10 Cornerstones: What Can We Learn from the
Surprising Cognitive Research on Teaching?
By Cathy Gassenheimer
Alabama Best Practices Center
“Teachers cannot put their hands into the heads of their students and insert new pieces of
knowledge. The knowledge a person has can only be directly accessed by this person. As
a consequence, learners have to create new knowledge structures for themselves.”
This striking statement begins the explanation of the first of 10
"cornerstone" findings from recent cognitive research on
teaching. It's found in a chapter of a new book from the
international Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), published this year.
The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice is a
literal treasure trove of research and best practices featuring
chapters written by (among others) Dylan Wiliam, Linda
Darling-Hammond, Lauren Resnick, Robert Slavin, and Michael
Schneider.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to blog about insights and findings from several chapters,
beginning with the Ten Cornerstone Findings.
As I read this chapter, it was easy to make connections to the guiding texts used in both
our Key Leaders Network (Cultures Built to Last, by Fullan and DuFour) and the
Powerful Conversations Network (Leaders of Their Own Learning, by Berger, et al.) Lest
you find the title off-putting, the authors—Michael Schneider and Elsbeth Stern—
provide a very clear explanation of the cognitive perspective on learning:
“The cognitive perspective on learning is based on the assumption that knowledge
acquisition lies at the very heart of learning. Once children acquire new information in
learning environments, they are supposed to use that information in completely different
situations later in life. This is only possible if they have understood it correctly and stored
it in a well-organized manner in their long-term memory (p. 70).”
To illustrate this point, the authors describe a scenario where a teacher explains the
concepts of the earth being a sphere that moves through space. The teacher uses “simple,
precise, and convincing wording” with the students, who appear motivated to learn and
attentive. Yet, one week later, when asked to draw a picture of the earth, the students
miss the mark, with several drawing a round, hollow circle with people living in the
bottom of the inside of the circle.
Why? The answer to this question is embedded in the ten cornerstone findings.
1
1. Learning is an activity carried out by the learner
To enable students to successfully learn a concept or idea, teachers need to possess three
important knowledge and skills: pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge about the
subject being taught, and pedagogical content knowledge, which the authors define as “an
awareness of how students construct knowledge in a content domain” (p. 72).
These are high expectations, but are necessary if teachers are to effectively prepare all
their students for the next level, be it 4th grade, college, or career. The new report issued
by Deans for Impact (see my blog about the report here) suggests strategies that teacher
educators can use to help teachers master these three important knowledge and skills.
2. Optimal learning takes prior knowledge into account
Successful learners, whether students or adults, generally call upon prior knowledge as
they work to master a new concept or idea. In fact, the authors found that prior
knowledge related to the subject at hand is “one of the most important determinants of
subsequent learning” (p. 73).
Pointing to two different contexts of prior knowledge—formal and informal—the authors
demonstrate that students’ unique experiences and perspectives require a teacher to
constantly check for understanding to ensure that students are on the right track. And,
teachers must be prepared to adjust instruction based on those in-the-moment checks for
understanding.
3. Learning requires the integration of knowledge structures
“When children already hold incorrect conceptions in a domain and the correct concept is
taught to them without linking it to their prior knowledge, the children can
simultaneously hold incorrect and correct concepts without even noticing the
contradiction” (p. 74).
Using the student misconceptions about the earth as a sphere as an example, some
students—after listening to the teacher’s explanation—might conclude that there are two
earths: one where they live on flat ground and another that is a sphere flying above them.
To minimize the possibility of misconceptions in learning, the authors suggest the use of
project-based learning, multidisciplinary learning, or having teachers link specific
knowledge to different disciplines.
4. Optimally, learning balances the acquisition of concepts, skills, and metacognitive competence
The trifecta for successful learning relies on students learning about the concepts and
procedures related to a specific learning goal AND helping them understand how those
concepts and procedures relate to one another. Helping students reflect on their
knowledge acquisition—metacognition—enables students to “monitor, evaluate, and
2
optimize their acquisition and use of knowledge” (p. 76). As a result, learning is
dependent on both successful knowledge acquisition and the "stepping back and thinking
about thinking" experience of metacognition.
5. Learning optimally builds up complex knowledge structures by organizing more
basic pieces of knowledge in a hierarchical way
Cognitive scientists have found that all knowledge is structure in hierarchical ways. As an
example, the authors offer this concept:
“This sencente mkeas snese to you, even thgoh the lretets are sclrabmed up, because
people do not encode letters independently of each other. Instead, people use hierarchic
memory representatives with letters at the basic level and words at a higher level” (pp.
76-77)
Organizing learning in a hierarchical fashion, such as Alabama’s College-and-Career
Ready Standards, enables early learners to effectively progress from simple concepts to
the more complex.
6. Optimally, learning can utilize structures in the external world for organizing
knowledge structures in the mind
Learning doesn’t happen by chance. Effective teaching requires well-structured learning
environments. The authors point to a simple but true fact:
“Teachers can only prepare structured learning environments to the degree they are
aware of the structure of the content area they are teaching in, the structure of students’
prior knowledge, and the knowledge structures the learners are supposed to build up
during the learning” (p. 78).
Five tools can help structure this learning. First, language is critically important to
understanding. Teachers must carefully choose their words in ways that explain and
connect interrelated concepts or that help students build upon their previous knowledge.
As an example, authors point to casual conversations where people discuss the sun and
the stars in the sky. In the classroom, it is important for teachers to help students
understand that our sun is also a star.
The second tool involves structuring classroom discourse. Done well, facilitated
discussion between students because it not only enables them to exchange ideas and hear
different perspectives, but it also provides valuable formative data to teachers.
Structuring time is the third tool that facilitates learning. Remembering that all students
don’t learn at the same pace, teachers must carefully plan and differentiate learning for
some as needed. The fourth tool is the use of technology, not for the tool itself, but to
“foster students’ construction of specific knowledge” (p. 79)
3
Finally, learning occurs when both teachers AND students are “aware of the learning
goals.” This is the heart of our PCN study book, Leaders of Their Own Learning, which
suggests that student-friendly learning targets enable students to manage their own
learning and set a course for success.
7. Learning is constrained by capacity limitations of the human informationprocessing architecture
Put in easier terms, teachers need to help students move important concepts and
knowledge from short-term memory to long-term memory. This can be done in at least
three ways: (1) Chunking, or breaking down complicated concepts; (2) Connecting two
or more concepts that are necessary for complete understanding; and (3) Keeping the
learning materials “as simple as possible…the same applies to language: the simpler the
language used to explain complex relations, the better and faster students will
understand” the concepts (p. 81).
8. Learning results from a dynamic interplay of emotion, motivation, and cognition
This finding surprised me. In fact, when I read part of a sentence, I immediately made an
annotation in the margin reading “Motivation: The motor that drives learning.” Wrong
again, as one of my college friends used to say.
“Students’ learning goals and goals in life, their thoughts about their own competence,
and their attributions of academic success or failure on various potential causes, and
their interests and hobbies all contribute to the complex interplay of cognition and
motivation. For this reason, good learning environments do not treat motivation as a
motor that simply has to be started up in order for knowledge acquisition to take place.
Instead they treat knowledge acquisition and motivation as multi-faceted and
dynamically interacting systems that can strengthen or weaken each other in a multitude
of ways” (p. 82).
9. Optimal learning builds up transferrable knowledge structures
Yet another surprise jumped out at me when I read this finding: “Even when students are
motivated and build up sophisticated knowledge structures, this does not necessarily
mean they acquire competence that is useful for their lives” (p. 82).
My first reaction was near despair until I kept reading and discovered intentionality is key
to building the type of knowledge and skills that benefit students for their entire lives.
Teachers must intentionally teach content knowledge “in ways that aid subsequent
transfer to new situations, problem-types, and content domains (p. 83).”
In other words, teachers must help students develop the type of adaptive expertise that
enabled the NASA scientists to solve the challenges faced by the Apollo 11 mission as
depicted by this movie excerpt.
4
10. Learning requires time and effort
Teaching is rocket science, requiring hard work on the part of both the teacher and the
students over a long period of time. The authors conclude the 10th finding this way:
“Learning can and should be fun, but the type of fun that it is to climb a mountain—not
the sitting at the top and enjoying the view.”
Reading and reflecting on these ten findings reminded me of
the great challenges and great opportunities presented to
teachers. One of the favorite quotes from our recent
Instructional Partners Network retreat was “When one
teaches, two learn.”
This research suggests that we add some words to that
mantra: “When one uses effective teaching strategies, two
learn.” Not quite as pithy, but using that advice could result, over time, in helping your
students reach the peak of the mountain or build a rocket to the stars.
5