Why and how people learn
2025-05-30 19:24:45.695319+02 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
I've been thinking a lot about the "learning styles aren't a thing", and yet different people clearly learn better through different presentations of the material. My working hypothesis is that a lot of this is based on what background related to the material people already have, and it turns out PNAS: An astonishing regularity in student learning rate suggests pretty much that.
Instead, the number one determinant of rate of learning and mastery comes down to a single factor: prior knowledge. Students exposed to a broader array of information in a field before beginning study learn faster than their peers. No other factor approaches prior knowledge as an indicator.