Why Don't Students Like School? cover art

Why Don't Students Like School?

A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom

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Why Don't Students Like School?

By: Daniel T. Willingham
Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
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About this listen

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 programs, 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 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2009 Daniel T. Willingham (P)2011 Tantor
Developmental Psychology Education Parenting & Families Relationships School Psychology

Critic Reviews

"Corporate trainers, marketers and, not least, parents - anyone who cares about how we learn - should find his book valuable reading." ( The Wall Street Journal)

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A Must Read for all Teachers

The title of this book is deceiving. The book addresses why students don't like school by delving deeply into current cognitive science. While it does review the strategies that result in students' dislike of school, it also emphasises strategies that engage students and enable them to become confident, successful students. This book should be on all teachers' reading lists.

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Great stuff!

Willingham's book is a great entry point into understanding the logic and cognitive research theories about how we learn and how to teach. It's an easy listen filled with crucially useful information to change how you think about thinking and learning.

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