Placing a chapter on student learning near the beginning of this online text reflects a priority shift among secondary science teachers. Increasingly, science educators are paying closer attention to how students learn, and are encouraging practicing science teachers to implement the results in the classroom.

In this chapter you will explore some of the current theories that explain how students learn. There is no one theory that we can rely on to explain student learning. Rather, there are several theories that seem to compliment each other, and taken as a whole provide the science teacher of the 21st Century with the most recent ideas and research on how students learn science. Research on learning has moved from an emphasis on behaviorism and Gestalt views, to Piagetian conceptions, and currently to a cognitive science perspective. Cognitive theories are increasingly becoming more inclusive and holistic. Cognitive psychologists are investigating realms of learning which were the dominion of social psychologists, namely student motivation and and attitudes toward science. All of this is positive, because the science teacher deals with students who are whole.

The students who appear in your classroom have unique ways of learning. Teachers for a long time have recognized this and have devised ways to accommodate students with different learning styles. The chapter concludes with an investigation of this important dimension of learning, namely, student learning styles.

PREVIEW QUESTIONS

• What are the trends in achievement and attitudes toward science for secondary students over the past twenty years?

• How important is it to the secondary science teacher to know about learning theory?

• How do behavioral theories explain student learning in science?

• How do cognitive psychologists explain student learning?

• How do social psychologist explain student learning?

• What are and how do behavioral, cognitive and social theories of learning differ?

• What was the contribution of theorists like Skinner, Bruner, Piaget, and Ausubel to secondary science teaching?

• How do learning styles of students influence learning in the classroom?

• What is metacognition, and how can metacognition help students learn science?