Research-based insights and practical advice about effective learning strategies In this new edition of the highly regarded Why Don't Students Like School? cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham turns his research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning into workable teaching techniques. This book will help you improve your teaching practice by explaining how you and your students think and learn. It reveals the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences. With a treasure trove of updated material, this edition draws its themes from the most frequently asked questions in Willingham's "Ask the Cognitive Scientist" column in the American Educator. How can you teach students the skills they need when standardized testing just requires facts? Why do students remember everything on TV, but forget everything you say? How can you adjust your teaching for different learning styles? Read this book for the answers to these questions and for practical advice on helping your learners learn better. Discover easy-to-understand, evidence-based principles with clear applications for the classroom Update yourself on the latest cognitive science research and new, teacher-tested pedagogical tools Learn about Willingham's surprising findings, such as that you cannot develop "thinking skills" without facts Understand the brain's workings to help you hone your teaching skills Why Students Don't Like School is a valuable resource for both veteran and novice teachers, teachers-in-training, and for the principals, administrators, and staff development professionals who work with them.

Everyone agrees that reading is fundamental to education. Reading is the mechanism by which children gather new information about the world, learn to stretch their imaginations, come to appreciate the power and beauty of language, and learn to think critically. It's no wonder that parents and teachers want children to read and encourage leisure reading as a hobby.Despite the power and beauty of reading, despite the positive messages from adults, most kids lose interest in reading as they grow older. The average first grader enjoys reading, but by puberty this child does not enjoy reading and rarely chooses to read in his free time. Nevertheless, a small subset of kids do continue to read, and they remain dedicated readers into adulthood. Why? Why do Malik's parents find him sneaking books into bed, but Ella won't read books when her parents offer to pay her?"Raising Kids Who Read" helps parents and teachers make it more likely that children will be like Malik, rather than Ella. As in his previous bestseller, Why Don't Students Like School?, Willingham offers a perspective that is rooted in scientific research, but with a practical and engaging, ready-for-application sensibility.The first part of the book reviews the three elements that must be in place for children to become enthusiastic readers: decoding, comprehension, and motivation (especially in an age of video games, texting, and omnipresent television). Part Two considers the practical matter of supporting these three elements at a variety of age ranges (from birth and preschool through adolescence), since children's needs change as they grow. The book also addresses how to help kids with dyslexia and how the digital age has changed the reading landscape. This provocative book debunks myths and helps parents and teachers alike understand how to help kids learn to love reading.

By describing experiments that control, manipulate and measure mental processes, this book shows how we can discover the answers to key questions about the mind, such as: 'Can we focus attention on more than one thing?' and 'Is language unique to humans?' Written in a down-to-earth narrative prose that avoids jargon, addresses the reader directly and draws on the authors' unique style ('suppose Willingham split his pants at a junior high dance …'), this text takes complex experiments in cognitive psychology and describes them for undergraduate students. Willingham has a record of excellence in translating cognitive psychology research for K-12 teachers with his bestselling Why Don't Students Like School? and other popular books. This book applies the clear and approachable prose style towards building foundational knowledge in cognitive psychology for undergraduates.