How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures

by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Board on Science Education

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition was published and its influence has been wide and deep. The report summarized insights on the nature of learning in school-aged children; described principles for the design of effective learning environments; and provided examples of how that could be implemented in the classroom. Since then, researchers have continued to investigate the nature of learning and have generated new findings related to the neurological processes involved in learning, individual and cultural variability related to learning, and educational technologies. In addition to expanding scientific understanding of the mechanisms of learning and how the brain adapts throughout the lifespan, there have been important discoveries about influences on learning, particularly sociocultural factors and the structure of learning environments. How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures provides a much-needed update incorporating insights gained from this research over the past decade. The book expands on the foundation laid out in the 2000 report and takes an in-depth look at the constellation of influences that affect individual learning. How People Learn II will become an indispensable resource to understand learning throughout the lifespan for educators of students and adults.

Genres: Education, Psychology, Teaching, Read For School, Nonfiction

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 27, 2018

Reviews

[Doug Holton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a sequel to the first How People Learn book, it is more like a 300 page addendum or annotated lit review.

The first How People Learn book (1999) was written for a lay audience. You could recommend that book to anyone. How People Learn 2, however, is written in a traditional academic style, with little synthesis. Perhaps they did this consciously as a reaction against common over-simplifications of educational and psychological research, but it makes the text much less accessible and useful to practitioners.

There are major gaps in their coverage - online learning, for example, only merits a paragraph or two in this book, despite it being a major development over the past 20 years. There is little mention of evidence-based teaching techniques that have emerged in the past 20 years, either.

I'd recommend instead books like Teach Students How to Learn or Teach Yourself How to Learn by Saundra MacGuire or other related works, including the original How People Learn book.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

For nearly 20 years, How People Learn (2000) has provided the foundational framework for my educational work. How People Learn II expands that foundation with its review and synthesis of "research that has emerged across the various disciplines that focus on the study of learning from birth through adulthood in other formal and informal settings."
Every element of the book afforded me the opportunity for deeper knowledge and insight, along with evidence-based implications for application and inquiry.
Appendix C: Study Populations in Research on Learning deserves to be read by anyone invested in educational equity.
May the next 20 years prove as productive and enlightening as the last!

[Stuart Macalpine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before science Alchemy probed into the darkness of what was true and what was not true of the physical world, and guessed or invented reasons why. Our understanding of learning still feels like it is in the 'alchemy' stage of development, and hasn't yet hit the renaissance or the enlightenment... but that makes it all the more important to have books like this that give a level headed summary of what we do and don't know about learning. There is a huge amount in here to support the AAA+ model of learning - which is encouraging, but also much more about many different influences and kinds of learning. Much to ruminate on and bring into our thinking at UWCSEA, Sky School and for adult learning at Hesscairn.

[Mike Bright · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compilation of research on learning from a variety of perspectives, including culture, psychology and neurology. It is an update on How People Learn I (HPL I) from 18 years ago. The text is wide ranging and pretty academic. I appreciate the lengthy bibliography of all kinds of research studies. It might have been helpful to partition the bibliography by subject. The list of other reports from the National Academies also looks useful.

I learned a lot from HPL I. I got some important ideas from HPL II, but not nearly as many. HPL II was firmly based in research (which is good), but seemed wordy and didn't make nearly enough application of the research. HPL I had lots of useful examples, HPL II had less.

You should definitely read HPL I before HPL II.

[Tasmerisk Haught · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for Teacher Night School in order to have discourse on what learning looks like within the context of our school. It was really interesting as a whole, but I personally was hoping to get more out of it instead of it just citing papers and studies that I now have to hunt down and read. But as a report I think it is a 4 star babyyy

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read primer that covers a wide range of topics using a wide range of methodologies.

[Gerardo B. Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful information.