“It stands to reason, then, that if we notice similar patterns emerging from psychology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience, then they might together help us to understand how human beings learn.”

In the last ten years, research by cognitive psychologists has led to many interesting books on how learning works. And yet, questions about why humans learn the way we do remain. Would a cross-disciplinary approach give us a richer context for understanding what by all accounts is a complex process?  Joshua Eyler, of the Center for Learning Excellence at Rice University, believes so. In How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching, he pulls research from many areas to argue convincingly that there are five conditions that foster or impede learning: curiosity, sociality, emotion, authenticity, and failure.

Eyler, Joshua R. How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching. West Virginia University Press, 2018, p. 12.