1. Learning about Learning
Joseph Jay Williams
Joseph_williams@berkeley.edu
Overview of research (link)

2. Goal
• In the opinion of X, what’s the best way to
learn or teach a topic?
– (X is you, a student, a
teacher, instructional/curriculum designer, a
businessperson)
• How would X’s answer change based on being
exposed to research from cognitive science &
education?

3. Overview
• Framework: Encourage Transfer Appropriate
Processing
• Retrieval Practice & Testing Effects
• Problem-based learning & case-based reasoning
• Analogy & Comparison
• Explanation
• Research on “behavior change” may be relevant (BJ
Fogg’s Behavior Change Model, CBT, habit formation)
• Using technology to expand what learners “know”

4. Some analogies for how people might
think learning works
• Bucket model of the • Integrating a webpage
mind into the internet
• Instructionism • Need to think actively
about your learning

5. What are the goals for student
learning?
• Transfer Appropriate Processing
• What knowledge do you want students to acquire?
– Memory, Understanding, Ability to make predictions &
solve problems?
– Facts, Procedures, Concepts, Relations between
Concepts, Explanations, Causal Relationships?
• In what situations will students use the knowledge?
• How will the knowledge be integrated with knowledge
the students already have?
• How will adding this knowledge cause students to have
different future thoughts, actions, and behaviors?

6. (Retrieval) practice makes perfect
• Use what you want them to learn in the
contexts you want them to use it in (Karpicke
& Blunt, 2011)
• Retrieve it and apply it to the context you
wanted to: reason about situations & make
attributions as well as ponder, recall and apply
rather than reread, explain to another person
as well as think about it

7. Where will they use knowledge?
• Problem Based Learning (Hmelo-Silver, 2006)
• Case based reasoning (Kolodner, 1997

8. How does it relate to what they
already know?
• What is it that they already “know”?
• What would be concrete, powerful analogies?
(Gentner, 2010)
• Comparison of old & new ideas (Gentner et
al, 2003)

9. How will the new knowledge change
learners’ thoughts & behavior?
• Not just giving, but soliciting explanations (Chi, 2000;
Siegler, 2005; Wellman & Liu, 2006; Chouinard, 2008)
• Kinds of explanations? E.g. Asking questions vs.
Understanding vs. Explaining why
• Explain to a friend
• Explain why a fact
• Explain why a learning strategy is helpful/unhelpful
• Explain how what was learned applies to specific cases
• Explain how what was learned could be used in future
situations

10. Synergy between learning and
behavior change
• Need to link responses and knowledge to specific
and distinct cues & situations
• In addition to having knowledge, the habit of
using that knowledge at the right moment
• Environmental support
• Technological support:
– Daily logging
– Text messaging
– Interactive programs
– Games

11. Use technology to expand what learners’
“know”: what they can readily access & apply
• “Knowing” by being skilled at finding information
– Google, Wikipedia, WikiHow, Lifehacker, Google
Scholar
• “Knowing” by being aware of who to ask
• “Remembering” by storing, organizing, and
regularly accessing a personal knowledge base or
“electronic brain”
– (Google Docs, Evernote, Mendeley)
• “Remembering” steps for learning/problem-
solving by creating & regularly using
apps, checklists and step-by-step guides