ABSTRACT
The study of learning has had an intense and detailed history of theory and research, especially during the twentieth century. Yet it is only in the last two decades that the evidence from the various traditions and schools of psychology has been brought together to provide a more coherent account of what constitutes human learning, how it is acquired and what is needed to facilitate it. Despite this long history, theories of learning took little account of what went on in classrooms and had little impact upon the practice of teachers (Ausubel and Robinson 1969; Eisner 1983; Desforges 1998).
