Why don't students like school?
a cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for your classroom
by Daniel T. Willingham · first published 2009
73% recommend20% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Applies cognitive science research on memory, thinking and motivation to classroom practice, and to one's own study of learning science.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Cognitive scientist Dan Willingham has focused his acclaimed research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning and has a deep understanding of the daily challenges faced by classroom teachers. This book will help teachers improve their practice by explaining how they and their students think and learn revealing the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences. --from publisher description.
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A lot of the comments here about memory, recall, and learning are dealt with in Daniel T. Willingham's Why Don't Students Like School (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047059196X?ie=UTF8&tag=...), which describes a lot of things, including how we move from a state of no knowledge to shallow knowledge to deep knowledge in particular…
on “Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?” ↗Do yourself a big favor and read the book "Why Don't Students Like School?" by Prof. Daniel T. Willingham. He's a prof of psych at the University of Virginia specializing in the application of cog sci and neuro sci to K-12 education. I don't know who chose the title, but it…
on “How to get better at painting without painting anything (2015)” ↗I'd suggest the book Why Don't Students Like School? (http://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-Students-Like-School/dp/04702...) to those interested in applying the findings of cognitive science to their own learning. I'm finding it very useful in that regard.
on “Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm ” ↗"Why Don't Students Like School?" by Daniel Willingham. It's primarily aimed at educators; if that's not your career path you'll find it less useful. So much of education consists of untested fads that it was a relief to see a social…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why” ↗Willingham would be proud, as this is a recurring theme and a whole chapter in his book "Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom." He also made this case on this on his blog when responding to Andrew Hacker's ridiculous suggestion…
on “The 21st century skill students really lack” ↗Take a look at Daniel Willingham's material and his book "Why Don't Students Like School" Here's a review of the book: http://ed-policy.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-of-handfull-one-of... Here's Dr Willingham's web site with a lot of articles worth reading: http://www.danielwillingham.com/articles.html…
on “How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math” ↗…University of Virginia and author of some very good books on learning, schools and education. He is a good, careful and informed thinker on the subject of learning and children. I recommend his book "Why Don't Students Like School?" [0] for an insightful look at one of the pieces of the puzzle that is Education. [0] "Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means…
on “My daughter's disabled. Please don't look away from her” ↗From: https://medium.com/eedi/how-i-wish-id-taught-maths-8ec9b0578... [...]the day I started reading educational research was the day my life changed. It all began with Daniel Willingham’s Why Don’t Students Like School, which led me onto his ridiculously good series of Ask the Cognitive Scientist articles for the American Federation of Teachers and the associated research papers he quoted. I devoured them all with eyes…
on “Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan” ↗…and then. Be a human being with personality. Worked examples, live-coding, experiments etc. are also useful, depending on the topic. (For more examples and scientific background, see Willingham's book "Why don't students like school?") Of course, that's a lot more work for the lecturer than designing for their own convenience. I've lectured like this myself before and students loved it. I've also heard from students at various places…
on “Things I learned from teaching (2023)” ↗…crackpot the teacher teaching system is. They seem to have no more scientific basis than Postmodernism, despite the fact that they actually research something that can be research. There's a book called "Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom". The author explains (more or less) why Direct Instruction is so much more successful than other,…
on “You can increase your intelligence” ↗…own theories on basically the same thing: http://alexkrupp.typepad.com/sensemaking/2010/06/how-writing... http://alexkrupp.typepad.com/sensemaking/2010/03/how-to-blog... Have you checked out the book Why Don't Students Like School? I've heard it also explores this, but I haven't had time to read it yet. The book Made To Stick actually has a chapter on this as well. This is a problem that I've been somewhat obsessed with for several…
on “What is magic?” ↗I'd suggest the book Why Don't Students Like School? (http://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-Students-Like-School/dp/04702...) to those interested in applying the findings of cognitive science to their own learning. I'm finding it very useful in that regard.
on “Ask HN: Hacking Learning Resources?” ↗…Sonnets, or whatever. It is also, quite simply, hard to teach. That's Daniel Wilingham's research speaking; he describes more here: http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2007/Crit_Thi... . His book Why Don't Students Like School? is also very good. I wrote about it here: http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/why-dont-students-l... .
on “Kids should learn to think” ↗Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, in his book _Why Don't Students Like School_, says that memorizing facts is important for developing higher level reasoning. Think of it as building up a large processor cache. If you have the relevant facts in your brain, you can piece them together…
on “Learn to remember everything: The memory palace technique” ↗In the book Why Don't Students Like School ( http://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-Students-Like-School/dp/04705...) Daniel Willingham argues that people need to have a good vocabulary of mechanics, basic concepts, and skills in order to be able to move…
on “Yes, The Khan Academy is the Future of Education” ↗