By Timothy Atkinson, Ph.D (Computer Science)
A self-consistent set of principles for thinking about learning, drawn from cognitive science and educational psychology literature. Two layers: theory claims about how learning works, and practice claims about how to affect learning.
Laypeople who want to think carefully about learning — for themselves, for their children, for students, for anyone they're trying to help. Comfortable with research citations and document-length reading. The framework's goal was to help the author digest a large amount of literature in a field not his own. The author provides it in the hopes it will help others interested in understanding learning navigate the basics.
- Readers looking for activity ideas, lesson plans, or curriculum (this is a thinking framework, not a teaching guide)
- Researchers expecting empirical contribution (this is synthesis of existing literature, not new study results)
The framework's claims carry forward three risks. First, the author is trained in computer science rather than a relevant field. Second, the author made heavy use of generative AI to search for and summarize hundreds of papers — a method whose known hazard is fabricated citations or misrepresented findings; to reduce this, the framework was put through multiple audits run from different directions plus automated verification, with manual spot-checks where the AI's summaries did not add up, though the citations have not yet been systematically verified one-by-one against their primary sources. Third, none of the deductions made in this framework has a purpose-built study evaluating its claims. Some residual risk remains on all three.
This document is a thinking aid for navigating the literature, not professional educational, psychological, or medical advice; for decisions about a specific learner, consult a qualified professional.
Working_Learning_Framework.mdis the main document (~815 lines), structured as: Stance, Historical and epistemic notes, Claim prefix conventions, Theory claims (T), Practice claims (P), References.Framework_Compendium.mdis a condensed reference: a 1–3 sentence summary of every claim, with no proof structure, citations, or examples — useful for orientation before reading the full document.
The contact channel is this repository's GitHub Issues — opening one needs only a GitHub account. Productive criticism takes the form: "claim X is wrong because [citation]" or "claim X conflicts with established finding Y." The framework will be updated as substantive issues are identified.
CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may share and adapt with attribution; derivative works must use the same license.