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The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony With Your Brain
A path-breaking text for freshman orientation and study skills classes"This is a path-breaking book. Faculties have been learning about how the mind works, and this book spreads the message to students, who need it just as much. More sophisticated and empirically grounded than any study skills manual, this book addresses all the major research findings on how the human brain learns. And it does so using language and examples that students can easily understand and immediately apply to enhance their attention, depth of processing, retention, retrieval, and far-transfer abilities. Plus, each chapter ends with excellent summaries and scholarly references. It deserves to be required reading for all college students—really, anyone interested in learning."?Linda B. Nilson, Director, Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson UniversityRecent advances in brain science show that most students� learning strategies are highly inefficient, ineffective or just plain wrong. While all learning requires effort, better learning does not require more effort, but rather effectively aligning how the brain naturally learns with the demands of your studies. This book shows you what is involved in learning new material, how the human brain processes new information, and what it takes for that information to stick with you even after the test.Taking a small amount of time to read and act upon the material in this book will prove to be one of the best decisions you can make as a learner. What you discover will change the way you learn in college and will be helpful in your personal and professional life. You live in a world where you will have to be a lifelong learner, constantly updating your skills and changing jobs to compete in the global marketplace. Most college students today will have as many as 10-14 different jobs by age 38. Learning how to learn in harmony with your brain is crucial to your long-term success.This succinct book explains straightforward strategies for changing how you prepare to learn, engage with your course material, and set about improving recall of newly learned material whenever you need it. This is not another book about study skills and time management strategies, but instead an easy-to-read description of the research about how the human brain learns in a way that you can put into practice right away. [STY LOGO] [TXT LOGO]
181 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2013
64 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 17, 2020
good book. quick read. tons of information with supporting research to improve your learning.
September 29, 2024
There were some important reminders I needed to hear from this book as I headed into this school year. Not a ton of new information, but rather, I realized the importance of the information I already knew and have put new schedules and techniques into practice.
June 17, 2019
A quick read, succinctly relaying the key points that will allow students to learn better: sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise, focusing, practicing, learning materials through more than one sensory input. While the book is short (about 120 small pages), I think a few more examples and illustrations would have been helpful because the target audience is supposed to be students. It did not really read like that; it read more like a book meant for teachers/faculty to think about how they are teaching. Nevertheless, I am giving it to my son to read...
July 13, 2020
Ja lasa dažādas grāmatas par mācīšanos, pedagoģiju un līdzīgiem tematiem, tad nevarētu teikt, ka šī grāmata satur īpaši daudz jaunas informācijas, bet tā lieliski apkopo dažāda veida informāciju par to, kā īsti smadzenes var labāk iegaumēt informāciju. Grāmata nav par to, kā padarīt interesantāku mācību procesu, bet tieši par to, kā veicināt mācīšanās procesu, kas smadzenēm ir nepieciešams un kas traucē. Šīs bioloģiskās lietas par mācīšanos ir ļoti svarīgi apzināties, lai palīdzētu gan sev, gan citiem.
October 27, 2021
Read as part of a recommended list for work (I'm an instructional designer by trade), this didn't blow me away or 'shatter my paradigms' or anything. It did offer some handy tips on improving memory and learning. I enjoyed the parts differentiating multitasking vs task shifting, and the specifics of how the timing of exercise influenced retention of new learning. Worth a read for new, ambitious college students.
August 20, 2017
Required reading for my job starting next week.
For a required reading, non-fiction novel it was not nearly as boring as it could've been. I feel like I learned a lot of good information that I can use in my upcoming job to help students make the most of their academic experience at university.
For a required reading, non-fiction novel it was not nearly as boring as it could've been. I feel like I learned a lot of good information that I can use in my upcoming job to help students make the most of their academic experience at university.
February 13, 2020
A rather short book, but packed full of research-based techniques to help learn anything in the most effective and efficient way humanly possible (as it is all based on how your brain actually works)!
August 14, 2017
Interesting reading
I wish I had this book before I went to college,
I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend
This book to anyone who is thinking about college
I wish I had this book before I went to college,
I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend
This book to anyone who is thinking about college
January 2, 2018
The advice in this book is basic but also indispensable for most college students. And it is written in an accessible way that all beginning college students could easily understand.
July 24, 2023
4.5 stars
I read this book in my graduate program. This is very important information for all learners
I read this book in my graduate program. This is very important information for all learners
February 14, 2024
Good, but nothing new. I've read all this information before. If you haven't read a lot about the science of learning and want to, this might be for you.
May 22, 2024
Dipped my toes into this one for a few days. Brings some brain science and biological perspectives to learning - an activity we do more or less all the time. Most interesting for me was to consider how our brains make, remake and strengthen neural pathways and networks, through the process of engaging with things over time while awake and dreaming with them as we sleep. One insight I had was the power of reading, journaling, freewriting, and even daydreaming in weaving the ‘neural networks� we operate with. Another was imagining how we access memories through other memories, and why we cannot access others, in our everyday train of thought. Short read to ponder on with your own thoughts - recommend.
February 23, 2017
Both Terry Doyle and Todd Zakrajsek have written other books about learning, at least some better than this one. However, by focusing on how to get the brain ready and able to learn this book does add something to the literature on learning. The book is also written for a student audience, which is a bit different from most.
The book claims to be about "how to learn in harmony with your brain." This statement made me think that it would discuss cognitive psychology and the evidence-based learning strategies that arise from this research (such as spacing, interleaving, retrieval practice, elaboration, dual-coding etc.). Although the book occasionally refers to these topics, especially spacing and elaboration, the focus is really on the "physical" side of the brain. That is, the book focuses on the importance of sleep, nutrition, and exercise, as well as the importance of paying attention, using multiple senses, seeing patterns, and fostering a good mindset (growth mindset).
These behaviors may seem trivial and perhaps obvious, but I don't think it is to our students. Hence the book serves students well in that even the best learning strategies will not prove effective if the learner is sleep-deprived and in poor health. So, in the end, this short book does serve a good purpose. [I would say that Tood Doyle's 2011 book on Learner-Centered Teaching covered most of the same topics very well. That book, however, was written for teachers.]
The book claims to be about "how to learn in harmony with your brain." This statement made me think that it would discuss cognitive psychology and the evidence-based learning strategies that arise from this research (such as spacing, interleaving, retrieval practice, elaboration, dual-coding etc.). Although the book occasionally refers to these topics, especially spacing and elaboration, the focus is really on the "physical" side of the brain. That is, the book focuses on the importance of sleep, nutrition, and exercise, as well as the importance of paying attention, using multiple senses, seeing patterns, and fostering a good mindset (growth mindset).
These behaviors may seem trivial and perhaps obvious, but I don't think it is to our students. Hence the book serves students well in that even the best learning strategies will not prove effective if the learner is sleep-deprived and in poor health. So, in the end, this short book does serve a good purpose. [I would say that Tood Doyle's 2011 book on Learner-Centered Teaching covered most of the same topics very well. That book, however, was written for teachers.]
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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