We all know things. How it is that we came to know these things is learning. Learning is how we acquire knowledge. Wikipedia defines learning as: "The acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values, and wisdom. It is the goal of education, and the product of experience”. The information processing chapter describes a model for how our mind works.

Within this description, the process of elaboration is detailed. Elaboration is a theory about learning. Its focus is on how you come to know things. Similarly, Piaget described a process that involves assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration. These mechanisms together constitute a theory of learning. A few of the chapters in the book are not only instructional strategies, but also describe methods that can help a learner learn new information. The chapter on cognitive tools describes ways in which technology can expand the limitations of a learner's mind, while articulation and reflection are processes that can be performed by the learner to help incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge resulting in support of learning. The theories that describe how we come to know things is a learning theory; the theories that describe how you can support learning fall more into the instructional camp.