How the Brain Learns Mathematics, 2nd Edition, Jan/2015

To reach all your math students, use your brain—and theirs, too!

The bestselling and award-winning first edition of How the Brain Learns Mathematics quickly revolutionized math teaching and learning. The second edition takes readers to the next level with new brain-friendly strategies backed by the latest research from education and neuroscience and even more ways to seamlessly incorporate what you learn about your students’ developing minds into your math classroom.

In this essential resource, you’ll discover the cognitive mechanisms involved in processing mathematical operations, while exploring the environmental and developmental factors that create learning difficulties. How the Brain Learns Mathematics also presents a unique and simplified four-step teaching model that relates students’ classroom experience to concrete, real-world applications. Features of the new edition include

1. More strategies for motivating adolescents
2. Integration of the arts into mathematics instruction
3. New information on how technology affects attention and memory
4. Expanded sections on number sense and ELL instruction
5. More than 160 new references and a greatly expanded index for readers’ convenience

No matter what grade you teach, your students are growing and changing. Understanding how their brains work is the key to reaching every one of them—and making math a positive part of their lives for years to come.

“David Sousa’s book is a wonderfully readable presentation of how neuroscience and cognitive psychology can inform the teaching of mathematics in elementary and secondary schools. Sousa engages his readers intellectually with recent research on the brain and mathematics learning, and avoids pat answers where the evidence is suggestive rather than conclusive. The book is a valuable text for teachers who want a deeper insight into thinking processes behind the learning and teaching of math.”

—Robert E. Slavin, Director, Center for Research and Reform in Education
Johns Hopkins University

"Teaching mathematics without having read this book is like trying to master tennis without a coach. Sousa's book is a tour de force: It builds a solid bridge from cognitive neuroscience to daily classroom practice. Every teacher of mathematics will benefit from this well-researched, well-organized, thoughtful, and practical approach to making math instruction align with how brains learn."

—Spencer Kagan, Publisher/Professional Developer
Kagan Publishing and Professional Development

About The Author:
David A. Sousa is an international educational consultant. He has made presentations at national conventions of educational organizations and has conducted workshops on brain research and science education in hundreds of school districts and at several colleges and universities across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. His teaching experience covers all levels. He has taught junior and senior high school science, served as a K–12 director of science, and was supervisor of instruction for the West Orange, New Jersey, schools. He then became superintendent of the New Providence, New Jersey, public schools. Sousa has been an adjunct professor of education at Seton Hall University and a visiting lecturer at Rutgers University. He was president of the National Staff Development Council in 1992.

Sousa has edited science books and published numerous books and articles in leading educational journals on staff development, science education, and brain research. He has received awards from professional associations and school districts for his commitment and contributions to research, staff development, and science education. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctorate in education from Bridgewater (Mass.) State College. He has appeared on NBC Today and National Public Radio to discuss his work with schools using brain research. Sousa has a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Massachusetts State College at Bridgewater, a master of arts in teaching with a major in science from Harvard University, and a doctorate from Rutgers University.