Abstract
When asked "What happens when learning takes place?" most people, including those involved in education, find it difficult to provide a satisfactory answer. Nevertheless, assumptions about what happens have a bearing on what we (as learners, educators, researchers, and policy-makers) do, and on our answers to other questions about learning, teaching, and education. The paper addresses the title question on the basis of an analysis of the logic of learning. The approach is philosophical rather than physiological or sociological, and draws on the work of Karl Popper. The outcome is a radical, universally applicable theory which identifies a set of features common to all processes in which learning can be said to take place. The theory has significant implications for educational policy and practice: it draws attention to factors which inhibit learning and is suggestive of ways in which learning can be promoted.
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Swann, J. What Happens When Learning Takes Place?. Interchange 30, 257–282 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007652708139
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007652708139