Customer Reviews

How the Brain Learns (with Learning Manual for How the Brain Learns)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sousa's guide is exactly that. Without cutting corners or making grandiose claims, he takes the neurological research of the last 20 years and shows how classroom teachers can capitalize on it. A must read for educators who are serious about furthering their understanding of pedagogy as it approaches the 21st century.

This book is an excellent resource for educators. It is easily adapted to classroom use no matter what level is being taught. Great insights to hemisphere preference, transfer, critical thinking, teaching strategies. Even the biology and physiology is palatable. This book would lend itself well as a resource for inservicing teachers with its many practioner's corner activities. I recently read Jensen's Teaching With the Brain in Mind and, while I found that book to be a good one, this book if FAR more useful. Every teacher will find easily adapted activities to put to immediate use. Highly recommended.

A book designed to be used. It offers both theory and practice. There are fifty plus pages of practical suggestions: including "Testing Whether Information Is in Long-Term Storage," and "Using the Primacy-Regency Effect in the Classroom." It also contains a glossary, an eleven page bibliography (with five internet site references), and a three page index. A well balanced 305 page classic.

The title of this book pretty much spells it out: Dr. Sousa explains how brains learn. Considering the subject, the text is very readable--enough to recommend this book to anyone who wants an understanding of how we are able to retain information. It covers the entire gamut, from the basics of biology to the subtler aspects of the active mind.

Still, this is really a book for educators. At the end of each chapter are a number of "Practitioner's Corners" where Dr. Sousa describes methods of applying this information in the classroom. Most of these are quite clever and very practical. This book should be on the reading list of all teachers, would-be teachers, and parents.

...I don't even know where to begin -- so much of this book is just plain "gobbledygook"...it's frequently difficult to understand exactly to what he is referring...for example, he seems to use the word "transfer" as a synonym for "learning"...I say "seems" because it's not always clear...for example, he says a teacher with a "positive" attitude facilitates "transfer" better than one with a "negative" attitude...reasonable enough -- so why not say more simply that a teacher's attitude affects learning?...and while that seems like common sense -- is there any neuroscience research to support it?...he doesn't say...instead, you get this:

"How quickly transfer occurs during a learning situation depends on the rate of retrieval. As noted earlier, the rate of retrieval is largely dependent on the storage system that the learner has created and how the learning was originally stored. Designing the filing system in long term storage is a learned skill and can run the gamut from very loose connections to a highly organized series of networks. Working memory uses a sensory cue that it encodes with the material and files it in a network containing similar items."

...now, is that perfectly clear?...gooooood...what he's attempting to get to -- I think -- is the concept of using what you already know to learn something new...so if you already know, say, what it takes to learn to play a violin you can use that background to facilitate, say, learning calculus...makes good sense but most educators already are familiar with the concept...and after digging his other suggestions out of the abstruse prose, typically they are things you should already know -- eat right, get plenty of rest, interesting stuff is easier to learn than boring stuff, etc, etc...

...but other parts are simply nonsensical -- e.g. "The struggle between the emotional and rational systems is a major contributor to the terrible twos."...huh?...well, I'm glad someone finally staightened that out...I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it but I'll pass it along...but then he makes a most remarkable claim: "But what the child learned during (the "terrible twos") will be difficult to change and will strongly influence what is learned after..."...I still don't know what to do with it -- but, wait a minute -- exactly what body of evidence supports that remark?...none that I could find...

...and he makes the remarkable claim that Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder "is becoming so prevalent in middle and high schools that some neuroscientists and psychiatrists are convinced it is a chronic disorder of the adolescent population."...really?...who, where, when?...that's just nonsense...I was compelled to look up the author's background to see where his "expertise" came from and determined that he has a bachelor's degree in chemistry, a master's in teaching, and a Ph.D in something...he was a junior and senior high school teacher for a number of years as well as a superintendent of a school system -- hmmm, I guess psychology and neuroscience were his hobbies since he appears to have little training or practical experience with either...I find no body of work, no research, no peer reviewed publications preparing him for these books...nevertheless, he now how has a whole series of them offering his remarkable insights into how the brain operates in math and in gifted students as well as a series of "brain compatible activities" books...hmmm, I wonder what would constitute a "brain incompatible" activity...also, he is available for public speaking engagements as well as workshops...brother, where did Corwin find this guy?

...updating my original review in 2011, I found a website (brainconnection.positscience)that provides more details of the author's background:

"Six years ago, educational consultant Dr. David Sousa found a calling of sorts. A superintendent of New Providence public schools in New Jersey and a former curriculum director and high school science teacher, Sousa turned a passing interest in brain research into a full-time job."

...so he turned his "passing interest" into a full time job?...and THAT qualifies him as an "authority" on how the brain learns?...I don't think so...nevertheless, it does explain some of his hackneyed suggestions -- e.g. making a topic interesting makes it easier to learn...well, uh, yeah...but what suggestions can be derived from the neuroscience literature to help do that?...don't expect an answer to that question...

I am director of secondary school student teachers at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. I have found this book to be practical and uncomplicated. I have used it in Educational Psychology classes and Classroom Teaching classes.

Excellent resource for lay person. Written in a very understandable, practical style with good illustrations and examples. Great aide for educators who want to better understand how their students learn. Also teaches you something about yourself!

This text seems very popular and is useful for a cursory introduction to an extremely complex concept. It is "hybrid" between a course on neuroanatomy and classroom application. Perhaps more anatomy than many classroom teachers need and a bit watered down for the serious student.

The pages of classroom suggestions are good for those who continue reading until they get to those sections.

My suggestion is to wait until the second edition comes out and get the updated version. The information in the area of neuroeducation is developing very rapidly and even though the book is only five years old, it has fallen behind the research findings.

Flipping through this book, you'll see the author has provided numerous citations, which makes statements appear supported by evidence. But if you actually trace down those citations, there's a large amount of overgeneralization and opinion.
The author promotes known neuromyths (learning styles & multiple intelligence, gender differences, exercise kinesiology). Tests provided have no reliability/validity data.
Very disappointing.

Dr. Sousa has an unbelievable way in teaching us about the brain ;the learning brain! His book is very user friendly with instant applications available after each chapter. This is his 3rd Ed. so you know he keeps on top of the everchanging findings in brain research and learning. I highly recommend that this book be in every house. Don't wait for teachers and college professors to introduce the way your brain learns...get going yourself! Teach others how the brain learns best!
Barbara McKenna, MEd.
Private Educational Consultant, VA