ABSTRACT
In this, the concluding chapter, the book returns to its core focus on promoting student learning. Having established that college students, like all humans, are embodied learners and that, fundamentally, learning is an interaction between organism and environment, the metaphor of the classroom as a vibrant learning ecosystem is introduced. Instead of requiring students to perform the unnatural act of sitting still in the conventional classroom, the natural acts of inquiry and interaction with things and the environment can lead more effectively to better learning. The chapter makes four recommendations: first, promote thinking with things to enhance learning; second, create conducive learning environments; third, educate for action; and fourth, take teaching and learning seriously. After expanding on each of these recommendations, the five myths about learning in college, enumerated in Chapter 1, are countered with five propositions about how best to promote student learning in higher education.
