Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How The Mind Works And What It Means For The Classroom (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
This look at education by a cognitive scientist followed nine principles:1. People are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking.2. Factual knowledge must precede skill.3. Memory is the residue of thought.4. We understand new things in the context of things we already know, and most of what we know is concrete.5. It is virtually impossible to become proficient at a mental task without extended practice.6. Cognition early in training is fundamentally different from cognition late in training.7. Children are more alike than different in terms of how they think and learn.8. Children do differ in intelligence, but intelligence can be changed through sustained work.9. Teaching, like any complex cognitive skill, must be practiced to be improved.I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in becoming a teacher or anyone who is not comfortable with the assertions made in "The Bell Curve." Engaging, funny, and thought-provoking, this book does a great job of synthesizing cognitive science research and applying it to student learning. The book is full of little tidbits I've been sharing with friends (perhaps to their chagrin? so careful about that) and I would recommend it to non-educators as well as educators. Fits in well with Moonwalking with Einstein/Mindset/The Talent Code and other interesting works I've read that link together theories of learning and excelling.It also contained one of my new favorite quotations, from a geologist and reinforcing the notion that abstract/logical intelligence depends on a rich base of content knowledge: "The best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks."
What do You think about Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How The Mind Works And What It Means For The Classroom (2009)?
I just read this for a second time and it really helped me keep my students comments in perspective.
—michelle
This book has dramatically changed the way I think about teaching and learning.
—msmith
Definitely worth a read for any teacher aspirant!
—danimac
