pedagogical content knowledgea
term to denote knowledge and understanding of the learning process in the context of a particular discipline. It goes without saying
that mastery of the subject matter (theories, principles, and concepts) is essential to help students learn the subject. However the
knowledge in the subject matter alone is not sufficient for effective teachingteachers must learn how to use sound pedagogical
approaches to help students learn effectively and meaningfully.
Teachers who aspire to improve their teaching should constantly
look for a book which can explain and summarize the philosophy
of learning in a simple manner without ambiguous jargons that
distract the unmotivated readers. Recently I found a book which
fulfils these criteria simple, concise, straight to the point, well
organized, and clearly written. The book, How Learning Works: 7
Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching is authored by faculties
from Carnegie Mellons Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence
(S.A. Ambrose, M. Dipietro, M.C. Lovett, M.K. Norman), and
also including one (M.W. Bridges) from the Univ. of Pittsburgh.
The book is organized around 7 learning principles: (1) Students prior knowledge can help or hinder learning; (2) How
students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply
what they know; (3) Students motivation determines, directs, and
sustains what they do to learn; (4) To develop mastery, students
must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and
know when to apply what they have learned; (5) Goal-directed
practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of
students learning; (6) Students current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the
course to impact learning; (7) To become self-directed learners,
students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to
learning.
Each learning principle forms a stand-alone chapter (so there
are 7 chapters); each chapter is further expanded with a discussion
of the research that supports them, their implications for teaching, and a set of instructional strategies targeting each principle.
Clear understanding of all the 7 principles would help teachers (a)
to see why certain teaching approaches are or are not supporting
Vol. 10, 2011 r Journal of Food Science Education 27

Book Review
students learning, (b) generate or refine teaching approaches and
strategies that more effectively foster student learning in specific
contexts, and (c) transfer and apply these principles to new courses.
I especially like the approach taken by the authors to start each
chapter with stories that represent typical teaching situation. Under a heading What Principle of Learning is at Work Here? the
stories are analyzed to identify the core problems or issues involved
and use them to introduce the learning principle relevant to those
problems. The learning principle is discussed and elaborated in relation to the research that underlies it. Finally, the authors provide
a set of strategies to help teachers to design instruction with that
principle in mind.

Chapter 1 (How Does Students Prior Knowledge

Affect Their Learning?)
In this chapter, the authors discuss the importance of teachers to
recognize that students bring with them prior knowledge acquired
naturally through daily life activities or in prior courses they have
studied. Some of the prior knowledge is relevant but some are
not directly relevant. Sometimes students have misconception or
inaccurate understanding of certain key principles or concepts.
The authors emphasized the importance of connecting the prior
knowledge with the new knowledge in order for effective learning
to take place. This connection can be achieved by activating the
prior knowledge at appropriate time during the learning process.

Chapter 4 (How Do Students Develop Mastery?)

In this chapter, the authors focus on understanding the basis of
how students develop mastery. Mastery refers to the attainment of
a high degree of competence within a particular area. This chapter
provides useful insight on how teachers can help their students to
acquire a set of component skills, practice the skills to reach a
high level of competency, and know how to integrate and apply
them appropriately. Stages in the development of mastery were
discussed in detail and the differences between novice (student)
and expert (teacher) were highlighted. An example of learning
how to drive a car was used to nicely illustrate the progression from
green novice to expert level. This chapter also discusses ways to
deal with cognitive overload when students learn new things and
identifying an expert blind spot, among other things.

Chapter 5 (What Kinds of Practice and Feedback

Enhance Learning?)

We are familiar with the phrase practice makes perfect. Indeed practice and feedback are essential learning components and
should go hand-in-hand to enhance and achieve effective learning.
The authors define practice as any activity in which students engage their knowledge or skills (for example, creating an argument,
solving a problem, or writing a paper) and feedback as information given to students about their performance that guides future
behavior. In this chapter, the authors pointed out that in order for
students to achieve productive and meaningful practice, the goal
Chapter 2 (How Does the Way Students Organize
should be clear. In addition, specific and timely feedbacks from
teachers are critical in keeping learners practice moving toward
Knowledge Affect Their Learning?)
In this chapter, the authors make an important observation that continuous improvement.
knowledge can be organized in ways that either do or do not facilitate learning, performance, and retention. To put it in different Chapter 6 (Why Do Student Development and Course
way, it is not just what you know but how you organize what you
know that influences learning and performance. The implication Climate Matter for Student Learning?)
In this chapter, the authors stress the importance of teachers to
is that how students organize knowledge influences how they learn
recognize
that the classroom is not only a place for intellectual
and apply what they know. The bottom line is that students must
development,
but to be aware of the social and emotional dybe taught to recognize the relationship between different pieces
of knowledge (information, data) and connect them in its en- namics that can promote or complicate the learning experience
tirety (to see the big picture) rather than treating it independently; of students. Two stories presented at the beginning of the chapter
this would help the appreciation of the knowledge and make it illustrate that failure of teachers to address emotions and social
meaningful and comprehensible to the students. Failure to make dimensions that could hamper the students ability to engage prosuch a connection will impede students learning in several ways. ductively in the classroom and thus impede learning. The authors
The rest of the chapter laid out strategies for teachers to help stu- cited a research finding that shows that the social and emotional
dents develop more connected, meaningful, and flexible ways of gains that students make during college are considerably greater
than the intellectual gains over the same span of time while not
organizing their knowledge.
in college. Taking this fact into account, teachers should address
development of the students holistically as intellectual, social, and
Chapter 3 (What Factors Motivate Students to Learn?) emotional beings while at the same time creating a positive climate
In this chapter, the authors emphasize the importance of stu- in the classroom to promote and energize students learning.
dents motivation to engage them in the learning process and to
pursue specific goals related to learning. As teachers, we have experienced and observed students showing different attitudes towards Chapter 7 (How Do Students Become Self-Directed
learning some are more motivated and enthusiastic but some Learners?)
This chapter discusses the important concept of metacognition
behave as if they are forced to be in the classroom. The question
is what we can do differently to motivate students and engage the process of reflecting on and directing ones own research thinkthem in the learning process? It is crucial to understand the factors ing. This is the skill that students need to learn in order to effecwhich cause them to lose motivation and consequently disengage tively assess and direct their own learning and performance. The
them from behaviors necessary to achieve deep learning. With all authors assert that to become self-directed learners, students must
the distractions around them, fostering and stimulating students learn to assess the demands of the task, evaluate their own knowlmotivation is a great challenge. The authors discuss in great length edge and skills, plan their approach, monitor their progress, and
the research finding on various factors that motivate students to adjust their strategies as needed. Often students who performed
learn and suggest several strategies that may help increase their well in school are not able to show the same performance in the
university because they often struggle to adapt to a new learning
motivation.
28 Journal of Food Science Education r Vol. 10, 2011

Available on-line through ift.org

Book Review
environment and cope with a more complex task. They tend to
assume that they know how to study based on their high school experiences (memorize facts rather than understanding key concepts
and ideas) without realizing that they need to adapt a different
approach. Apparently metacognition does not necessarily develop
on its ownso teachers can play an important role in helping students to develop these skills. The strategies are discussed in great
detail in this chapter and the appropriate approach for teachers to
implement the strategies in the classroom is presented.
In the conclusion section, all 7 learning principles and their
interconnectedness are summarized succinctly. Eight appendices
can be found in the last part of the book and each one provides
very useful information to complement the learning principles
presented in the preceding chapters. The appendices are: (1) What
is student self-assessment and how can we use it?, (2) What are
concept maps and how can we use them?, (3) What are rubrics
and how can we use them?, (4) What are learning objectives and
how can we use them?, (5) What are ground rules and how can
we use them?, (6) What are exam wrappers and how can we use
them?, (7) What are checklists and how can we use them?, and (8)
What is reader response/peer review and how can we use it?
In conclusion, this book offers deep insight into 7 evidencebased learning principles that cover a wide range of learning behaviors and phenomena. What impressed me is that the book

Available on-line through ift.org

strikes a nice balance by integrating research evidence drawn from

the fields of psychology, education, and cognitive science with
practical consideration and opportunity for real-world application.
Although less evident, the learning principles are also applicable
to teachers as well because, as the authors put it, when it comes to
teaching, most of us are still learning. The authors state, Learning
to improve ones teaching is a process of progressive refinement, which, like
other learning processes, is informed by the learning principles set forth in
this book.
This book is essential reading for teachers at all levels to discover new ways of thinking about teaching and I would certainly
recommend all educators to read it!

Reference
Paulsen MB. 2001. The Relation between Research and the Scholarship of
Teaching. New Dir Teach Learn 86:1929. DOI: 10.1002/tl.13.

A. A. Karim
Food Technology Division
School of Industrial Technology
Univ. Sains Malaysia
11800 Penang, Malaysia

Vol. 10, 2011 r Journal of Food Science Education 29