How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition,   ISBN:9780309070362

Customer Rating: 

After reading numerous books on educational psychology, in an attempt to inform my practice, I encountered this wonderful research text. "How People Learn" is written in a way that allows readers to synthesize the information into their everyday practice. The editors have included multi-disciplinary examples, in order to appeal to educators across the subject area spectrum, and these examples are straight forward and easy to understand. My experience reading psychology texts is that the examples to describe behavior studies are not well-suited for laypeople and impossible to apply to everyday practice, because they are often related to training animals to memorize simple tasks, rather than examples of strategies for classrooms of learners.
The chapter on learning and transfer was useful for me, because my current studies focus on Kolb's Experiential Learning model. While the text did not include a lot of substance when it came to how to motivate students, more of an idea that motivation is key, it did emphasize that learners need to understand how a topic can relate to their life beyond the classroom. This speaks to me, because in my observations of students, I've seen that students are so product-focused, that they can't find value in doing work well, unless there is a grade attached; More often than focusing on developing their skills, students work on efficient models to get a finished product that can earn the best grade with the least work. The research in this book supports that both process and product are key to a learner's development, as well as meaningful assessment--not just handing out grades and moving on.
This book is a valuable addition to the library of any educator who seeks to improve their practice through research. The only downside I can find is that many of the research sources were more than 20 years old, and most grad schools in education emphasize the need for recent (5 years old or less) research. I'm not sure if the age mattered, because the overall message was still useful, but it could indicate that the message was either biased or verging on obsolescence--though I didn't get that impression.

Customer Rating: 

The only problem was the delivery was slow. The book was needed well before it was delivered.

Customer Rating: 

Item was listed as being in acceptable condition, but was in like new condition. Shipping was very fast also!!

Customer Rating: 

I received this book in a timely matter and it was in very good shape.

Customer Rating: 

I used this for a college class. Glad you had it so cheap! Thanks for the prompt shipping.