Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom by Daniel T. Willingham
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(Hardcover)
- Pub. Date: March 2009
- 192pp
- Sales Rank: 6,335
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: March 2009
- Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
- Format: Hardcover, 192pp
- Sales Rank: 6,335
- ISBN-13: 9780470279304
- ISBN: 0470279303
Synopsis
Why Don't Students Like School?
Kids are naturally curious, but when it comes to school it seems like their minds are turned off. Why is it that they can remember the smallest details from their favorite television program, yet miss the most obvious questions on their history test?
Cognitive scientist Dan Willingham has focused his acclaimed research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning and has a deep understanding of the daily challenges faced by classroom teachers. This book will help teachers improve their practice by explaining how they and their students think and learn—revealing the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences.
In this breakthrough book, Willingham has distilled his knowledge of cognitive science into a set of nine principles that are easy to understand and have clear applications for the classroom. Some of examples of his surprising findings are:
"Learning styles" don't exist The processes by which different children think and learn are more similar than different.
Intelligence is malleable Intelligence contributes to school performance and children do differ, but intelligence can be increased through sustained hard work.
You cannot develop "thinking skills" in the absence of facts We encourage students to think critically, not just memorize facts. However thinking skills depend on factual knowledge for their operation.
Why Don't Students Like School is a basic primer for every teacher who wants to know how their brains and their students' brains work and how that knowledge can help them hone their teaching skills.
Biography
Daniel T. Willingham is professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1992. He writes the popular Ask the Cognitive Scientist column for American Educator magazine.
Customer Reviews
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Worth reading!by VRM-mentor
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September 03, 2009: As a 32 year veteran teacher I found this book both informative and innovative. I found the introduction of each chapter giving me the what and why, then the rest of the chapters giving the how to deal with the what and why, in a very useful and understandable manner. So many times in education we get a book that is just the what and why or just the how. Combining both facets into each chapter allows the reader to explore the entire issue and not just bits and pieces.
I enjoyed the discussion tone the book offered. Sometimes I felt that I could sit and discuss his understandings of how students learn and come up with more useful tools to use in my own classroom. This book is for the teacher who wants a better understanding of how a student learns, techniques to improve that learning and focus on the whole child. Mr. Willingham used a variety of examples, not just limiting the "discussion" to one subject area. He provides enough detail to become proficient but not so much that the reader is overwhelmed. I plan on reading this book again so that I can truly grasp the information presented. So much of what he describes as student behavior, is behavior that I have observed in my classroom. I would recommend this book for any teacher, new or veteran.Not Real Practicalby maggiesaunt
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July 18, 2009: As a teacher for over forty years, I was eager to see what this book with the enticing title contained. What I found was waaaaaaaaaaaay too much information about brain function and too little practical advice for the classroom. My experience has been that teachers want to know what to do to keep kids focused and learning; we don't need the theories about WHY we should do that. After only a few chapters, I realized that the latter pages of each chapter contained the suggestions for practical applications that I was hoping for. I tried reading those pages first for a few chapters and found that skipping the early theory pages really didn't impede my understanding of the "practical suggestions" at the end of each chapter. Unfortunately for this author, I had also purchased FAIR ISN'T ALWAYS EQUAL by Rich Wormeli and found that book significantly more readable and practical, with suggestions for classroom applications I can use immediately.
I usually pass on good book to my friends. Unfortunately, the title of this one is more engaging than the contents, so I will be very selective about sharing it.I Also Recommend: Fair Isn't Always Equal.
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