Technology+Leadership+Book+Summary

= __** Technology Book Summary **__ = // 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 Willingham reflects Willingham’s goal of linking basic cognitive research with how we should teach students. This is an interesting book the author relates his work to helping teachers teach. “The mind is actually designed to avoid thinking because the mind works at a snail's pace and takes effort”, Willingham writes. Most people do things the same way they’ve always done them, it’s easier that way. He continues by outlining nine key principles in his book, the author says that the brain is not designed for thinking, that it is slow and unreliable. His central theme revolves around a crucial question, so readers will discover not only why students don’t like school, but why students remember TV shows and forget school lessons “memory is a residue of thought”, whether drilling is worth it, and how to get students to think like real scientists, mathematicians, and historians. Thinking is slow; your thinking system does not instantly calculate the answer to a problem the way your visual system immediately takes in a visual scene. If we can get away with it, we don’t think; instead we rely on memory. The author writes that we are naturally curious but we are not naturally good thinkers. However our ccuriosity is fragile; mental work appeals to us because it offers the opportunity for that enjoyable feeling when it succeeds. Curiosity prompts people to explore new ideas and problems, but when we do, we quickly evaluate how much mental work it will take to solve the problem. If it’s too much or too little, we stop working on the problem if we can. “Not only does background knowledge make you a better reader, but it also is necessary to be a good thinker. The processes we most hope to engender in our students – thinking critically and logically – are not possible without background knowledge.”(Willingham, pp. 35-37) As educators we must understand that background knowledge is necessary for cognitive skills, processes we most hope to engender in our students – thinking critically and logically – are not possible without background knowledge. People draw on memory to solve problems more often than you might expect. Student’s memories are a residue of thought; teachers must design lessons that will ensure that students are thinking about the meaning of the material. Although our knowledge precedes skill and there is a time and place for learning facts and drill-and-kill material, profiency requires practice. Teachers should make learning meaningful and build upon student’s prior knowledge. In addition, Willingham suggests that students need to be taught the value of hard work and how that can positively impact their achievement. In conclusion, experience alone does not make one a better teacher, nonetheless, teaching and then getting and giving feedback plus being care ful with the language you use with students vital to improving practice.

Willingham, D. T. (2009). //Why don’t students like school? A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom.// San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.