Principles of Learning and Motivation

Principle 1
Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concept and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.

English learners, like any learners, need a way to connect what they know with what they need to learn.




Principle 2 
To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must (a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.

English learners, like any learners, need to learn facts and ideas and need to be able to relate and organize them conceptually.




Principle 3
A metacognitive approach to instruction can help students to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.

English learners, like any learners, benefit from reflecting on their learning goals and progress. English learners, unlike native English speakers, will need to apply a metacognitive approach to learn English as well as to learning discipline-specific content--in this case, science content.