Five general principles of learning from cognitive psychology and education
The constructivism principle: Students build their knowledge by processing the information they receive — making connections between what they know and what they learn.
The context principle: What students construct depends on the context — including the students' mental states.
The change principle: Producing significant conceptual change is difficult but can be facilitated through a variety of known mechanisms.
The distribution function principle: Individuals show a significant variation in their style of learning along a number of dimensions.
The social learning principle: For most individuals, learning is most effectively carried out via social interactions.