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The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning
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The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning |
Author: James Zull
Published: 2002-10-03 |
List price: $24.95
Our price: $16.47
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As of: December 03rd, 2008 05:37:46 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Okay, but nothing spectacular
Zull's writing style is a bit choppy, and though the book has some good information buried in it, I do not believe it was presented well. He makes many overarching statements and rarely succeeds in satisfying the reader with elaboration. While he is obviously a very intelligent person who understands his subject material, and I found myself looking forward to his anecdotes, I don't believe he connected the underlying neurological material to them nearly as well as I have seen other books do. For a work which seemed to promise a deeper look at neurological workings related to learning, I was largely disappointed, but that's not to say it isn't still worth a read.
 The best book on educational neuroscience I've read!
For whatever it's worth, I just received my PhD in Educational Neuropsychology and have been looking closely to see what's recently been published in this nascent field. One key statement in my dissertation was a comment by a neuroscientist that teachers spend all day trying to change the brain while knowing practically nothing about it. Enter James Zull's excellent book.
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br /There's not much available on brain-based learning, educational neuropsychology, neuroeducation--or whatever one chooses to call it--and what there is just doesn't quite cut it for educators--many of whom have at least some degree of technophobia. Neuroscience feels especially daunting and inaccessible to most educators. This book, on the other hand, leads teachers gently by the hand into what was formerly scary territory in a warm, non-threatening way.
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br /After each neural function is described, Dr. Zull, (who I'm guessing wrote the book while on sabbatical at Harvard--specifically at their Center for the Mind, Brain, and Education), immediately discusses the implications that particular function has for teaching and learning. To his credit, he never loses sight of his primary audience--teachers.
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br /The other excellent tactic he uses which is quite novel is to relate neuroscience findings to learning theory--specifically Kolb's. If anyone knows of any other neuroscientist who's done this, please leave a comment as I'd certainly like to know. This is currently a huge gap between neuroscience, cognitive psych, and education.
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br /My only concern is that Dr. Zull may have sacrificed a bit of clarity in the effort to make a dense scientific subject accessible for a non-scientific (primarily) audience. I'd like to see some reviews of the book by other neuroscientists--many of whom are teachers (if in higher ed), themselves. Can we really talk meaningfully about the frontal and rear cortex? I've never heard that division before and would feel more secure with an explanation of which structures compose the front and rear and why this division can be made. Perhaps he's right but I'd like more evidence that this is not as overly simplistic as the "right-brain" and "left brain" divisions that so many non-scientists have glommed onto.
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br /I am submitting an outline for a course in "brain-based learning" at a university and will propose using this book as the primary text. It's that good!
 Animals with Human Intelligence
Alright, this was read for a class, which usually takes the romance out of a read, though I wouldn't have picked up this book initially except through strong-arming. I must say it's challenging and thought-provoking. Diving inside the brain and seeing the processess of how people perceive things and process information gives many "oh yeah" moments. There's spots of the whole evolutionary 'school of fish' ideas swimming around, but even if you're averse to this, other postulations are founded on their own merit. This book is like a good record that needs three or four listens for the brillance to take form. I suppose I should start the next read.
it works, pure simple
As I redesigned my course syllabus and lesson plans for introductory anthropology this fall, after reading Zull's book over the summer, I consciously tried to take into account the four step process described by the reviewer below. I've taught the course four times before and this was definitely the most successful -- by the end of the course the students were much more able to use the concepts they'd been introduced to over the course of the term, and the feedback and #s on the student evaluations of the course improved markedly.
pleasant read
I have enjoyed reading this book (I am beginning to lecture general chemistry). Many of the points are obvious, but it is worthwhile to see the scientific background behind learning. I have used of the messages from the book to encourage students to approach a course from different perspectives to improve their performance in the class.
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