What Is the Science of Learning?

This blog was originally published by InnerDrive and is used with permission.

Let’s try a quick quiz. Can you define, in one short sentence, what is meant by “The Science of Learning”? The phrase, now synonymous with Cognitive Science and Teaching & Learning research (and even the name of one of InnerDrive's books) has become much more mainstream in recent years. And yet, in one recent paper, researchers examined fifty studies and found 43 different definitions for this phrase. Here is what they found….

So, what actually is the Science of Learning?

To save you reading through 43 definitions of the Science of Learning, we’ve picked out four key themes that we identified across their analysis. To make it a bit easier to digest and provide clarity, we’ve also included some quotes directly from the paper. Let’s see if we can help paint a clearer picture of what this field of research is all about….

If the science of learning aims to improve how we teach, we need to go beyond theory and find real, practical strategies that can be implemented in the classroom.

The Science of Learning is… How the brain learns

At its core, the science of learning is about understanding how students’ brains take in and process the information that they’re taught; essentially, it’s about investigating how we learn.

• “The science of learning describes the cognitive processes surrounding why and how we learn.” (McQuiggan et al., 2015)
• “The science of learning is the scientific study of how people learn.” (Mayer, 2008)
• “How people learn is generally studied by the cognitive and psychological sciences. This is the science of learning.” (James et al., 2007)

The Science of Learning is… A field that aims to improve learning

We don’t just want to study learning for its own sake; we want to investigate how students process information so we can help them do it better. As such, research on how we acquire knowledge is usually done with the intent to improve teaching practices as a whole.

• “Over the past decades, advances in the science of learning… have informed us how people learn best.” (Thammasitboon and Brand, 2022)
• “Advances in neuroscience and machine learning are providing new insights converging to create ‘a new science of learning that may transform educational practices’.” (Maj, 2018)
• “…suggest that the science of learning (collective term for cognitive psychology and sciences and relevant aspects from the neurosciences) has identified approaches that can improve learning.” (Byers et al., 2022)

The Science of Learning is… Based on empirical research

If the science of learning aims to improve how we teach, we need to go beyond theory and find real, practical strategies that can be implemented in the classroom. As such, a core theme across ‘science of learning’ research is obtaining findings via empirical research; this means researchers use observable and measurable data to draw sound conclusions.

• “The application of modern science’s principle of systematic observation to learning situations occurred during the first half of the 20th century and the science of learning was born.” (Iran-Nejad and Homaifar, 2005)
• “The time has come for a new science of learning to rise, which is structured around cognitive and neuroscience, investigates topics that stem from educational problems, and rests on rigorous forms of in-laboratory and in-vivo evaluation.” (Pasquinelli, 2011)
• “It is important to understand that, by science of learning, we are referring to an accumulated body of knowledge about the nature and process of student learning that has been derived through scientifically sound, empirical research.” (Murphy and Knight, 2016)

The Science of Learning is… An interdisciplinary approach

Learning is a complex word that is difficult to define, so it makes sense that the study of it requires input from a wide range of fields. The researchers identified a plethora of academic disciplines that have contributed to our understanding of ‘learning’ over time, including but not limited to psychology, neuroscience, education, anthropology, and even computer science.

• “This new science is called the learning sciences because it is an interdisciplinary science: it brings together researchers in psychology, education, computer science and anthropology among others, and the collaboration among these disciplines has resulted in new ideas, new methodology and new ways of thinking about learning.” (Sawyer, 2006)
• “Interdisciplinary field that emerged in the 1970s with the aim of bridging research from psychology, computer science, philosophy, sociology, and other disciplines to practice in real-world educational settings.” (Conyers, 2017)
• “Empiric investigations of the science of learning come from such disparate field as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, and behavioral economics.” (Gooding et al., 2017)

Final Thoughts

So, are we bothered by variations in definitions? Not too much. At its core, the science of learning is focused on how we acquire information and how we can help students remember it for longer. It focuses on both efficiency and effectiveness. And it’s not just about remembering isolated facts; it’s about helping students connect ideas to develop a large body of knowledge.

The differences in definition mainly point to the same direction and are underpinned by similar principles:

• Don’t overload working memory
• Help students attach new information to existing knowledge
• Get them to think hard about the content
• Review things before they are forgotten

 If we aim to follow these four points, we won’t go too far wrong.

Interested in learning more about the science of learning? Explore CELL's science of learning micro-credential.