1st Edition
Harnessing the Science of Learning Success Stories to Help Kickstart Your School Improvement
Drawing together the worlds of classroom practice, school leadership and cognitive science, this is an essential how-to guide for initiating and maintaining a school improvement journey based on the science of how we learn.
What we now know about learning and teaching is vast; But even the most seasoned educator can be overwhelmed when wading through the thousands of articles and books that could improve their practice. This guide instead offers a distillation of key understandings—for teaching, literacy, mathematics, curriculum and implementation—to launch your school improvement work. Harnessing the Science of Learning also features contributions from thought leaders across the fields of learning sciences and educational practice, including: Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry, Zach Groshell, Reid Smith, Toni Hatten-Roberts, Simon Breakspear, Katie Roberts-Hull, David Morkunas, Steven Capp, Shane Pearson, and Eamon Charles. Providing accessible introductions to the most useful insights from the science of learning, the book shows how you could best use this often-neglected body of knowledge. With a series of exemplary school case studies, where leaders and teachers have embraced principles from the science of learning, you will encounter practical descriptions for how you can harness the research to revolutionise your teaching.
Insightful narratives of school transformation are interwoven with summaries of powerful teaching practices. Together this forms a roadmap to drive positive change wherever you work. Here you will learn how even discrete changes in a school can have marked impacts. This book is written both for those already versed in such principles, as well as anyone curious to plunge into what the science of learning has to offer.
Part One: The Orientation
Chapter 1. Do we need to improve our schools?
Nathaniel Swain
Chapter 2. Why the science of learning?
Nathaniel Swain
Chapter 3. The science of learning lifts every learner
Nathaniel Swain
Part Two: The Foundations
Chapter 4. Key insights from the science of learning: Cognitive load theory and beyond
Nathaniel Swain and Zach Groshell
Chapter 5. How can the science of learning change my teaching? Four teaching misconceptions resolved by the science
Nathaniel Swain and Zach Groshell
Chapter 6. What is the science of reading? What does it mean for my teaching?
Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry, Eamon Charles and Nathaniel Swain
Chapter 7 Effective literacy teaching
Nathaniel Swain and Shane Pearson
Chapter 8. Effective mathematics teaching
David Morkunas, Toni Hatten-Roberts and Nathaniel Swain
Chapter 9. Coherent, knowledge rich curricula: Bypassing working memory by laying lots of Velcro®
Nathaniel Swain and Reid Smith
Chapter 10. The science of learning implementation piece: Pursuing sustainable school-wide change
Simon Breakspear, Nathaniel Swain and Katie Roberts-Hull
Part Three: The Takeaways
Chapter 11. Kickstarting your work with the science of learning
Nathaniel Swain
Chapter 12. Improving your school as a science of learning leader
Steven Capp and Nathaniel Swain
Chapter 13. A call to action… and caution
Nathaniel Swain
Biography
Nathaniel Swain, PhD is a teacher, instructional coach, and teacher educator. He is a Senior Lecturer in Learning Sciences at La Trobe University School of Education, Australia. Dr Swain has taught a range of learners in schools, and founded a community of teachers committed to educational excellence and equity: Think Forward Educators.
Studded with inspirational stories from a range of schools, Harnessing the Science of Learning should spark some fundamental and much-needed changes in instruction. Too often, teachers have been led to believe in practices that only make it harder for students to learn—and for teachers to teach. This book provides a clear, accessible guide to pedagogical approaches backed by cognitive science that can enable both teachers and students to reach their full potential.
Natalie Wexler
Author of The Knowledge Gap and co-author of The Writing Revolution
In the last decade, there's been a global revolution in the way teachers think about classroom practice. Techniques and resources based on cognitive science are becoming more popular than ever. In Harnessing the Science of Learning Nathaniel Swain has done a great service for teachers everywhere in explaining what this new science of learning is, why it matters, and how it can help you and your students.
Daisy Christodoulou
Award winning educator and author, Seven myths about education
Teachers will treasure the guidance offered in this volume. Nathaniel’s book is an accessible and entertaining combination of scientific research and anecdote. It’s an invitation to all who work in education—teachers, school leaders, policymakers or academics—to learn from examples of schools that have experienced success applying evidence-based practices.
This book offers a diagnosis—there is a disconnect between what we know about how learning happens and the practices that are used in our classrooms—along with a cure. In doing so, Nathaniel somehow avoids the trap of being prescriptive. you will find content in this book that is motivating, wise, never patronising and grounded in pragmatism and evidence.
This book brings together the compelling case for the science of learning with the realities of classrooms. Nathaniel Swain applies his experience as teacher, school leader and academic to offer an evidence-based, credible path to improvement. Combining science, real life experience and common sense, the authors deliver a recipe for school improvement that is evidence-driven and proven to succeed. This is the book we have been waiting for.
Dr Jenny Donovan
CEO, Australian Educational Research Organisation (AERO)
Published research has created a new science of learning based on new theories and voluminous data sets. That knowledge is now beginning to transform the teaching profession. The transformation has been slow because while there are innumerable research papers there are far fewer resources aimed at the teaching profession. I believe Harnessing the Science of Learning has the potential to rectify this resource gap. The book is exceptionally clearly written. It contains critical information that every teacher and every teacher trainee requires. I can recommend it in the strongest terms.
John Sweller
Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, Father of Cognitive Load Theory
I often warn students not to write in the way that they speak, since speaking and writing are such different beasts. But Nathaniel Swain does that very thing, and I’m glad. There is no time, in my experience, when Nathaniel hasn’t spoken eloquently, intelligently and with great empathy, and so his writing reflects that in this superb book. Bringing together a balance of expertise, research and teaching with heart, this accessible book puts complex points across as a tool for teachers and education leaders alike.
Lyn Stone
Linguist, Literacy Specialist and Author, Reading for Life, Spelling for Life, and Language for Life
This gem of a book is a highly-readable introduction to a huge body of scientific research on effective teaching and learning. More importantly, it is intensely practical. Reading this book, I was infused with an overwhelming sense of optimism that we might yet deliver on our promise of providing an excellent education to all young people—a life-changing gift for many.
Dr Jordana Hunter
Program Director for Education, Grattan Institute
Dr Swain’s Harnessing the Science of Learning is an essential read for educators looking to revolutionize teaching methods. The acclaimed authors in each chapter masterfully combine scientific research with practical classroom applications, offering a comprehensive guide to enhancing educational outcomes. The book’s engaging narrative and real-world success stories provide a compelling argument for the integration of the science of learning into everyday teaching practices. A must-read for those committed to educational excellence in their context.
Bruno Reddy
Mathematics Educator, Disruptor and Pedagogy Specialist
CEO, Maths Circle Australia Pty LtdThe last twenty years has seen a welcome increase in the number of books for teachers about the science of how we learn. Over the same period, there have also been many books on different approaches to school improvement. What we haven’t seen, at least to my knowledge, is anything that integrates the science of learning with how schools might use this knowledge to effect radical improvements in their educational efforts, and that’s why Harnessing the science of learning is so welcome. In it, the authors skilfully weave together what cognitive scientists have discovered about how to maximize learning with stories of how schools have used this emerging body of knowledge to improve student learning—often to an extraordinary degree. Highly recommended.
Dylan Wiliam
Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, UCL Institute of Education
