Learning to Think: Disciplinary Perspectives

In colleges and universities, there is increasing demand to help students learn how to conceptualize, analyze, and reason. Learning to Think presents a model of learning that takes into account the different ways learning occurs in different academic disciplines and explores the relationship between knowledge and thinking processes. Janet Donald—a leading researcher in the field of postsecondary teaching and learning—presents a framework for learning that goes beyond the acquisition of knowledge to encompass ways of constructing and utilizing it within and across disciplines. The author discusses how learning occurs in different academic disciplines and reveals how educators can improve the teaching and learning process in their classrooms and programs.

Janet Donald is professor in the Centre for University Teaching and Learning at the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at McGill University. Her research has focused on the quality of postsecondary learning and teaching, particularly on fostering higher-order learning. She has received numerous awards for her work and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2001.