Customer Reviews
Succinct and practical - By: Gordon Eldridge, 17 Oct 2007 
The beauty of this volume is that it takes a vast quantity of research on how people learn & organizes it in a way which is readable, practical & accessible for educators. The authors distill the findings of numerous studies into three key principles of learning: (1) Teachers must work with student preconceptions & prior knowledge, (2) Teachers must teach in depth, providing multiple examples of the same concept & (3) Teachers must help students develop metacognitive skills so that they can take control of their own learning. These principles are developed & expanded with numerous references to research & practical illustrations. It should be noted that the book is predominantly about conceptual understanding & does not spend a lot of time on how we learn skills such as playing a musical instrument or learning a language. That said, it is an extremely important contribution to discussions of pedagogy & if the advice contained in the book is heeded by teachers, curriculum writers & policy makers, it has the potential to transform many shalllow classroom practices into powerful tools that will enable students to develop deep understanding. The accelerating pace of change in the 21st century means that the ability to transfer skills to unfamiliar situations as well as the skills of lifelong learning have become more important than ever. The principles contained in this book will help us prepare students for a changing world.
Interesting - but mostly common sense - By: Bobby Elliott, 15 Jul 2002 
I reallly purchased this book from an assessment/curriculum development perspective, & although I read the entire book, most of it was irrelevant to my needs. But it was an enjoyable read - & the book contains some nuggets of information - even if it's a bit padded-out. So it's worth buying but you would probably be better scanning the text & only reading those bits of direct interest to you.
Excellent synthesis of research into learning - By: , 12 May 2001 This is the kind of book on education that the teacher, manager, parent or student has been waiting for. It starts from what we would like to know about how we learn, what settings are conducive to learning, how colleges, schools, universities or training places can be best organised to improve peoples' learning. Unlike other books it is based on reliable research evidence from many fields (sociology, psychology, neuroscience, child development etc). This research is mixed with knowledge distilled from the practical experience of teachers & managers. These differing perspectives are brought together to help us understand the problems of learning. The book goes one step further & proposes ways we could making better use of research knowledge to inform our educational policy & what kinds of research we should now do.
