Theory and Research: the link

One of the interesting things about learning theories are their value to both practice and research. They help explain and predict learning. As an education researcher that means it helps both for research and teaching. Though they didn't help me predict accurately the way my students would interpret my initial assignments for the class, they do explain the interpretations. I guess the way I would look at it is from a schema theory point of view. All my students have different schemas and for the most part my communication with them is asynchronous and mostly test. So schema theory is a great way to look at it. Students interpreted my assignments a little differently than I had thought initially. Now I have modified/clarified the assignments and all is well it seems. Perhaps the assignments fit better with their M. Ed. class schema?