How We Learn

The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens
Benedict Carey

Why This Book Is Meaningful

How We Learn addresses one of the most alarming gaps in education: many teachers are never taught how learning actually happens. Through a STEPi lens, the book restores learning to its rightful place as a human process shaped by curiosity, memory, emotion, struggle, and meaning, not just instruction. Carey’s research-based insights align with STEPi and Paul H. Sutherland’s Teaching with Love by replacing blame and rigidity with understanding, flexibility, and respect for the learner’s brain.

This book explains why spacing, retrieval, mistakes, sleep, and context matter—and why traditional approaches often fail despite good intentions. It helps educators move from habit and tradition to intentional practice rooted in how children and adults truly learn. This book matters because when teachers understand learning, they stop teaching at students and start learning with them.

Author Website:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Carey