Translating brain research into best practice, this book offers teachers a concise Strategic Learning Model for the active transfer of knowledge to students' long-term memory.
SUMMARY Powering Up is the point in the lesson when we pull students into the
learning by tapping into what they already know and by creating a hook to the
new learning. About 98% of all new learning comes to us through the senses—all
...
How can we structure class time efficiently? How can we explain and lecture effectively? How can we help students master content? How can we make learning more real and lasting? In this revised and greatly expanded 2nd edition of Inspiring Active Learning, educators Merrill Harmin and Melanie Toth provide answers to our fundamental teaching questions and show us how to transform our classrooms into communities of active, responsible learners. The authors present an array of research-based, teacher-tested strategies for managing our everyday responsibilities--from beginning a class to grading homework, from instructing large groups to promoting diligent seatwork, from motivating slackers to handling disrupters. These strategies focus on mutual respect, not bossiness; collaboration, not isolation; commitment to learning, not fear of failure; and the dignity of all, not praise or rewards for a few. Regardless of our level of experience or the grade or subject we teach, the active-learning approach helps us * Perform routine teaching tasks more easily. * Discover a higher level of teaching success and personal satisfaction. * Establish a class climate of full participation and cooperation. * Prepare engaging lessons that keep students productively involved. * Encourage students to work energetically, willingly, and intelligently each day. * Inspire all students, even the most challenging, to strive for excellence. With its detailed classroom examples and more than 250 practical strategies, Inspiring Active Learning is a comprehensive reference for solving almost any teaching problem.
Learning. 3. One of the everyday tasks of teachers is planning lessons that
inspire all students to stay actively, productively involved. Or, to be more specific,
we might say the goal is to craft lessons that inspire students to work with high
dignity, ...
A goal of mine ever since becoming an educational researcher has been to help construct a sound theory to guide instructional practice. For far too long, educational practice has suffered because we have lacked firm instructional guidelines, which in my view should be based on sound psychological theory, which in turn should be based on sound neurological theory. In other words, teachers need to know how to teach and that "how-to-teach" should be based solidly on how people learn and how their brains function. As you will see in this book, my answer to the question of how people learn is that we all learn by spontaneously generating and testing ideas. Idea generating involves analogies and testing requires comparing predicted consequences with actual consequences. We learn this way because the brain is essentially an idea generating and testing machine. But there is more to it than this. The very process ofgenerating and testing ideas results not only in the construction of ideas that work (i. e. , the learning of useful declarative knowledge), but also in improved skill in learning (i. e. , the development of improved procedural knowledge).
PREFACE A goal of mine ever since becoming an educational researcher has
been to help construct a sound theory to guide instructional practice. For far too
long, educational practice has suffered because we have lacked firm instructional
...
