The wall socket theory of learning

Abstract Teachers of policy analysis lack a theory of how students actually learn. Applying “lessons” of general validity to specific circumstances is the essential skill to be mastered. It may be taught by emphasizing lessons of universal rather than conditional relevance, “coding” them so as to improve their memorability, and adjusting the codes to match the environmental cues that students are likely to encounter on the job. Because wall sockets are everywhere in the policy analyst's environment, they symbolize the ubiquitous cue that can help the analyst draw on the coded lessons.