Must Reads for Teachers & Students
Before entering higher education, most students’ learning experiences have been traditional and teacher-centered. Their teachers have typically controlled their learning, with students having had little say about what and how to learn. For many students, encountering a learner-centered environment will be new, possibly unsettling, and may even engender resistance and hostility. This book provides a rich and informative answer to the fundamental question: how do I help my students adjust to a learner-centered practice?
“Doyle is urging us not only to take a brain-based approach to teaching, but to show our students how their brains and memories work so that they can understand how to learn most effectively. He grapples with the hardest challenges that classroom teachers face when they try to give students responsibility for their own learning." - John Tagg, Associate Prof. of English, Palomar College
“Oh boy, am I glad this book is here. Terry Doyle has explored and integrated a wide range of literature on learning. His book brings together findings that will enable us to answer what so many college & university faculty members want to know: How do we enable our students to learn to learn (and love it)? If your goal is to develop lifelong learners, this book is a guidebook for your practice." -Laurie Richlin, Director, Preparing Future Faculty & Faculty Learning Communities Programs, Claremont Graduate University
Recent advances in brain science show that most students’ learning strategies are highly inefficient, ineffective or just plain wrong. While all learning requires effort, better learning does not require more effort, but rather effectively aligning how the brain naturally learns with the demands of your studies. This book shows you what is involved in learning new material, how the human brain processes new information, and what it takes for that information to stick with you even after the test.
“This is a path-breaking book. Faculties have been learning about how the mind works, and this book spreads the message to students, who need it just as much. More sophisticated and empirically grounded than any study skills manual, this book addresses all the major research findings on how the human brain learns. And it does so using language and examples that students can easily understand and immediately apply to enhance their attention, depth of processing, retention, retrieval, and far-transfer abilities. It deserves to be required reading for all college students―really, anyone interested in learning." - Linda B. Nilson, Director, Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson University
"I'm an economics professor at a small liberal arts college. I've spent as much time studying the literature on teaching and learning (in hopes of becoming a better teacher and learner) as I have on my discipline. I purchased this book and devoured it in one sitting. It should be required reading for every college student and every college professor." - Amazon Customer Review
This book presents the research-based case that Learner Centered Teaching (LCT) offers the best means to optimize student learning in college, and offers examples and ideas for putting it into practice, as well the underlying rationale. It also starts from the premise that many faculty are much closer to being learner centered teachers than they think, but don’t have the full conceptual understanding of the process to achieve its full impact. There is sometimes a gap between what we would like to achieve in our teaching and the knowledge and strategies needed to make it happen.
"This book is essential reading for everyone in higher education. Doyle has marshaled the evidence that proves the effectiveness of learner-centered pedagogy, and he has presented that research in a very accessible and engaging style. Doyle leaves no room for doubt regarding the need to adopt learner-centered practices." -Michael Harris, Chancellor and Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Education and Business, Tennessee State University
"Learner Centered Teaching is inexpensive, concise, clearly written with several visual aids that summarize key points, and grounded in scientific research and the author's extensive experience. The work provides both food for thought and very specific points for advice for the teacher seeking to improve student learning." -David A. Bosworth, Associate Prof. of Biblical Studies, The Catholic University of America
“In this new volume Doyle provides a research-based rationale for learner-centered teaching practices. Drawing on current research on neuroscience, biology, cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology, as well as his own teaching experiences that span several decades, he provides a wealth of practical applications, synthesizing the research for us and presenting it in his characteristic easy style and humor. Doyle demonstrates how learner-centered pedagogy optimizes student learning potential. Those new to learner-centered theory as well as those who have already embraced the concepts, will benefit from this book.” -Roxanne Cullen, co-author of Leading the Learner-Centered Campus and Professor of English, Ferris State University