Making Classrooms Better: 50 Practical Applications of Mind, Brain, and Education Science, Apr/2014

A practical, classroom-oriented guide to best-practice teaching.

Learning specialist Leslie Hart once wrote that designing educational experiences without knowledge of the brain is like designing a glove without knowledge of the hand. Making Classrooms Better takes this concept a step further, building from general knowledge of brain-based education science and current educational research to offer specific suggestions for how teachers can improve student learning outcomes. Covering a range of subjects, from creating an optimal classroom climate to maximizing metacognitive skill development, this well-researched, state-of-the-art guide is an essential resource for highly effective practices that teachers, administrators, and curriculum planners can easily use.

The first half of the book provides a practical overview of teaching from a Mind, Brain, and Education perspective through an understanding of the intersection of the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and pedagogy. The second half shares 50 evidence-based classroom “best practices” that have a proven positive impact on student learning outcomes and explains why they work.

About The Author:

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, PhD, is the Dean of Education at the Universidad de las Américas in Quito, Ecuador. She serves on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an expert panel to determine teachers’ new pedagogical knowledge, including the influence of neuroscience and technology on education. With more than 25 years of experience teaching decades in teacher training, she has conducted conferences, workshops, and research in 25 countries around the world.