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Chapters

This textbook is organized into 15 chapters covering 221 concepts from the learning graph.

Chapter Overview

  1. Foundations of Learning Sciences — Orients the reader to Learning Sciences, Bloom's Taxonomy, and the Claude Code authoring stack that the rest of the book builds on.
  2. The Seven Domains Framework — Introduces the Seven Domains framework that organizes the rest of the book and shows how the domains interlock as a system.
  3. Motivation and Engagement — Covers the motivation constructs — Self-Determination Theory, Flow, mindset, self-efficacy, attention, and ARCS — that initiate every downstream learning process.
  4. Cognitive Architecture and Load — Maps the memory systems and Cognitive Load Theory, the constraints every instructional designer has to respect.
  5. Knowledge Retention — Shows how retrieval practice, spacing, and interleaving make learning durable, and why re-reading feels productive but usually isn't.
  6. Application and Transfer — Explains why transfer is the real test of learning and how worked examples, analogical reasoning, and scenario-based assessment support it.
  7. Expertise and Mastery — Traces how expertise is organized differently from novice knowledge, and what deliberate practice can and cannot accelerate.
  8. Measurement and Feedback — Closes the loop between what learners do and how instruction responds, covering assessment, feedback, analytics, and metacognition.
  9. Learning Conditions and Environment — Situates learning inside environments — scaffolding, ZPD, community, accessibility, and psychological safety — that make the other six domains possible.
  10. Intelligent Textbook Architecture and AI Tooling — Defines what an intelligent textbook is as a software artifact and introduces the AI tooling foundations the generator skills depend on.
  11. MicroSims and Interactive Visualizations — Covers MicroSim design principles, the JavaScript libraries to choose among, and when to reach for an interactive infographic overlay.
  12. Pedagogical Mascots and Admonitions — Teaches the design of a pedagogical mascot — persona, voice, visual identity, and the six admonition types that turn a character into a learning intervention.
  13. Graphic Novels and Short-Form Stories — Shows how 12-panel short-form stories and image-prompted illustrations carry concepts through narrative transportation.
  14. AI Agent Skills for Textbook Generation — Tours the generator skills that make the intelligent-textbook pipeline repeatable, from course description through LinkedIn announcement.
  15. Capstone and Deployment — Walks through producing and shipping the capstone chapter — MkDocs build, GitHub Pages deployment, peer review, and mastery demonstration.

How to Use This Textbook

Chapters are ordered so that every concept appears after its prerequisites. Readers new to Learning Sciences should work through the book linearly; readers with a cognitive-science background can skim Chapters 1–4 and dive in at Chapter 5. Each chapter lists the previous chapters it builds on, and each concept appears in exactly one chapter — if a term is used elsewhere and you want a refresher, the glossary links back to its home chapter.

Note: Each chapter includes a list of concepts covered. Make sure to complete prerequisites before moving to advanced chapters.