Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Nature of Learning

Educators read and hear lots and lots of advice about what we should do, how we should do it, how we should assess it, and every other detail of teaching and learning.

Some comes from political and business leaders, some from parents and other laypeople... some from fellow teachers and educational leaders who are pandering to those others. While most of the advise is well-intentioned and given with sincere interest in doing what is best for kids, most of it is more damaging then the advocated know. While I tend to be understanding of non-experts who give advice, I am increasingly loosing patience with educators who ignore what we know about learning and spout the latest gobbledygook posing as educational reform.

Quite simply, education is about changing human brains. Humans brain are organs that with structure and function defined by biology.

Schools are designed to meet society's needs, but the design must accommodate brain structure and function.

Most of the individuals and groups who contribute to the deafening milieu of educational reform are ignorant of the basic principles of learning science.


is a publication from the Centre for Educational Research and Organization of The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Several ancillary materials, including an executive summary and a Practitioner's Guide are available on the web. In summary, this is the best brief summary of learning science I have encountered in recent years.

Be better prepared to give and interpret advice form educational reformers... read these:


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