Applying the Science of Learning to University Teaching and Beyond

It is sadly true that most of the way we teach and learn is uninformed by laboratory findings in human cognition. Although researchers have made considerable progress in understanding the cognitive and social variables that mediate in the learning process, very little of this basic knowledge has been translated into practice, many research questions that are critically important for directing educational reform remain unanswered, and few in the scientific community have been actively involved in the efforts to reform higher education. This edited volume is among many recent attempts to build on empirically-validated learning activities to enhance what and how much is learned and how well and how long it is remembered. Thus, the movement for a real "Science of Learning" has taken hold-the application of scientific principles to the study of learning-both under the controlled conditions of the laboratory and in the messy real-world settings where most of us go about the business of learning. This is the 89th issue of the quarterly Jossey-Bass publication New Directions for Teaching and Learning.